The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for the Easter Season
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Today’s Readings
Today we celebrate the feast of the Ascension. Technically, Ascension happens 40 days after Easter which is always on a Thursday. But most dioceses in the US transfer the feast to Sunday. Ten days after Ascension is Pentecost – 50 days after Easter. And that will close the Easter season. Pentecost is coming!!
Ascension Sunday always features the Acts and Ephesians readings, along with the gospel from the current year.
Ascension is a liminal, in-between time. The disciples exist in this time without Jesus’ physical presence but before the bestowal of the Spirit. In some ways, this feast is about letting go. The disciples had to let go of Jesus even though they had just “found” him through the resurrection.
St. Ignatius’ ‘Suscipe’ prayer seems apt here:
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will. All I have and call my own, You have given to me; to you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me.
as paraphrased by David L. Fleming, S.J.
The readings today are sort of a map for where we’ve been and where we’re going. The first reading from Acts is a summary of post-Resurrection events. The second selection from the letter to the Ephesians contains a prayer of hope and encouragement – for the liminal time. The Gospel according to Mark tells us about our role in the future – which is now because all this happens in kairos (not chronos) time!
Acts 1:1-11
Luke 24 records the resurrection, the Emmaus road story, appearances, and Ascension – and they all happen on the same day. Jesus ascends and the disciples return to Jerusalem and the temple with great joy. From God’s viewpoint, these events are timeless – they exist outside of linear time, in kairos time.
In Acts, Luke says Jesus stayed for 40 days after the resurrection before the Ascension. From humanity’s viewpoint, there is a linear progression – chronos time.
Remember: this is not a factual history but rather a theological one. The Ascension plays different theological roles in the two books. Luke’s gospel focus is Jesus, where the Ascension is an ending. Acts’ focus is the Church, for which the Ascension is just the beginning. The Ascension is a hinge between the two works.
Verse 1 references Theophilus which means “lover of God.” This might have been an actual person, maybe Luke’s patron, financing the art of writing. Or it might be a generic term addressed to all of us as lovers of God. Perhaps it’s both!
Also in verse 1, he says he “dealt with all that Jesus did and taught.” A better translation of these verbs is “all that Jesus began to do and began to teach.” Jesus began the work that now continues in us, the church, today.
Verse 4 contains a curious word unique to Luke’s gospel. “Meeting” with them literally translates “sharing the salt” and is a euphemism for eating. One of my professors would often say the subtitle of Luke’s gospel is “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” because so many key moments happen in the context of a meal, and this is also true of the book of Acts.
Verse 6 has the disciples asking Jesus if he will at this time restore the kingdom to Israel, referring back to verse 5 – the coming of the Holy Spirit. How did they go from talking about the baptism of the Spirit to restoring the kingdom? To get into the disciple’s mindset, it may be helpful to read Isaiah 44:3 which is all about the Messiah, Ezekiel 39:29 which is about what happens when the Messiah conquers, and Joel 2:28 which references the Messianic age. Jesus has set the stage talking about baptism and all the references that come to the disciples’ minds about baptism are in the context of the Messianic age.
This leads them to the next natural question: we recognize you as the Messiah, so when are you going to do what we expect a Messiah to do? The Messiah was the one who would reunite the divided land, bringing healing and unity. The Messiah was the one who would throw off the yoke of Roman oppression. I think it’s telling that even after everything they’ve experienced in Christ’s presence … the disciples still don’t really get it!
One of the big debates in Judaism at that time was whether God had pre-ordained the date for the Messiah and Israel’s restoration or whether that date was based on Israel’s repentance.
The word the disciples used “restore” carries the meaning of going back to the original state. You’ll notice in the next verses that Jesus does not answer the question. Why? Because he has ushered in a new age – there is no going back to the former one. The implicit answer is no – Jesus will not return back the kingdom to the nation of Israel because God has something much bigger in store.
In verse 7 he redirects their focus from thinking about times and seasons to thinking about the work still to be done to usher in the kingdom; from the when to the how.
Verse 8 tells us we will be “witnesses” which is the Greek word martus, from which we derive the English word martyr. This is more than just talking about what they had seen and experienced. It implies dedicating one’s entire life to it.
In verses 9-11 the focus is on SIGHT. This was an actual experience. The disciples are SEEING this! All these references to looking/seeing – the Ascension actually happened and Luke seems particularly keen to establish that here.
