Lifted up from the pits

‘… he was taken up into heaven’. (Mark 16:19)

Mark 16:15-20 (Year B: Ascension Thursday)

Preparing for the Holy Spirit..

When I was at school, Ascension Thursday was a special day off. It was a holy day in which the requirement was to participate in the mass. Nowadays the feast is, typically, transferred to the following Sunday. A curious feature of certain secular jurisdictions in mainland Europe is that Ascension Thursday is a public holiday.  Religious traditions endure even if for very secular reasons.

One of the benefits of remembering the Lord’s Ascension on a Thursday rather than a Sunday is that it leaves exactly 9 days (instead of 6) in which to prepare for Pentecost! After all, following the ascension the disciples made for a quiet place in which to pray and prepare –probably as much out of fear and a concern for safety than any other consideration:

‘They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.’ (Acts 1:14)

It is clear that what happened in the Ascension was in the context of Easter and the following event of Pentecost. The details given in Matthew, Mark and Luke are patchy. There is a distinct abruptness to each of the three gospels as if the writer(s) was/were cut short and inserted a few sentences about Jesus speaking with his disciples and giving them a commission to go forth and spread the good news and then – suddenly – he was gone. He was lifted up and taken away in a ‘cloud’ (Acts 1:9) reminding us of the very divine presence in a cloud by day (and a fire by night) in Exodus 13:21.

Speaking of ascending and descending is very much rooted in scripture.  There are plenty of stories about people ascending up to heaven (e.g. Jacob’s dream of angels ascending and descending in Genesis 28:12, Jesus’ conversation with Nathanael in John 1:51, Elijah being taken up in a ‘whirlwind’ to heaven in 2 Kings 2:11).  In many different cultures of the ancient world people had a three-tier idea of the universe: the heavens up there, hell down there (a hot place!) and the earth right here where we stand. Over time, other categories were stitched on such as limbo and purgatory to meet various theological conundrums (necessity being the mother of invention!).

The evangelist John speaks of Christ lifting all peoples up when he is lifted up from the earth (which means on the cross but it could also refer to his glorification through his death, resurrection and ascension). In a mysterious way, the act of departure and being lifted up from the earth in the ascension is necessary to complete the work of the Holy Spirit and her outpouring on the disciples (the Hebrew word for spirit or breath is ruah which is feminine – Irish Gaelic it is anáil or breath which is also feminine).

‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself’ (John 12:32)

Being lifted up from the pits..

The notion of being raised or lifted up is a frequently used one in the scriptures. Traditionally, we think of God as being ‘on high’ and we think of Jesus lifting us up to God. Indeed a standard definition of prayer from the Roman catechism is a lifting of the mind and heart to God.

In common parlance we uses expressions such as ‘that experience was an uplifting one’ or ‘he is feeling a bit down at the moment’ etc. However, there is another side to being lifted up or being on high. You have guessed. It is being brought down and finding yourself in the pits. A verse in the ‘Apostle’s Creed’ which is said to echo Ephesians 4:8-10 (but only very indirectly) speaks of Jesus descending into hell after his death after which ‘on the third day’ he rose again. This is also linked to another passage found in Psalm 67:19:

‘You have gone up on high; you have taken captives, receiving men and women in tribute, O God, even those who rebel, into your dwelling, O Lord.’

The idea of God descending into hell is challenging! But that is what the tradition says (and most Christians subscribe to all three catholic creeds – Nicean, Athanasian and the (simple) Apostle’s Creed even if the precise scriptural basis for descending into hell is less than clear.  Let’s face it – a lot of people live through hell – whether in some part of the Middle East or next door to us or even this side of the door.  Hell can take many forms and we should never underestimate the depths of bodily, mental, spiritual and psychological hell that people are living through, near and far, as we share these thoughts.  We can be sure – through faith – that God-who-is-love has descended to these places of hell. Like the testimony of Elie Wiesel about the child crucified by the Nazis in a concentration camp:

Behind me, I heard the same man asking: "For God's sake, where is God?" And from within me, I heard a voice answer: "Where He is? This is where--hanging here from this gallows..."

What could ascension and ‘descension’ mean for us today?

God must descend before he ascends – and us along with him. Let us live in hope and in love trusting in the power of the one who was crucified and rose again.