Forty days after his resurrection, on a Thursday, our Lord gathered his disciples on a hillside in Galilee. After final instructions, he left this world with his visible presence and reascended to his native heaven. There the human Jesus rules as King of heaven and earth. This day is a triumph for Christ, a festival of victory.

Jesus certainly deserves this triumph! At Christmas he left his Father’s throne in heaven and humbled himself to be born as one of his own created creatures. He lay in a crude stable in Bethlehem, fled to Egypt from his own people, and traveled to exhaustion throughout Israel to lead the lost sheep back to the fold. He experienced misunderstanding and lovelessness and finally suffered the physical and mental anguish of the Passion on Good Friday. Why all this? Because he loved us. For what purpose? To purchase our freedom from the power of the Devil on Easter morning and restore us to a right relationship with God. To this work he devoted all his love, his heart’s blood, everything. This work is now completed. At his ascension, Christ returns to heaven as victor.

Ascension Day is a feast of gladness for Christ, but also for us. Our brother’s ascension in his body is also the elevation of our human nature. Human beings had been created in God’s image but have corrupted that image with sin. In Christ, we are restored to the divine nobility intended by our Creator. First we ascend and live in heaven with our hearts and will and desires even while still temporarily living on earth. Later when Christ returns we will live with him also in body and soul in the paradise on earth God designed and desired.

In the meanwhile, Jesus has removed his visible presence from us at his ascension, but he has not removed his effective presence from us. He has given us his Spirit to empower us to love one another and go and make disciples—the very job intended for humanity from the beginning. He and all his gifts are fully present today in the message of the gospel.