That is the fitting depiction of what the Ascension is about. Jesus, unlike His Blessed Mother, with His own power, ascended into heaven. The feet are a powerful reminder of who He is and the future that we will have. In Christ, we have a person who is fully human, who at the same time, is fully divine, who has ascended and is seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven to intercede for us.
Where He goes, we hope to follow.
The human and divine natures of Christ are our template. Each one of us has a celestial destiny and yet here we are in this world where the work of salvation continues. For as long as the world endures and humanity exists, redemption is ongoing and there is work to be done.
Matthew 28 provides us with the final instruction given by Jesus. The Great Commission enjoined upon the Apostles and the Church to, “Go and baptise all the nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. The promise that accompanies this sending is to know that through the Holy Spirit, He will be with us till the end of time.
However, the action “to baptise” is graphic or explicit and reminiscent of a watery grave or ritual. Either via immersion or pouring, one is initiated into a community of believers. Given that this is a sacramental act, it can be rather threateningly forbidding or exclusive especially in the context of diversity. The dogma of “pluralism” is currently ascendant especially in a multi-cultural context. In fact, plurality is accepted or even celebrated to the point that differences in doctrines are smoothed over in favour of ethics. The truths of doctrines, which are what we believe in, are not easy topics for dialogues or conversations but all are agreed that every religion teaches its adherents to be good and to do good. For example, Buddhism seeks enlightenment through the extirpation of desires. Therefore the goal of Nirvana is nothingness. Whereas Christianity seeks salvation because of the reality of sin and separation from God. Hence heaven is not nothing for Christians. Instead heaven is our completereconciliation with God.
These two examples tell us that even though all religions teach goodness, they do not share the same goals. Like it or not, religion ultimately cannot be reduced to ethics. This is where we might relook at the Great Commission and how to be faithful to Christ’s command. If we reword it perhaps it can allow us to work around the difficulties associated with rituals and religious doctrines. If we say, “Go and make all creation more and more like Christ”, it still sounds Christian. Perhaps “Go and make all creation more god-like, more divine”. That might sound a lot more ethical than religious.
It might make cross-religious encounter less threatening and more approachable. Speaking of the divinisation of creation or humanity makes it easier for us to reach out to others. Talk less about religion and more about what we can accomplish or achieve as a whole. Still that is not our goal. The Great Commission aims to bring creation into the knowledge of who God is and what His desires are for humanity. The Church has a sworn duty, ultimately, in obedience to Christ, to bring all creation into or incorporate humanity into the Body of Christ. Translated, it means that we must bear in mind that the Sacrament of Baptism, according to the teaching of the Church, is the ordinary means through which one is brought into the fold.
How do we propose this to the world? The challenge for us is not to look at other religions from the perspective of what is lacking or what is imperfect in them. Rather, it is to propose to humanity what is better in the proposals of Christ. Informing people that their life’s choices are no good does them no good. Rather, people are more willing to give up something good for something which is better. Is that not the marketing strategy of so many of our health products?
Finally, the feet sticking out of a ceiling is really quite literal. The Ascension marks a closing and a beginning. Christ’s earthly ministry has drawn to a close while His heavenly ministry is taking off. The authority given to the Disciples as He commissions them, signals that His heavenly ministry will continue with His presence in a Church that is empowered by His Spirit. Christianity is not meant to be a parochial religion. It has a universal mission to bring the world into the Body of Christ.
Right now, we are in a conundrum because we have walked ourselves into the corner of ethical collaboration. We need to move from ethics to being. We should stop peddling the narrative that Asia is other religions. Going against this statement is not denigrating the other great traditions of Asia. Christianity IS Asian. Look at the Philippines. Look a Timor Leste. Look at Korea. Slowly but surely, only if we believe that Christ gave us a commission to universalise His teaching and way of life. The Ascension should give us more confidence and perhaps we should have faith in ourselves first and be confident in what we believe in before we can tell the world that Jesus is the Lord of all creation and Saviour of all humanity.
