The Feast of the Ascension
The Cloud, The Blessing & the Promise of Return: St. Mark 16:14-20 & Acts 1:1-11
“This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ
Forty days after Pascha.
For forty days the risen Christ has been appearing. In gardens and locked rooms and on roads and shores and mountainsides. He has shown the wounds. He has broken bread. He has breathed the Spirit. He has cooked breakfast. He has commissioned the eleven. He has opened the Scriptures and set hearts on fire and let Thomas touch the nail prints.
Today He leaves.
Not in death. He has already done that. Not in absence. He has promised to be present always. In ascension. In the lifting up. In the taking of the human body He wore for thirty-three years into the place where no human body has been before. The right hand of the Father. The throne of all authority. The place from which He will send the Spirit and from which He will return.
The Ascension is not a goodbye. It is a coronation. The King who rode a donkey into Jerusalem is now being enthroned at the right hand of the Majesty on high. The journey that began in a manger reaches its destination at the throne. And the disciples are left standing on the ground, looking up, with a promise ringing in their ears.
He will come back. The same way He went. In the clouds. In glory. In the body that still carries the nail marks.
He Appeared to the Eleven (Mark 16:14–18)
“Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.'” (Mark 16:14–16)
Mark places the final commission at a table. Not on a mountain. At a meal. The last time the eleven are together with Christ before the Ascension, they are eating. The pattern is consistent. Christ’s most important moments happen at tables. The Last Supper. The Emmaus breaking. The breakfast on the beach. And now the final appearance. At a table.
He rebukes their unbelief. Even now. Even after the appearances. Even after the testimony of Mary and the Emmaus disciples and Peter. Their hearts have been hard. Their belief has been slow. And Christ does not overlook it. He names it. The hardness of heart. The refusal to believe the witnesses.
But He does not disqualify them because of it. He rebukes and then He commissions. The rebuke does not cancel the sending. The hardness of heart does not revoke the authority. He names the failure and then He gives the mission. Because the mission does not depend on the perfection of the missionaries. It depends on the authority of the One who sends them.
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Pasan tēn ktisin. Every creature. Not every nation (Matthew’s version). Every creature. Every created thing. The scope is wider than humanity. The Gospel reaches the whole creation. The groaning creation that Paul describes in Romans 8. The creation that has been waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. The Gospel is for everything that has been made. Because the One who made everything is the One who is ascending to rule everything.
“He who believes and is baptized will be saved.”
Belief and baptism. Faith and sacrament. The internal response (believing) and the external act (being baptized). Both named. Both necessary. Not as separate requirements but as two dimensions of the same response. The faith is expressed in the baptism. The baptism is the embodiment of the faith. The Oriental Orthodox understanding: we do not choose between believing and being baptized. We do both. Because the Gospel addresses the whole person. The heart that believes and the body that is washed.
“And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17–18)
The signs follow the believers. Not the other way around. The believers do not follow the signs. The signs follow the believers. The distinction matters. The faith comes first. The signs come after. The signs are the evidence of the faith, not the cause of it. The cause of the faith is the Gospel preached and the Spirit received. The signs are the overflow. The visible effects of the invisible reality.
Casting out demons. Speaking in new tongues. Handling serpents. Surviving poison. Healing the sick. These are not a checklist for every individual believer. They are the marks of the believing community. The Church that has received the Gospel and the Spirit will see these signs in its midst. Not because every believer performs miracles. Because the risen Christ, working through the believing community, continues to do what He did during His earthly ministry. The Ascension does not end the ministry. It extends it. Through the Church. Through the Spirit. Through the believers who go into all the world.
He Was Taken Up (Acts 1:1–5)
“The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:1–3)
“All that Jesus began both to do and teach.”
Began. Ērxato. Luke’s Gospel was not the record of everything Christ did. It was the record of everything Christ began. The Incarnation was the beginning. The ministry was the beginning. The Cross was the beginning. The resurrection was the beginning. Everything in the Gospels is commencement, not completion. The completion continues. Through the Church. Through the Spirit. Through the Acts of the Apostles. Through the centuries. Through today.
The Ascension is the hinge between the beginning and the continuation. Before the Ascension, Christ did the work Himself. After the Ascension, Christ does the work through the Church. The doing and the teaching do not stop. They change address. From the body of Christ on the roads of Galilee to the body of Christ in the congregations of the world.
