Credo: A 12-part series on the creed
Editor's note: This article is the sixth of 12 in a new series on the Creed by Deacon Matthew Newsome.Explore the series.
We have reached the halfway point of our year-long exploration of the Apostles’ Creed with the sixth article: “He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.”
As a new Christian, the ascension of Jesus often puzzled me. I understood the importance of the Resurrection. As St. Paul rightly says, if Christ is not raised, then our faith is in vain (1 Cor 15:17). But wouldn’t the truth of the Resurrection be easier to demonstrate if Jesus stuck around for future generations to witness? Imagine if our Lord kept office hours in Jerusalem! Wouldn’t it solve so many problems if the Son of God could be directly consulted any time doctrinal questions arose? I never denied the reality of Christ’s ascension, but I did wonder at times just why Jesus had to leave.
JESUS REMAINS WITH US
Of course Jesus didn’t leave – not really. He promised the disciples that He would be with us always, until the end of time (Mt 28:20). We see this promise fulfilled in the Church, and most especially in the Eucharist. In this sacrament Jesus is truly present with us at each Mass and in the tabernacles of every Catholic church on the planet. Jesus’ Presence is much more widespread now in the sacrament than when it was limited to a human body. As it is, I can spend time with Jesus in the Eucharist any time I like – whereas my chances, as one among 1.4 billion Catholics, of a personal meeting with a non-ascended Jesus in His Jerusalem headquarters would be minuscule.
Still, it is tempting to think certain things would be easier if the human Jesus were still around to lead the Church directly. But this is a false assumption. The fact is that even if there were a 2,000-year-old Messiah walking the earth today, people would still disbelieve, just as they disbelieved after witnessing with their own eyes the multiplication of the loaves, the healing of the blind and lame, and even the raising of the dead. As Jesus foretold in the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man: “If they will not listen to
Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead” (Lk 16:31).
Jesus told His disciples, “It is better for you if I go” (Jn 16:7). After He said this, He promised to send an Advocate, the Holy Spirit. Nine days after His Ascension, Jesus made good on His promise by sending the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. We will speak more about the Holy Spirit later in this series. For now, let us look at Christ’s Ascension itself.
WHY WAS JESUS LIFTED UP?
The Ascension of the Lord is recorded in Mark’s and Luke’s gospels, as well as in the Acts of the Apostles, which says that Jesus “was lifted up and a cloud took him from their sight” (Acts 1:9). The only description the gospels offer is that Jesus was “taken up to heaven” (Mk 16:19 and Lk 24:51). Having risen from the dead, Jesus now rises even further to sit at God’s right hand (Mk 16:19). To sit at the ruler’s right is to sit in the place of honor and power. Thus Jesus takes His rightful place as the eternal Son of the Almighty God.
The fundamental reason why Jesus didn’t take up long-term residence on this earth is that He doesn’t belong in this fallen world any more than He belonged in the tomb. He belongs in heaven! He descended from heaven for the same reason He descended into hell – for our benefit, out of sheer love for us. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).
That same passage in John’s gospel tells us that “just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert (a reference to Numbers 21:9) so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (Jn 3:14). This “lifting up” refers not just to the Crucifixion, when Jesus was lifted up on the cross, but to His Ascension, when He is lifted up into heaven. In chapters eight and nine of the Letter to the Hebrews, the biblical author speaks of the high priest offering worship in the sanctuary of the Temple. This earthly sanctuary was but a symbol of heavenly realities. In Christ we have the fulfillment of this symbol. By taking “His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,” Christ our High Priest has taken His place as “a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up,” where He lives forever as our intercessor.
HIS DESCENT, ASCENT ARE LINKED
The Ascension of Jesus and His Incarnation are inextricably connected. Scripture says that “no one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man” (Jn 3:13; Eph 4:8-10). These two events – Christ’s descent and ascent – are part of the same salvific action. We cannot ascend to God ourselves, so God descends to us in order to lift us up to heavenly glory. In other words, the Incarnation is not so much about God coming to earth, but enabling man to go to heaven. Christ’s ascension flows from this as the capstone of this heavenly trajectory. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it, “Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, precedes us into the Father’s glorious kingdom so that we, the members of His Body, may live in the hope of one day being with Him forever” (CCC 666).
Deacon Matthew Newsome is the Catholic campus minister at Western Carolina University and the author of “The Devout Life: A Modern Guide to Practical Holiness with St. Francis de Sales,” available from Sophia Institute Press.
