The
Ascension and the Confidence of Christian Prayer
In the Gospel of Luke, as He prepares to ascend into Heaven, the
Risen Christ leads his disciples out from Jerusalem
as far as Bethany.
There He raises his hands and blesses them as His witnesses telling them to go
back to Jerusalem to wait for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is in this
act of blessing that He departs from them and is taken up into heaven. This
passage invites us to reflect on the relationship of Bethany and Heaven.
Bethany is not far outside of Jerusalem. It is the town where the close friends of Jesus lived: Lazarus, Mary and Martha. About halfway between Bethany and the old walls of Jerusalem there stands the Church of the Pater Noster. This is where it is believed that Jesus gave his teachings on prayer and it is where the ancient Christians commemorated Jesus's ascension into heaven. This suggests that the ancient Christians made associations between Bethany and Heaven, friendship with Jesus and prayer, the ascension of the Lord and the witness of the faith. What does it mean?
One thing that it means is that Christian prayer is a profoundly theological reality. That is, prayer is born of events of great theological meaning in the life of the Church. Christian prayer finds in the ascension of the Lord the reason for its bold access into heaven. If Christ taught we should pray with the bold confidence of sons and daughters, Christian prayer believes it can reach into the heart of the Father because it flows from faith in the Risen Lord whom the Father has raised up to Himself. When Christ was raised up, frail humanity was lifted into the embrace of divinity so that all of the Lord's prayers for us are answered. Through the faith in Him who prays for us to the Father, the world becomes vulnerable to the power of Heaven.
Bethany is not far outside of Jerusalem. It is the town where the close friends of Jesus lived: Lazarus, Mary and Martha. About halfway between Bethany and the old walls of Jerusalem there stands the Church of the Pater Noster. This is where it is believed that Jesus gave his teachings on prayer and it is where the ancient Christians commemorated Jesus's ascension into heaven. This suggests that the ancient Christians made associations between Bethany and Heaven, friendship with Jesus and prayer, the ascension of the Lord and the witness of the faith. What does it mean?
One thing that it means is that Christian prayer is a profoundly theological reality. That is, prayer is born of events of great theological meaning in the life of the Church. Christian prayer finds in the ascension of the Lord the reason for its bold access into heaven. If Christ taught we should pray with the bold confidence of sons and daughters, Christian prayer believes it can reach into the heart of the Father because it flows from faith in the Risen Lord whom the Father has raised up to Himself. When Christ was raised up, frail humanity was lifted into the embrace of divinity so that all of the Lord's prayers for us are answered. Through the faith in Him who prays for us to the Father, the world becomes vulnerable to the power of Heaven.
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