👉🏽👉🏽👉🏽On the Glorious #Ascension of Our Lord and Savior #Jesus Christ
Brethren beloved in the Lord,
Let us lift up our minds to the heights of heaven and ascend with our hearts in thanksgiving and awe, for we have arrived at the majestic and holy feast of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ one of the nine great feasts in the Orthodox faith. Today, we meditate not upon a mere event of history, but upon a divine mystery, in which the lowly earth beheld its Creator return to His heavenly throne in flesh yes, in the very body taken from the womb of the Virgin. Let us enter into the depth of this mystery with reverence, and with the fear and love of God.
I. What is the Ascension?
The word Ascension in Ge’ez, Arege means to go up, to rise, to ascend. Not merely an upward movement of body, but the triumphant return of the Son of God in glory, having fulfilled all that was written of Him. Our Lord Jesus Christ, after completing His salvific work, ascended into heaven and sat at the right hand of the Father, as affirmed by the holy fathers who gathered at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea.
But behold, this Ascension was not a departure, as if He abandoned the world or His Church. Nay, for our God is omnipresent He fills all things and is present everywhere. He who descended did not leave His throne. He who was born of the Virgin did not forsake the bosom of the Father. In the same way, His ascension did not imply movement from one place to another, but signified the completion of the divine economy, the work of humility for which He came into the world.
II. The Ascension Is the Crown of Humility
The Lord of glory, who for our sake took on flesh and became man, who was mocked and spat upon, who bore the Cross and tasted death He it is who has now ascended in glory. The Ascension is the crowning of humility, the seal upon the work of salvation. It is the divine vindication of the humiliated Christ, now glorified at the right hand of the Father.
His holy Body yes, the same Body that was nailed to the Cross, the same Body born of Mary is shown to be free from the limitations of earthly gravity, for He ascended bodily, visibly, and triumphantly. This is not allegory or abstraction, but reality: the flesh has ascended into heaven, not by nature, but by the divine power united to it.
III. The Cloud: The Mystery of the Virgin and Glory
O dear faithful, let us pause at this image: He ascended in a cloud. What is this cloud? It is not the moisture of the sky, but the cloud of majesty, the cloud that veils divine mystery.
Saint Yared and the prophet Isaiah teach us that the cloud is none other than the Virgin Mary. For it was she who bore Him; she who carried the Incarnate Word. The prophet cried out: "Behold, the Lord shall come riding upon a swift cloud, and shall enter Egypt" (Isaiah 19:1). The Fathers interpret this cloud as the Holy Virgin, through whom He descended in the flesh, and through whom now He ascends in the same flesh, glorified.
The blessed David also bears witness: "Sing to the Lord who rides upon the heavens of heavens, who gives His Word with power" (Psalm 67:33). Thus, He ascended in that very flesh which He took from the pure Theotokos.
IV. The Ascension Is Our Hope and Promise
Do not be downcast, For His Ascension is not the end of His presence, but the beginning of our exaltation. When Christ ascended, He bore our humanity with Him. He did not lay aside His flesh but glorified it. And now, at the right hand of the Father, He sits in the flesh, interceding for us as our High Priest, our Brother, and our King.
And what did He leave us? Not abandonment, but a covenant. He promised the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. He promised His return, for as the angels declared to the disciples on the Mount of Olives: “This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).
Continues 👇🏽