Ascension-Driven Advocacy

I preached last Sunday morning on John's account of Mary's encounter with the risen Christ in which her attempts to demonstrate genuine affection and surprise upon seeing Jesus alive were seemingly rebuffed with a curt rebuke: "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father" (Jesus' seeming annoyance notwithstanding, I resisted the temptation to title the sermon "Mary, Mary! Why Ya Buggin'?").

What strikes me about this exchange is that the obvious difference between the pre- and post-ascension relationship of Jesus with his followers seems to be one that suggests less intimacy, when in fact the opposite is the case. We know this by what Jesus said next: "Go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father." If anything, the physical absence of Christ creates a relationship that is more intimate, not less.

If you had asked me a few years ago whether a study of the gospels would really yield any new insights for me, I would have dutifully answered "yes," but the things I would have had in mind would have been mostly factual (such as becoming familiar with this or that Jewish custom, or learning how many days' journey it was from Jerusalem to Galilee). But I must say, the things I have been learning and passing along have been every bit as mind-blowing for me as they have been for many members of my congregation. So despite how basic and fundamental it sounds, it really is incredible that Jesus ascended to the Father with our human nature, that humanity is now part of the Godhead, and that when the Trinity gathers, our flesh is present there as the glorified firstfruits of things to come.

Considering Christ's heavenly advocacy through the lens of the historia salutis takes things to a whole new level, and it makes me wonder why the ascension doesn't get more press in Reformed circles (although Horton's People and Place, building upon Douglas Farrow's work, is a welcome addition). I'll leave you with a quotation I cited in my sermon:

"[The ascension of Christ] is an act that, having overcome sin and death, results in a time and place and mode of life defined by full participation in the trinitarian economy. For in and through the ascension of Jesus the earthly things of human existence (whether physical or mental) are so united with the heavenly things of the Spirit that the former are made fully subject to the goal of communion with the Father." Douglas Farrow, Ascension Theology, p. 48