John 20:16-17 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

According to the New Testament the ascension is an essential part of the gospel proclamation. This makes it all the more striking how infrequently it comes up in our preaching and thinking. The Apostles’ Creed expects us to say that Jesus was crucified, raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven. For a lot of popular theologies of the “atonement” nothing would be lost if we completely left off the ascension (not to mention the resurrection!).

But the ascension of Jesus into heaven (disappearing behind a cloud?) can bring up some embarrassing questions for people who occupy a post-Copernican world and live on this side of the lunar landings.

Where is heaven? Is it locatable on a map? Could you travel there if you had a powerful enough rocket ship that held enough fuel? Could you spot it if you had a powerful enough telescope? 

Where exactly did Jesus go? Is God somewhere out there in a galaxy far, far away?

The short answer is no. Martin Luther described the ascension this way: “Jesus goes away in order to be nearer to us.”

Because of the ascension Jesus isn’t just another body in the room with his disciples. He is the room in which they live and move and have their being. Because of the ascension he now lives in them and they in him (Jn 14:20-23). He “goes away” to his Father in order to be more intimately related to us.

This is why Jesus tells Mary Magdalene, “Don’t cling to me.” Not because he won’t be present to her anymore, but because he will be more present. He will be taken from her sight, but he will live in her by faith.

Jesus has ascended into heaven, but heaven is not a location on a map. It is not located at the far edge of the universe. Heaven is the true situation of every place on earth. It is every situation as God knows it to be and calls it to be. It is the place that Jesus has gone to prepare for us. It is the place where his life is happening, and so can happen in and through you. It is the place where you and I no longer live, but Christ lives in us. And the life we now live, we live by the faith of the Son of God.

More resources:

* If you want to hear more on the topic of God’s judgment and anger, listen to this sermon from Chris Green (I was relying heavily on his argument here):

* Here is an article from Chris Green on the Ascension that was very helpful to me:

* And if you want to swim even further up stream, I highly recommend an essay by Robert Jenson entitled “On the Ascension” in this wonderful collection of his essays: The Triune Story.

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