“He presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs.”
Tekmēriois. Infallible proofs. Convincing evidences. Not one proof. Many. Not ambiguous proofs. Infallible ones. The appearances were not ghostly. They were physical. Touchable. Edible. Thomas touched the wounds. The Emmaus disciples ate with Him. The breakfast on the beach was fish and bread cooked on a real fire. The proofs were many and they were convincing.
“Being seen by them during forty days.”
Forty days. The same number as the fast in the wilderness. The same number as the days of Moses on Sinai. The same number as the days of Elijah’s journey to Horeb. The same number as the days of the Great Lent. God works in forties. The forty days of the post-resurrection appearances are the counterpart to the forty days of the pre-ministry fasting. The first forty days prepared Christ for the public ministry. The second forty days prepared the Church for the public mission.
“Speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”
For forty days, the risen Christ taught the disciples about the kingdom. Luke does not record the content. We do not know what He said. We know the subject: the kingdom of God. The same subject He preached from the beginning: “the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). The resurrection did not change the subject. It deepened it. The kingdom that was “at hand” during the ministry is now “in hand” after the resurrection. The King has conquered death. The kingdom is established. And for forty days, He explains what this means.
“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.'” (Acts 1:4–5)
“Wait.”
Perimenein. Wait. Stay. Do not leave. The hardest command Christ has given. Wait. Stay in Jerusalem. Do not start the mission yet. Do not preach the Gospel yet. Do not go to all the world yet. Wait.
Why?
Because the mission requires the Spirit. And the Spirit has not yet been poured out in fullness. The breathing in the locked room (John 20:22) was the firstfruits. The full outpouring is Pentecost. And Pentecost has not happened yet. The disciples have the commission. They have the authority. They have the words of Christ ringing in their ears. But they do not yet have the power. And the power is the Spirit.
“You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
The promise. The anticipation. The reason for the waiting. The Spirit is coming. Not in many days. In a few days. The waiting is short. But it is not optional. You cannot skip the waiting and go straight to the doing. The Spirit must come first. The power must descend before the mission can advance. The baptism of the Spirit is not a nice addition to the mission. It is the foundation of the mission. Without it, the mission is human effort with divine words. With it, the mission is divine power with human vessels.
Lord, Will You Restore the Kingdom? (Acts 1:6–8)
“Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.'” (Acts 1:6–8)
“Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
After forty days of teaching about the kingdom. After the resurrection. After the infallible proofs. After everything. The disciples are still asking the wrong question. They are still thinking in terms of political restoration. The kingdom of Israel. The throne of David. The overthrow of Rome. The national project.
Christ does not rebuke the question. He redirects it. He does not say “there will be no kingdom.” He says “it is not for you to know the timing.” The kingdom is real. The restoration is real. But the timing belongs to the Father. Not to you. Your job is not to know when. Your job is to be witnesses. The “when” is the Father’s business. The “what” is yours.
“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”
Dunamin. Power. Not authority (exousia, which was given on the mountain). Power. The capacity. The energy. The force. The authority was given on the mountain in Galilee. The power will be given in the upper room at Pentecost. Both are necessary. Authority without power is a title without capacity. Power without authority is force without legitimacy. Christ gives both. The authority first (the commission). The power second (the Spirit). And between the two: the waiting.
“You shall be witnesses to Me.”
Martyres. Witnesses. The same word that gives us “martyrs.” The witnesses will become martyrs. The testimony will cost some of them their lives. Stephen will be stoned. James will be beheaded. Peter will be crucified. Thomas will be speared in India. The witnessing and the dying are connected by the same word. Because the witness to the risen Christ is a witness that the world does not want to hear. And the refusal to stop witnessing, even when the refusal costs your life, is martyrdom.
“In Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The concentric circles. Jerusalem first (the starting point). Judea next (the surrounding region). Samaria (the region that rejected Christ on the journey, Luke 9:52-56, but will receive the Gospel through Philip). And the end of the earth. The farthest point. The Indian subcontinent where Thomas will carry the faith. Ethiopia where the eunuch will bring it home (Acts 8). Rome where Paul will stand before Caesar. The end of the earth.
