Luke is often associated with authorship of the Book of Acts as well as the gospel we name after him. While the two books are anonymous, Christian tradition has long ascribed the name Luke to be this author who was associated with the apostle Paul in his journeys.
Luke is identified as a physician in Colossians 4:14, and his name also appears in 2 Timothy 4:11 and the 24th verse of Philemon. In going along with Christian tradition, I will refer to the author of Acts as Luke.
Luke is writing to Theophilus, which in Greek means Lover of God. He was possibly a Roman official or Luke might be using the name to refer to his readership in general.
The risen Lord bids the disciples to stay in Jerusalem so that they would receive the Holy Spirit. Luke's account differs somewhat from John's Gospel where the disciples received the Holy Spirit when Jesus breathed on them following the resurrection.
In Acts, the disciples who have yet to receive the Holy Spirit, ask in verse six about the restoration of Israel. This was the common understanding of what the Messiah was supposed to do. So in essence, they were asking, "Now, are you going to put Israel back together?" Jesus indicates that they will have greater understanding after they receive the Holy Spirit. The kingdom is going to look differently than they imagined.
Then we see Luke's version of Matthew's Great Commission when Jesus says, "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
This sets us up for how the rest of Acts will play out. For those reading this devotion in a different continent than Asia, Europe or Africa, you represent more of the ends of the earth than was ever imagined in that day!
Luke mentions the Ascension in his gospel but really unpacks it here in Acts. Mark also has the Ascension but only in the verses that are considered late additions to the Gospel. We don't see this theology in Matthew or John. It really fits with the Son of Man motif from the Book of Daniel:
As I watched in the night visions,Daniel 7:13-14 (NRSV)
I saw one like a human being [or like a son of man]
coming with the clouds of heaven.
And he came to the Ancient One [or the Ancient of Days]
and was presented before him.
To him was given dominion
and glory and kingship,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not pass away,
and his kingship is one
that shall never be destroyed.
As the two observers (angels?) state, Jesus "will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." (Acts 1:11, NRSV) This fits pretty well with what we see above in Daniel.
So what does the Ascension mean for us today? At the end of the first century, this image lent authority to Jesus to the communities the new disciples encountered. If I think of it as a shared vision from the disciples, it makes more sense to me. Visions and dreams will be prominent in Acts as we shall see. We tend to discount a vision as something imagined or not real. But a vision can unite us. A vision can speak truth to us. A vision can give us a glimpse of something more real than anything we can grasp in the mundane.For Jesus to ascend to heaven reminds us of his endurance. He remains with us in spirit and we are reminded of this as he shares this very message about the Holy Spirit with the disciples!
How does this understanding of the Ascension speak to you today? Does it have meaning for you or does it seem archaic? Each person has differing points of emphasis for their own understanding of faith. But as we examine these early traditions, we may find something in them that is more valuable to us than we realized.
Prayer for the day:
Everliving God,
your eternal Christ once dwelt on earth,
confined by time and space.
Give us faith to discern in every time and place
the presence among us
of him who is head over all things and fills all,
even Jesus Christ our ascended Lord. Amen.
Prayer by Laurence Hull Stookey, USA, 20th cent.
(c) 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House
Photo by Gary McNair via Flickr.com. Used under the Creative Commons license.
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