In Jesus, God became a human being. That is what we celebrate at Christmas and it is also what is emphasised by Jesus in his post-resurrection appearances (Luke 24. 36 - 53). God becomes Emmanuel, one with us, one of us.
As we read in Colossians 1.19, Jesus had in himself, as a human being, the full nature of God. In other words, he showed God to us as fully as God can be seen in human form. This is because the creator must limit himself when he becomes part of his creation and so in Philippians 2. 7 we also read that Jesus gave up all he had when he took the nature of a servant by becoming a human being and appearing in human likeness.
For God to become a human being involved limitation. A helpful analogy is that of an artist and his/her self-portrait. The self-portrait is the artist (in that it looks just like the artist, being an accurate representation of him or her) but it is much more limited than the artist (being paint on canvas rather than living flesh and bones). For the eternal, creator God to become a mortal part of his creation involved a similar level of limitation. Among the limitations as a human being that Jesus willingly accepted was being born in a particular time and place (1st century Palestine) and living, ministering and dying only in that same time and place.
Jesus’ Ascension was necessary then in order to overcome those limitations. Not so much by regaining his full divinity as by giving each of his followers his Spirit so that we can then be his hands and feet, his eyes, ears and mouth, his body in the world and throughout history. It is not possible for one person by himself to go to all peoples everywhere but it is possible for Christ’s disciples, his followers, to take his message and his Spirit from Jerusalem to all of Judea and Samaria and then to the ends of the earth.
The Gospel of Christ is able to go out into the whole world because we, the followers of Christ, are scattered throughout the world and can be his hands and feet, his eyes, ears and mouth, his body wherever we are. Suddenly, there are no limits on where the Body of Christ – his followers – can be. This is why, at his Ascension, he says to his disciples, “you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth “(Acts 1. 8).
But this can only happen as we all play our own part in the Body of Christ. It can only happen as we act as the hands and feet, his eyes, ears and mouth, his body wherever we are. This is the challenge of the Ascension for us, but this challenge is combined with the promise that he will send his Spirit to us to empower and equip us to be his people, his Body, by doing what he would have done wherever we are. This is why he also says to his disciples, “when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1.8).
For this reason, the Ascension and Pentecost are intimately linked. The Ascension provides the challenge – “Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples” (Matthew 28.19) – and Pentecost provides the means - “when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
One day we are ordinary people, the next, through the Spirit, we are Christ’s evangelists, and pastors, and healers, and mercy-bringers, and the Body of Christ, redeemed by his blood, one in ministry to the entire world. Through our lives God brings living water to a thirsty world in the offerings of service and mercy that we share with others on a daily basis. This is the extraordinary way that God builds his Kingdom throughout the world - through ordinary people like you and me.
Let us pray for the coming of God’s kingdom on earth, as in heaven, throughout the world from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. Amen.
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Mavis Staples - In Christ There Is No East Or West.
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