The circles expand from the Ascension point outward. The stone dropped in the water at Jerusalem creates ripples that reach every shore. And the ripples are still moving. The Malankara Orthodox Church in India. The Coptic Church in Egypt. The Ethiopian Tewahedo Church. The Armenian Apostolic Church. Every Orthodox community on every continent is a ripple from the stone dropped in Jerusalem on the day of the Ascension.
St. Cyril of Alexandria, in his Commentary on Acts and his Festal Letters, teaches that the concentric circles of Acts 1:8 are not merely geographical. They are spiritual. Jerusalem is the heart. The place of the Cross and the resurrection. Judea is the near community. The people who share your faith and your language. Samaria is the difficult neighbour. The people who worship on the wrong mountain but whom Christ refused to burn. The end of the earth is the unknown. The place you have not been. The people you have not met. The Gospel must reach all four. And the order matters. You begin at the heart. You do not skip Jerusalem to reach the end of the earth. The witness starts where you are. And then it expands.1
He Was Taken Up (Acts 1:9–11)
“Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.'” (Acts 1:9–11)
“While they watched.”
The Ascension happened before their eyes. Not in secret. Not in the dark. Not while they were sleeping. While they watched. The last act of the visible ministry is visible. They see Him go. The way they saw Him die. The way they saw Him risen. They see Him ascend. The eyewitness testimony covers everything. Birth (the shepherds). Ministry (the disciples). Death (John and the women at the Cross). Resurrection (Mary, the Emmaus disciples, Thomas). And now Ascension (the eleven, watching).
“A cloud received Him out of their sight.”
The cloud. In the Old Testament, the cloud is the Shekinah. The presence of God. The pillar of cloud that led Israel through the wilderness. The cloud that filled the tabernacle so that Moses could not enter. The cloud that covered Sinai when God spoke the commandments. The cloud that filled Solomon’s temple at its dedication. The cloud is God’s visible invisibility. The sign that says: God is here, but you cannot look directly at Him.
Today the cloud receives Christ. The Shekinah that has been hovering over Israel since the Exodus now receives the incarnate God back into the divine presence. The body that was born in Bethlehem enters the cloud that has been present since Genesis. The human and the divine, united in Christ, pass through the cloud and arrive at the throne.
“He was taken up.” Epērthē. Passive voice. He was lifted. He was received. The Ascension is not Christ climbing. It is the Father receiving. The Son does not ascend by His own effort. The Father lifts. The Spirit carries. The Trinity acts together. The Son is received back into the communion from which He came. The Incarnation’s mission is complete. The body that came down has gone back up. And it has gone back up changed. Bearing the marks. Carrying the wounds. Bringing humanity into the presence of the Father for the first time.
“Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?”
Two angels. In white. Standing beside the disciples who are standing with their necks craned toward the sky. And the angels ask the question that redirects the entire Church.
Why are you looking up?
The question is not a rebuke. It is a redirection. The disciples are doing the natural thing. Their Lord has just ascended. Their eyes follow Him. The sky is the last place they saw Him. Of course they look up. What else would they do?
But the looking up cannot become the permanent posture. The Church does not spend its life staring at the sky. The Church has work to do. On the ground. In Jerusalem. In Judea. In Samaria. To the end of the earth. The Ascension does not produce sky-gazers. It produces witnesses. The looking up must give way to the going out.
“This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go.”
The promise. The anchor. The reason the disciples can stop looking up and start looking out. He is coming back. The same Jesus. Not a different one. Not a spiritual version. The same. With the same body. The same wounds. The same voice that said “Mary” in the garden and “peace be with you” in the locked room and “come and eat breakfast” on the beach. That Jesus. Coming back. In the clouds. The same way He went.
The Ascension is bracketed by two promises. Before the Ascension: “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (v. 8). After the Ascension: “He will come back in like manner” (v. 11). The Spirit is coming (soon). The Son is coming (at the end). And between the two comings, the Church. Waiting. Witnessing. Working. With the authority of the mountain and the power of Pentecost and the promise of the return.
