09 May 2024 – The Ascension of the Lord, Solemnity (Year B)

by Fr Larry Tan, SJ

Let us just imagine. Here, the Cathedral here is something like the world. Imagine that the Cathedral or the world is plunged into darkness. What would happen?

Talking about blackout and so forth, we will immediately reach for the light, to turn the lights on so that we can see.

Now just imagine Jesus Christ has said: I am the light of the world and soon I will be going back to heaven, return to the Father. Will the world be plunged into darkness?

Today, we celebrate Ascension Thursday. The point of my homily as usual is just one point: The Great Commission as Empowerment. You may forget everything else but just remember this point of my homily: The Great Commission as Empowerment.

Before I begin, just a little reminder that Jesus Christ was born with a God-consciousness. Unlike us, we are born with an ego-consciousness. And if Jesus Christ is born with a God-consciousness, what does it mean for Jesus to have this God-consciousness? 

Over and over again, especially in the Gospel of John, Jesus always said: The Father and I are One.
Second: The Father has sent me.
Third: I come from the Father and I will return or go back to the Father.
These are the three elements to make up His, what I call, God-consciousness: a Divine Oneness, a Divine Mission, a Divine Origin.

So talking about Jesus’ God-consciousness, here we have the third one: I come from the Father and I will return or go back to the Father. And this is what Ascension Thursday is all about. Jesus Christ finally, after 40 days of appearance, after the resurrection, it is time for Him to say ‘Bye, by world. See you again.‘ Yes.

But before that, He made or stress one important point. Over and over again, for all those of you who have been following the Daily Mass, you will see the Readings have been about the Holy Spirit, sending the Holy Spirit, speaking about the Holy Spirit. Particularly in the Gospel of John, there are five times when the word Holy Spirit, sending the Holy Spirit is mentioned. Five times. And then combine them together, wow, you really have a very rich meaning and understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit.

And here the first one is in John 14:16-17: I will ask the Father to give you another Paraclete to be with you forever, the spirit of truth.
Two: He will bring to remembrance all that Jesus taught them. (John 14:26)
Third: He together with Jesus’ followers will testify regarding Jesus (John 15:26)
Fourth: He will presumably through Jesus’ followers convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. (John 16:8-11)
Finally: He will guide Jesus’ followers in all truth and disclose what it is to come.

And here we have a very rich dynamic role of the Spirit. This is Jesus’ promise before He goes back to God our Father.

Perhaps we can ask ourselves. Why does Jesus Christ have to send the Holy Spirit?

Remember that when Jesus came to the world as light of the world, the world rejected Him. And the world that Jesus Christ was, was a very hostile world. And can you imagine? Leaving the disciples in the hostile world was something Jesus Christ would not do.

Remember what Jesus Christ has said in some verses. He said: If the world hated you, it is because the world has hated me before it hated you.

Can you imagine the word ‘hate‘? Wow, so much hatred! And we can still experience this hatred towards the Christians all over the world. No wonder Christians have been said to be the most persecuted people in the world. Yes it is true. All because of Jesus Christ. If they hated you, know that they have hated me before they hated me.

Now there is so much darkness of hate, violence, bloodshed, anger, resentment and so forth, the disciples really need help, someone to help so to speak. And this is where the Spirit comes in.

The First Reading reminds us in these words: Remember here for forty days He appeared to them. And then waiting, the apostles chose to wait for the Spirit for God has promised the Spirit. And He said you will receive power when the Spirit comes upon you. Power when the Spirit comes upon you.

And here it talks about, in the Second Reading, it talks about the Spirit. Here particularly when the Spirit is given, one of the most powerful effects of the spirit is Unity. The Second Reading reminds us: There is one Spirit, one Body and one Spirit that is called into One. And the same hope when you are called. Therefore here it talks about all those people who have been empowered here, the most important one is to remember to bind them powerfully as One, so that they can be united as One. Wow! Nothing can break them apart. Oneness is so powerful. No wonder Jesus Christ says: the Father and I are One.

So here, the Oneness. This Oneness reminds me also in our Synodal Journey so to speak. A Synodal Journey has three key words: Communion, Participation, Mission. So Oneness therefore is Communion with one another. This is why Oneness, the Unity, is so powerful. And it is the Spirit therefore that binds us all together as Oneness, that as united as One we can really, really be difficult to breakdown.

And now it talks about here the gifts given, gifts of the Spirit. Prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, saints and so forth now working in unity in the service of Christ. Working in unity again. So here we have communion, participation. Everyone of us are called to participate, whatever our gifts. Whether seemingly you don’t have any gifts at all, perhaps maybe you have the gift of smiling! Ah hah! Use it! Perhaps maybe you can inspire people to really go beyond, our words of encouragement. These are some of the gifts we can use.

And finally, also we talk about the Synodal Journey as Mission. And this brings me to the theme of the Homily: The Great Commission as Empowerment.

So talking about the great commission, we all know and Catholics have very often have been said to be very lukewarm in the great commission. Oh ya we know a lot about the great commandment: Love God and love our neighbour. But the great commission somehow we are very slow. Ask our Protestant brothers and sisters. Wow, they really go forward to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ!

So talking about the Good News, it talks about signs of empowerment. The signs that will be associated with believers in my name, that will cast out devils, that will have the gifts of tongues, that will pick up snakes in their hands and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison, lay their hands on the sick who will recover. In other words, before Jesus Christ sent his disciples out, He really, really empowered them.

So we are all sent. If the Synodal Journey talks about mission, like Jesus Christ, the Father has sent me. And remember when Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and later breathed on His disciples the Holy Spirit, Jesus said: Receive the Spirit. As the Father sent me, I sent you.

We have to wait for the Pentecost, according to the Luken version. And so here, commissioned to bring the Good News, is one of empowerment. How can we empower one another?

The poor, the lame, the handicap, those who are marginalised and so forth and so forth, those in the fringes of society, are we empowering these people so that they can really stand on their own feet? Wow, Jesus Christ is so powerless and somehow many people are drawn to Him because of the power of the Spirit.

We are all sent. Will we do something to empower others or do we disempower others?

We have a choice, to empower or disempower.

Amen.

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