Greetings bloggers!
Ok, so for about the three-billionth time, I’m going to try to keep to a schedule on the J-Blog. Two posts a week, plus a little something special for Friday. I’ve even got a little spreadsheet schedule, with some color-coordinating and everything! But since it’s the three-billionth time I’ve made such a pledge to you my dear reader, I will award a prize to the person who most accurately predicts what date I will fall apart in the comments below. It will likely be a prize made up of something I have here in the office I’m looking to get rid of.
Today is the Church’s celebration of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, and it always kind of strikes me as odd that we don’t make a bigger deal out of this day. Following his resurrection, Jesus gathers with his disciples, gives them their marching orders, and then is lifted up in to heaven right before their eyes (Acts 1:9). Eventually these spellbound disciples need angels to show up and say to them “Get to work!” What they had seen is spectacular!
Jesus sits, we recite about once a month, at the right hand of the Father, and from there he will come to judge “the quick and the dead.” Ascension is so so important. Jesus died, yes, but lots of people have died. Jesus was raised from the dead, yes. But we also don’t worship Lazarus. The ascension is the difference. Lots of folks have died, and a few have even been resurrected, only to die later. Jesus Christ, he is the living one. Jesus Christ lived, died, rose again, and continues to reign with the Father in heaven.
I don’t know about you, but I could use a reminder of the Son of Man’s continual reign these days.
I need to know that someone is in charge. I need to know that someone has a plan. I need to know that someone up there has an idea of what it means to be human, what it means to suffer as we do, what it means to deal with the sorrow of these days. It is literally my job to remind folks of these truths, but I stand before you and confess I need a reminder myself from time to time.
To be sure, we don’t always understand the plan, and even when we do we may not like it. To allow Jesus to reign might mean extending love to someone we consider a deep enemy. To allow Jesus to reign might mean putting the needs of our neighbors ahead of ourselves. To allow Jesus to reign means that we don’t actually get to be in charge of the coronavirus, or the economy, or our family situation, or our bank accounts, or our hopes for the future. To allow Jesus to reign is to love him, love others, and do so in the way that we want to be loved, in that order.
And truth be told, Jesus reigns whether we allow him to or not. Jesus is in charge whether we recognize his rule or we choose to chart our own path. What takes constant practice is to lay our plans, our hopes, our dreams, and in fact our very lives at the feet of the Living One. It’s a daily, if not hourly, struggle. But the Human One is good. He has our best interest in heart.
Long live the King!