St. Ephrem the Syrian, in his Hymns on the Ascension, writes that the cloud that received Christ is the same cloud that will return Him. The Shekinah that has been the vehicle of God’s presence since the beginning is now the vehicle of Christ’s departure and Christ’s return. Ephrem says the disciples should not have been sad. The cloud is not a wall. It is a door. The same door Christ went through is the door He will come back through. And in the meantime, the Spirit comes through it from the other side. The cloud is not a barrier between the Church and Christ. It is the membrane through which the Spirit flows. The Ascension does not separate Christ from the Church. It changes the mode of His presence. From visible body to invisible Spirit. From local presence to universal presence. From the One who walks beside you to the One who dwells within you.2
He Sat Down at the Right Hand (Mark 16:19–20)
“So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.” (Mark 16:19–20)
“He sat down at the right hand of God.”
Sat down. The work of the Incarnation is finished. The journey is complete. The face that was set toward Jerusalem has arrived at the destination beyond Jerusalem. The right hand of God. The place of authority. The place of intercession. The place from which the Spirit will be sent and from which the Son will return.
The sitting is not idleness. It is enthronement. Kings sit on thrones. Judges sit on benches. The seated Christ is the reigning Christ. The ruling Christ. The interceding Christ. The Christ who is at this moment, as we read this sentence, seated at the right hand of the Father, praying for us. “He always lives to make intercession” (Hebrews 7:25). The Ascension did not retire Christ. It enthroned Him. And the throne is a place of active, ongoing, never-ceasing work on your behalf.
“And they went out and preached everywhere.”
The sky-gazing ended. The going began. The commission became action. The authority became proclamation. The words Christ spoke at the table became the words the apostles spoke in the world. And the world has not stopped hearing them.
“The Lord working with them.”
Tou Kuriou sunergountos. The Lord working alongside. Co-operating. The ascended Christ is not absent from the mission. He is working with the missionaries. The Ascension did not remove Christ from the equation. It placed Him at the centre of the equation in a new way. No longer walking beside them on the road. Now working within them by the Spirit. The mode has changed. The presence has not.
“And confirming the word through the accompanying signs.”
The signs followed. As Christ promised in verse 17. The word was preached. The signs confirmed. The sick were healed. The demons were cast out. The tongues were spoken. The word and the signs together. The preaching and the power together. The authority of the commission and the energy of the Spirit together. This is the Church. Not the word without the power. Not the power without the word. Both. Together. Confirmed. Working. From the day of the Ascension until today.
St. John Chrysostom, in his Homilies on Acts, teaches that the final verse of Mark’s Gospel is the charter of the Church’s entire existence. He says everything the Church does, from the first sermon of Peter at Pentecost to the last Qurbana before the return of Christ, is contained in this verse. They went out. They preached. The Lord worked with them. The signs confirmed. Four elements. Going. Preaching. The Lord’s co-operation. The signs. Remove any one of them and the Church is incomplete. The going without the preaching is activism. The preaching without the Lord is humanism. The Lord without the signs is invisible. The signs without the preaching are spectacle. All four together are the Church. And all four flow from the Ascension. Because the ascended Christ is the One who sends, empowers, accompanies, and confirms.3
What the Feast of the Ascension Means
The Ascension is not a loss. It is a gain.
The visible Christ is now the universal Christ. The local Christ is now the omnipresent Christ. The Christ who could be in one room at a time is now the Christ who is in every room at every time. The mode has changed. The presence has not. The body that was touched by Thomas is now at the right hand of the Father. And from that right hand, the Spirit is being sent. Into every believer. Into every congregation. Into every corner of the world.
The Ascension is the beginning of the Church’s independence. Not independence from Christ. Independence in Christ. The disciples no longer need the visible Lord standing in front of them to do the work. The invisible Lord is working within them. The authority has been given. The power is about to be given. And the promise of return anchors everything between the giving and the coming.
Today, in the Malankara Orthodox Church, in the Coptic Church, in the Ethiopian Tewahedo Church, in the Armenian Apostolic Church, and in every Orthodox community around the world, the Ascension is celebrated as a feast. Not as a farewell. A feast. Because the coronation of the King is a reason for celebration. The King is on the throne. The Spirit is on the way. The Church is on the mission. And the return is certain.
