Sunday May 20, 2012

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (B)

Scriptural Readings: Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9; Ephesians 4:1-13; Mark 16:15-20

“GOOD JOB, MY SON!”

My dear encountered couples:

Long before the commencement of creation God planned our salvation. When the human race was merely an idea in God’s mind, all plans for the reopening of the gates of heaven had been completed. God knew what we would do with our lives and with all his gifts to us. He knew that we were going to get ourselves into big trouble and we would need him to bail us out. Every detail of how he would help us was spelled out long before the first word of creation was ever spoken.

Sure doesn’t look that way, does it? When the Messiah was sent to save us, when God sent his Son to live as one of us, he sure seems to have done it without much prior planning. He hadn’t even made any reservations in Bethlehem. A makeshift arrangement among animals had to be used for his birthplace until there was a vacant room somewhere else in town. Then it wasn’t long before an escape to Egypt had to be hurriedly arranged in order to save the child’s life. How much time the Holy Family had to stay in Egypt and live out of a suitcase, so to speak, until Herod was out of the picture we don’t know. But it certainly must have been inconvenient for Mary and Joseph until they could get back to Nazareth and begin a normal life with their little boy. We are left wondering just how normal it ever became for them.

It is only when Jesus nears thirty years of age that we begin getting an idea of his activities. Anyone who tries to put those few years in chronological order has his work cut out for him. Seems like Jesus never heard of a travel agency. His trips from town to town and his overnight arrangements while he was in them look anything but well planned. It looks more like he “played it by ear,” so to speak. Sort of a “whatever will be will be” type of life. Surely this hadn’t been planned by the all wise God from all eternity! Wanna bet?

The life of Christ was precisely arranged. Every detail had been worked out in advance. All possibilities had been considered and plans made to deal with each and every one of them. Jesus himself might not have been able to always figure out what was happening nor what was going to happen. He might not have had the slightest idea who he was going to run into today, nor what tomorrow would bring - after all, he was human. Yes, if the Son of God was going to be one of us it most likely also meant he was not going to be able to see the future with any more clarity than we do. He seems to have discovered he was meant for something big, but exactly how it was all going to work out and end up he may have been left in the dark by his Father. And only when it was all over was he given an overall view of the wisdom behind every happening that occurred.

Does your life seem like a hodgepodge? You make such great plans. You plan to accomplish this, enjoy that, visit there, live here. But it doesn’t seem to work out that way, does it? You do your best, but somehow you end up in your final years of life wondering what in the heck happened. Where did all the time go?

What about all those plans you made? The final curtain is about to come down and you feel you haven’t even gotten started. I’ll bet Jesus felt that way. He was hanging on that cross dying and probably felt he had failed. He had hardly even gotten started with his Father’s business and there was no more time left.

But then came the resurrection. He was given forty more days to get something done. That’s not much time. And now he finds himself already at the day of his Ascension. A few precious moments are all that he has left with his friends, only a little time for a few final words of encouragement and hope. Then it’s over. He’s gone. His Father called him back to heaven.

What do you suppose his Father said to him? “Well, you sure botched that one! After all my planning you made a mess of your life. If it weren’t for me coming through at the end and saving the day this whole Messiah thing would have been a disaster.” Do you think that is what God the Father said to Jesus when he ascended into heaven? I don’t think so. Then what did he say?

Probably the same thing he is going to say to you when your time comes to leave this confusion you feel your life has been. Probably the same thing God your Father will say to you even though you think your life has been nothing but a screwed up mess that is accomplishing nothing of much good. What did the Father of Jesus say to him when he ascended into heaven? Probably no more than a few, simple, loving and warm words from the depth of his heart.

“GOOD JOB, MY SON! I COULDN’T HAVE DONE IT BETTER MYSELF!”