Risk and Consequence

I'm preparing to team-teach a class tomorrow from the Yancey book The Jesus I Never Knew. The topic is the Ascension. I must admit that I've never really thought much about Jesus' ascension. This has been a good chapter to prepare to teach because I've learned so many new things.

Yancey asks the question -- "Why did Jesus have to leave?" Actually, I've never considered that question before. I just assumed that it was part of the plan (and I guess that it was). I've never considered that he might NOT ascend -- might NOT have gone back to heaven, and might have remained here.

I wonder if he disciples believed that he had a choice? If they did, then that would make his departure even more difficult than it was. I like that Yancey explains that by ascending, Jesus was taking a risk -- the risk of being forgotten.

But that's not the only risk. By leaving, he was entrusting us with his mission. I was in a meeting the other day, and one of the students in the class, who is also the chairman of the committee that was meeting, was talking to my team-teacher and me about this chapter. She reached over, swatted JtM on the arm, and said, "Tag, you're it!" By leaving, everything became our responsibility:

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

So what was the consequence of his departure? He left the presence of the disciples, and came to live with them forever. He is part of us; he is within us. We are now the Body of Christ. By leaving, he got closer than he has ever been before, and the world has never been the same.

Image: Drawing by G for youth Lenten devotional