For Our Journey Today
Stop gazing up. The angels said it. “Why do you stand gazing up into heaven?” The Ascension has happened. The departure is real. But the looking up cannot become the permanent posture. There is work to do. On the ground. In our Jerusalem. In our Judea. In our Samaria. To our end of the earth. Stop gazing. Start going.
Wait for the power. Christ said “wait.” The hardest command. We have the commission. We have the authority. We have the words. But we do not have the power yet. The Spirit is coming. Pentecost is ten days away. Do not rush ahead of the Spirit. Do not start the mission on human energy alone. Wait. The power is coming. And when it comes, everything changes.
Live between the promises. The Spirit is coming (soon). The Son is coming (at the end). Our life is lived between the two. The Spirit empowers the present. The return anchors the future. And between the two, we go out. We preach. The Lord works with us. The signs confirm. This is our life. Between the coming of the Spirit and the coming of the Son. With the authority given on the mountain and the power of Pentecost and the promise that He will come back. The same way He went. In the clouds. In glory. In the body that still carries the nail marks.
Lord Jesus Christ, who ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father, we worship You on Your throne today. You have not left us. You have changed the mode of Your presence. From the visible to the invisible. From the local to the universal. From the body on the road to the Spirit in the heart. You are here. Working with us. Confirming the word. Accompanying the mission. Interceding at the right hand. And You are coming back. The same Jesus. In the clouds. In glory. With the wounds still visible. Until that day, we go. We preach. We witness. In Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Not in our strength. In Yours. Not with our power. With the Spirit You are about to send. Grant us the patience to wait for the power. The courage to stop gazing and start going. And the faith to live between the promises. The Spirit is coming. You are coming. And between the two comings, we are Yours. By the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos, the holy apostles who watched You ascend, and all the saints, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
The Feast of the Ascension. He was taken up. A cloud received Him. The angels said: stop gazing. He is coming back. The same Jesus. The same body. The same wounds. In the same clouds. Until then: wait for the Spirit. Go into all the world. Preach. The Lord works with you. The signs confirm. This is the Church. Between the Ascension and the Return. Between the going of the Son and the coming of the Spirit. Between the promise already kept and the promise still coming. He sat down at the right hand. And they went out and preached everywhere.
An Introduction to the Days of Waiting
With the Feast of the Ascension, the Church enters the Days of Waiting.
The ten days between the Ascension (Thursday) and Pentecost (the following Sunday, fifty days after Pascha/Resurrection) are the most unusual days in the liturgical calendar. Christ has ascended. The Spirit has not yet been poured out in fullness. The disciples have been told to wait. They have the commission but not yet the power. They have the words but not yet the fire. They have the promise but not yet the fulfilment.
The Church is in between.
The Days of Waiting are not empty days. They are full of prayer. Acts 1:14 tells us that the disciples “continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.” The waiting is not passive. It is prayerful. The community gathers. The Theotokos is present. The prayers are sustained. And the expectation builds.
Seeking Theosis will endeavour to provide reflections for the Days of Waiting, exploring the Scriptures during this unique period. The reflections will walk through the days between the Ascension and Pentecost, accompanying the Church as it waits for the promised Spirit. What does it mean to wait? What does the Church do when the Lord has gone and the Spirit has not yet come? How does the community sustain itself in the gap between the promise and the fulfilment?
These are not abstract questions. They are the questions of every believer who has received the commission and is waiting for the power. Every Christian who knows what needs to be done but does not yet have the capacity to do it. Every parish that has the words of the Gospel but is waiting for the fire that turns the words into a blaze.
The Days of Waiting are for all of us. Because the Church always lives between the Ascension and Pentecost. Between the going of the Son and the coming of the Spirit. Between the promise and the fulfilment. Between the “wait” and the “go.”
The reflections will run from the Friday after the Ascension through to the vigil of Pentecost. Join us as we wait. Together. In prayer. With the Theotokos and the apostles. For the fire that is coming.
Patristic References
- St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444). Festal Letters 1–12, translated by Philip R. Amidon, edited by John J. O’Keefe, Fathers of the Church Vol. 118 (Catholic University of America Press, 2009). ↩︎
- St. Ephrem the Syrian (c. 306–373). Hymns on the Ascension and related festal hymns. ↩︎
- St. John Chrysostom (c. 349–407). Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles, Homilies 1–2, on Acts 1:1–11. ↩︎
