We celebrate Jesus rising from the dead, ascending to the Father. It is the basis of our faith, the resurrection of Jesus. That singular act, nay, that living act is what gives us hope, makes us royal heirs and grants us eternal life. Heavy stuff.
Equally as heavy is the life Jesus lived as a human. This is a source of even more hope.
Jesus, "The Way" , showed us how to live as a real flesh and blood human. Jesus showed us what we are capable of in fulfilling our destiny. Always filled with love but Jesus was quite the rebel. Railing against the status quo. Doing dangerous and unheard of things. Challenging the Temple elite, speaking with a Samaritan woman! Jesus broke so many "rules". Jesus befriended some of the worst people imaginable for the time, lepers, tax collectors, prostitutes and the like. It seemed his loving open arms had no limits. Why he even cured the "pais" of the Roman Centurion. That is, the homosexual lover of someone occupying his very own country. What's with that? When will the 'insanity' of Jesus' love stop? How far will Jesus go?
To the ends of the earth my friends, to the ends of the earth. There are no limits to Jesus' love and by extension so neither should we (have any limits). Something jumped out to me from this passage. It not only speaks of Jesus ascending, it also speaks of Jesus DE-scending. Did Jesus go to the depths of hell before he rose? Was this a little side trip before heading home to Abba, Father?
I once read a book called Good Goats. One of the suggestions is that if indeed Hell exists at all, that there might actually be redemption beyond death. Did Jesus go to the depths of Hell to give hope even to the condemned? Is this where Mother Theresa gets the idea of embracing the worst of the worst in a rat infested, disease ridden Calcutta? Is this why Pope John Paul embraced the man who tried to kill him? If we think of the worst of the worst, the most condemned of our society today, could we embrace them, hold them and love them as Jesus has shown us? Can we do so without judgment? Can we love as a parent would love their own child?
Can we realize that in all of God's creations, God loves "them" at least as much as God loves us? That God would, has and does go to any length to secure our hope, freedom and salvation from the tyranny of sin and hopelessness?
Ephesians 4:1-16
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said,
‘When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive;
he gave gifts to his people.’
(When it says, ‘He ascended’, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
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