Verses 10 and 11 remind us that mountaintop experiences are necessary but only temporary. We always have to take what we’ve seen and go back to the real world with it. It’s the same at the end of the liturgy: go in peace to love and serve the Lord. We can’t stay there in the sanctuary – we are meant to go out and share what we’ve experienced.
Fear pulls us inward; the Spirit invites us outward.
Name some times when fear pulled your focus inward. Name some times when the Spirit invited your focus outward.
How has the Spirit’s power been evident in your life?
Ephesians 1:17-23
Ephesians 1:15-23 is thanksgiving and a prayer of intercession.
Verse 17 speaks of a “Spirit of … revelation,” apokalupsis: an uncovering. Paul will use this word frequently in connection with Jesus (ie “a revelation of Jesus”) but he also uses it about his vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus. Notice that the purpose of such uncovering is to know Christ.
The intercessory prayer is threefold:
1. To know the hope that goes along with the call / commission
2. To see the richness of grace in which we live and move and have our being
3. To receive the power to which we all have access to fulfill our calling
How does this passage relate to the Ascension? What does it tell us about that Ascension? Paul reminds us that we didn’t have to witness that event in order to be commissioned by it and to take strength from it.
Of the three prayers, which speaks to you right now and why? Which prayer do you most need right now?
Think of someone in your life who needs your prayers and pray this prayer specifically for them.
Luke 24:46-53
Luke chp 24 takes us through a progression. First, there is the resurrection and no one is quite sure what to make of it. This is an Easter Vigil reading. 24:13 begins the story of the Road to Emmaus which is an Easter season reading. 24:36 recounts a Jerusalem appearance of Christ, also an Easter season reading. And then this passage – another appearance and Jesus’ final blessing and leave-taking.
This chapter contains a snapshot of some of the Gospel’s major themes:
- Peace v36
- Table fellowship v30, v41
- God’s plan v44
- Metanoia v47
- Mercy V47
- Witness v48
- Holy Spirit v49
- Jerusalem and the Temple vv52-53
“The entire Gospel culminates in Luke’s description of the posture of the disciples: they worship Jesus.” Jesus says once again: everything was in the plan. And the plan has now been completed.
One of the major problems Luke grapples with is how to explain the inclusion of the Gentiles. Did God fail with the Jewish people and so move to the Gentiles as Plan B? If so, what’s to stop a Plan C if the Gentiles don’t work out? Luke’s message is that Gentile inclusion was part of God’s plan from the very beginning, that covenant language always left room for them. The Jewish people chose not to emphasize that aspect, but it was there. The Gentiles can rest assured that God has a plan and they are an integral part of it.
The reading begins in v46 by reminding us of God’s plan and saying that everything that happened to Jesus was in line with the plan. In v47 is a key theme of metanioa. This verse also stresses that the good news would be brought to all nations. That began in Jerusalem (the Gospel narrative begins there) and will begin again as the new community begins to preach (as we will see in the book of Acts).
Jesus also tells them that they are witnesses of all these promises and plans of God. The word used is the same one from the Acts reading: martus from which we get martyr. This is not someone looking from afar to see what happens; this is someone “with skin in the game.” It’s also important to note the audience, which is set in v33. This is not just the Eleven apostles who are left but many other disciples as well. By extension, Jesus is talking to us as well.
V49 refers to the metaphor of being clothed. Paul used this image as well: Romans 13:14; Galatians 3:27; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10. We are to be clothed with power, the Greek word dynamis. This connects back to the Annunciation in Luke 1:35, where the angel tells Mary, “The power of the Most High will overshadow you.” I think Luke’s intent here is to let us know that we, like Mary, are called to bear Christ to the world, and we do so in the dynamis of the Spirit.
In v50, Jesus leads them “out.” The scene began in the upper room where the Eleven were huddled in fear. The two disciples from the Emmaus brought news of the resurrection appearance, and then Jesus himself appears to them. Now he leads them “out.” This is the Greek word exó, related to the word Exodus. The use of this word is meant to evoke that event, a leading out from the land of slavery into the promised land. In some ways, the Ascension feels like an ending, but Jesus reminds us that we are on the brink of something completely new.
Jesus blesses the disciples and is then carried up into heaven. This evokes homage or worship, a word that ties us back to the homage paid by the wise men. They return with great JOY to Jerusalem, where the gospel started. We have come full circle.
Consider a situation that has some hold over you. Imagine that it is like being enslaved in Egypt. What would it look and feel like for Jesus to lead you out of that land into something wholly new?
Imagine that God is clothing you with power. What situations might you meet differently with such clothing?
Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
© 2023 Kelly Sollinger