ACTS 1:1-11
We've probably heard news about the appearance of the Aurora this weekend. So I googled why the aurora appears in the sky.
Aurora is the display of dancing lights in the sky at night. When the aurora appears in the northern part, they call it Aurora Borealis, and when it appears in the southern part, they call it Aurora Australis.
What causes these dancing lights? It is the sun. The sun doesn’t only emit heat and light but it also sends electrified energy and particles around its solar system, known as solar wind. It is like gaseous energy coming out from the sun.
Since the sun emits solar wind, it also produces outbursts of gaseous wind, known as solar storms. During these storms, the sun sends massive particles and electrified energy into space.
However, the earth has a magnetic field that controls the solar wind and storm. This magnetic field traps the small particles and electrified energy, preventing them from penetrating into the earth.
When the solar storm reaches the earth’s atmosphere, the earth’s magnetic field causes to interact with the particles. That’s why these particles look like dancing because of the interaction. These interactions create various light effects and the colour effect depends on the location. These particles can only be seen in the dark. They just glow in the dark. And the solar storm doesn’t have any physical effect to humans at all.
Why am I sharing this, because this week, we also remember the ascension of the Lord.
A typical question when you ask the children, where did Jesus ascend? And they would literally say, he is in heaven, in the sky, in the atmosphere, or in the universe.
In the old days, we usually thought that the ascension of the Lord is his transition from the earth to heaven. We thought that Jesus ascended geographically. And when we think that Jesus ascended into the space, the implication of this is that we literally think that Jesus is far and distant from us.
In the book of Acts, we read that disciples’ were looking into the sky where Jesus was going upward until the cloud hid him from their sight. It was not mentioned how long they were staring into the sky. But I thought that they stayed up waiting for the Lord to come back again right away to instantly satisfy their fears. What were their fears? Probably, they were fearful of the absence of Jesus Christ.
However, two men or angels appeared to them saying “why do you stand here looking into the sky?” Remember these two men also appeared at the tomb when Jesus resurrected telling women, “why are you looking for Jesus?” He is not here; he has risen!
So Jesus’ resurrection and Jesus’ ascension have both significant meaning; it is the same statement to our contemporary language, “why are you feeling stuck? cheer up and rise to your feet”
Both of these statements have taken out the fears and uncertainties of the disciples but they were given hope and confidence from the Lord to move forward.
Where did the disciples go? In Luke 24, it was stated that they instantly went down to Jerusalem from Mt of Olives and worshipped the Lord with great joy. Overly joyed as massive outburst of joy. There was like an instant response. What you think if the disciples ignore the statement of the angels? The opposite of these would probably be numbness, like no movement, no actions, no thoughts or feelings, poker face or apathetic. What prevents us from responding to the Lord’s message of ascension?
To conclude,
Jesus’ ascension is not merely a geographical but an intensified presence of him not only limiting the space of his presence but it transcends into every human being in every part of the world. He is always existing. We only need to remove that magnetic field in order for him to penetrate into lives.
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