Resurrection and Ascension

Resurrection of Jesus

According to the Gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion.^[26] The Gospel of Matthew states that an angel appeared near the tomb of Jesus and announced his resurrection to Mary Magdelene and "another Mary" who had arrived to anoint the body (Matthew 28:1–10). According to Luke there were two angels (Luke 24:4), and according to Mark there was a youth dressed in white (Mark 16:5). Mark states that on the morning of his resurrection, Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9). John states that when Mary looked into the tomb, two angels asked her why she was crying; and as she turned round she initially failed to recognize Jesus until he spoke her name (John 20:11–18).

The Acts of the Apostles state that Jesus appeared to various people in various places over the next forty days. Hours after his resurrection, he appeared to two travelers on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–35). To his assembled disciples he showed himself on the evening after his resurrection (John 20:19). Although his own ministry had been specifically to Jews, Jesus is said to have sent his apostles to the Gentiles with the Great Commission and ascended to heaven while a cloud concealed him from their sight. According to Acts, Paul of Tarsus also saw Jesus during his Road to Damascus experience. Jesus promised to come again to fulfill the remainder of Messianic prophecy.^[27]

 

 

Ascension

The general understanding of the Christian doctrine of Ascension holds that Jesus bodily ascended to heaven in the presence of his apostles, forty days following his resurrection. The term "heaven" is generally believed, by practicing Christians, as referring to a physical reunion with God the Father, as opposed to a spiritual transformation and experience of the Divine which is common to the mystical traditions of many world religions. It is narrated in Mark 16:15-19, Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1:6-12, and Ephesians 4:7-13. This is affirmed by Christian liturgy in the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed.

 

Biblical accounts

The first account of the Ascension found in the Christian Bible is in the Gospel of Mark (16:14-19)—but see article on Mark 16. The description is brief: Jesus and the remaining eleven apostles are seated at a table, presumably in a room in or near Jerusalem. Jesus commands his followers to spread the Gospel (see also Great Commission) and that those who believe will be known by their invulnerability to poison, ability to heal the sick, exorcise demons, and the like. After delivering these final words, Jesus is received into Heaven to sit at the right hand of God. No description of the Ascension itself is given; Mark simply states that it happened.

The Gospel of Luke is even more brief in its description (24:50-51). Jesus led the eleven to Bethany, not far from Jerusalem. While in the act of blessing them, Jesus was carried up to Heaven.

In both Mark and Luke, the Ascension appears to take place immediately after the Resurrection of Jesus. (But see the discussion three paragraphs below.)

Not only is the Ascension related in the passages of Scripture cited above, but it is also elsewhere predicted and spoken of as an established fact. Thus, in John 6:62, Christ asks the Jews: "What if then you shall see the son of Man ascend up where He was before?" and 20:17, He says to Mary Magdalen: "Do not touch (translated "approach" in the Aramaic) Me, for I am not yet ascended to My Father, but go to My brethren, and say to them: I ascend to My Father and to your Father, to My God and to your God." Again, in Acts 2:30-33, Ephesians 4:8-10, and in I Timothy 3:16, the Ascension of Christ is spoken of as an accepted fact. Christians do not interpret this as a "state of full consciousness," but rather a literal rising from the earth into the sky.

The third account of the Ascension is in the Acts of the Apostles (1:9-12). For forty days after the Resurrection, Jesus continued to teach his followers. Jesus and the eleven were gathered near Mount Olivet, to the northeast of Bethany. Jesus tells his apostles that they will receive the power of the Holy Spirit, the "Comforter," and that they will spread his message the world over. Jesus is taken up and received by a cloud. Two men clothed in white (i.e., angels) appear and tell the apostles that Jesus will return in the same manner as he was taken.

Even though these three accounts might appear contradictory, the reader should keep in mind that the Gospel of Luke and Acts were both written by the same author and are thus very unlikely to contain such glaring discrepancies. In fact, the Gospel of Luke never says that Jesus was taken up immediately after his Resurrection but simply states that the ascension happened "when he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany", which could very well be forty days after his Resurrection. It is also recognized by many scholars that Mark either originally ended at 16:8 or had a different ending (see the article on Mark 16); this, however, is not universally agreed. Mark's Ascension account could therefore be read in the light of later authorship, probably with reference to the existing traditions surrounding the event.

The Gospel of Matthew ends at a mountain in Galilee, with Jesus commanding the Disciples to spread the Gospel to the ends of the world, baptizing in the name of the Trinity (the "Great Commission"). No mention is made of the Ascension.

Even within the pious Christian tradition, the language used by the Evangelists to describe the Ascension must be interpreted according to usage. To say that he was taken up or that he ascended, does not necessarily imply that they locate heaven directly above the earth; no more than the words "sitteth on the right hand of God" mean that this is his actual physical posture, but rather denotes his equality with the Father. In disappearing from their view "He was raised up and a cloud received Him out of their sight" (Acts 1:9), and entering into glory he dwells with the Father in the honour and power denoted by the scripture phrase.

[edit] Extra-biblical accounts

Outside of the Biblical Canon, the Ascension is discussed in the Pistis Sophia. Irenaeus in Against Heresies describes the ascension briefly: it gives a timespan of eighteen months between the resurrection and the ascension, while in another part of the same text he describes the timespan as eighteen aeons. The apocryphal text known as the Apocryphon of James describes the teachings of Jesus to James and Peter 550 days after the resurrection, but before the ascension, suggesting an even longer period. The recently discovered Nag Hammadi Gospel of Thomas, like the canonical Gospel of Matthew, does not mention the Ascension.

[edit] Location

Although the place of the Ascension is never distinctly stated, it would appear from Acts that it could have been Mount Olivet (the "Mount of Olives"), since after the Ascension the apostles are described as returning to Jerusalem from the mount that is called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, within a Sabbath day's journey. Tradition has consecrated this site as the Mount of Ascension.

Early Christians honored the Ascension by worshiping in a cave nearby, probably out of fear of persecution for worshipping openly. Later, after the conversion of Constantine, the first church was built on the site around 390 AD by Poimenia, a pious Roman lady. St. Helena erected over the site a basilica called "Eleona Basilica" (eleon in Greek means "olive", and has an oft-mentioned similarity to eleison mening "mercy"). in 392, which was destroyed by the Persians in 614. It was rebuilt in the eighth century, destroyed again, but rebuilt a second time by the Crusaders. This final church was also destroyed the Moslems, leaving only the octagonal structure (called a martyrium—"memorial"—or "Edicule") which remains to this day.

The site was ultimately acquired by two emissaries of Saladin in the year 1198 and has remained in the possession of the Islamic Waqf of Jerusalem ever since. The martyrium, though now only bare stone, enshrines the rock said to bear the imprint of the right foot of Christ as he ascended, and is venerated by Christians as the last point on earth touched by the incarnate Christ. The Crusader building was converted to a mosque but was never used by Muslims since the overwhelming majority of visitors were Christian. As a gesture of compromise and goodwill, Saladin ordered the construction of a second mosque and mihrab two years later next door to the chapel for Muslim worship while Christians continued to visit the main chapel. Though still under the control of the Moslems, this Chapel of the Ascension is currently opened to visitors for a nominal fee.

The Russian Orthodox Church also maintains a Convent of the Ascension on the top of the Mount of Olives.