When Jesus ascends, he does so, bearing gifts for you.
A good book is hard to put down, but sometimes it’s even harder to finish. Sometimes, it takes every ounce of strength to turn that last page, read those last words, and reach the end. The best stories leave you wanting more. Hoping for just a few more pages. Longing for the story to continue.
I imagine Jesus' disciples felt something similar as they walked out of Jerusalem and journeyed up to Bethany and further into the hills outside of town. Jesus lifted up his hands and blessed them. These are the hands that healed the sick. Welcomed sinners. Washed dirty feet. Gave sight to the blind. Raised the dead. Broke bread. Prayed. These are the hands that were pierced. Bloodied. Scarred. Risen. Glorified. And then, Jesus ascended with those same incarnate hands to rule and reign. Jesus parted from them, and the cloud took him out of their sight.
From the disciples' point of view it seemed as if this was the end of the story. For a moment they stood there, gazing into the heavens with amazement, awe, and wonder. What next? Is this it? But then the angel reminded them that this was not the final chapter. The Lord Jesus was not putting his pen down, but carrying on with his gracious work through the story of the gospel he was sending them to proclaim. "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11).
The biblical accounts of Jesus' ascension come to us from St. Luke, the historian and gospel writer. And while St. Luke is God's inspired writer of the biblical story of Jesus' ascension, there are other storytellers whose literary worlds and stories are inspired by the true stories you find in the Gospels. Like Moses in the cleft of the rock, we catch a glimpse of the glory of Jesus' ascension gleaming forth in the stories written by the Inklings, especially C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.
Our first glimpse of Jesus' ascension begins near the end of The Lord of the Rings. The setting and scene are felicitous. Aragorn, the heir to the throne, returns to Minas Tirith, the city of kings. The one ring is destroyed. Sauron is defeated. Mordor and the darkness are undone, and Aragorn ascends his rightful throne having conquered the enemies of Middle-earth. All things are under his feet while elves, men, and hobbits gather for the feast and festival of his coronation. Aragorn receives the crown from Frodo. And Frodo declares, "'Now come the days of the King, and may they be blessed while the thrones of the Valar endure!'
"But when Aragorn arose all that beheld him gazed in silence, for it seemed to them that he was revealed to them now for the first time. Tall as the sea-kings of old, he stood above all that were near; ancient of days he seemed and yet in the flower of manhood; and wisdom was upon his brow, and strength and healing were in his hands, and a light was about him. And then Faramir cried: "Behold the King!'" (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, 1994, p. 946-947).
The whole scene reads like a chapter out of St. John's Revelation, a preview of heaven in Middle-earth. King Aragorn's coronation and return point us to the heavenly homecoming and coronation of Jesus, the King of kings. Jesus' ascension is a triumphal entry, not into Jerusalem to suffer and die, but into the Heavenly Jerusalem as King: palms are waved in exaltation, the vault of heaven resounds, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive honor and glory and blessing." Behold the King! Crucified for you. Risen for you. Ascended for you. Ruling and reigning on the throne for you.
Tolkien's coronation scene reflects what St. Paul writes in Ephesians concerning Jesus, our crucified, risen, and ascended King (Eph. 1:15-22). And just like the angels standing at Jesus' ascension, pointing the disciples to Christ the King's glorious return, the eagles cry out an ascension hymn as Aragorn ascends the throne:
"Sing and be glad, all the children of the West,
For your King shall come again,
And he shall dwell among you
All the days of your life." (p. 942).
C.S. Lewis also nods to the promise of Jesus' ascension in The Chronicles of Narnia. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the Pevensie children first learn of this promise while dining with Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. There is an ancient Narnian prophecy concerning their arrival in Narnia:
"When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone
Sits at Cair Paravel in throne
The evil time will be done and gone" (C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, 2000, p. 81.)
As the story goes on, Aslan lays down his life to save Edmund and all of Narnia. The Stone Table is cracked in half. The White Witch is defeated. The Witch's curse of always winter and never Christmas comes to an end. Aslan is victorious. Narnia is restored. And the four Pevensie children are crowned and seated on the four thrones at Cair Paravel just as was prophesied and promised. And with their rule comes peace, justice, and joy. Wine, feasting, and music surround their ascension to the four thrones.
We're a lot like the Pevensie children. We're sons and daughters of the King and given to rule as kings and queens and priests under him in his kingdom, which has no end.
Jesus' ascension is like this as well; only the promise is greater. We're a lot like the Pevensie children. We're sons and daughters of the King and given to rule as kings and queens and priests under him in his kingdom, which has no end. And even though there aren't four thrones in heaven, there is a throne. Upon that throne sits the Lamb, who was slain yet rules in victory. John reveals the greatest mystery of all: the Lamb on the throne is also Adam's flesh and Adam's bone. Jesus, the Lion of Judah, may not be a tame God, but he is good and full of promise for you.
As O.P. Kretzmann once wrote, "The Ascension did not take Jesus away….It brought heaven near….His homecoming has made heaven a home for us who still walk far from home" (O.P. Kretzmann, "Homecoming" in The Pilgrim, p. 14-15).
Jesus' ascension tells us that we do not have an absent Savior and King but a King who is present in his church with his gifts, just as he promises. When Jesus ascends, he does so, bearing gifts for you. Where Jesus goes, you go. Jesus dies on the cross. His cross comes to you in Baptism. Jesus rises from the dead, and his resurrection is yours in water, Word, and Spirit. Jesus ascends to his heavenly throne, and in his ascension, we glimpse our own in the new creation yet to come. Until the day of the resurrection of all flesh, we cling to the promise and rest in the hands of our crucified, risen, and ascended King.
With the help of good storytellers like Lewis and Tolkien, we glimpse the glory of Jesus' ascension in the stories of Narnia and Middle-earth. Exploring Jesus' ascension with the Inklings is a blessed reminder that the great tales, the good stories, the kind of stories that give us glimpses of Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension never really end.
Jesus' ascension is not the end of the story, but the next chapter, where his gracious work goes ever on and on in his promises and gifts to you in the church. It is the kind of story we find ourselves longing for and hoping to find. It is an endless story with a joyful ending. Jesus' ascension gives you the promise of a truly never-ending story.
To paraphrase Lewis, all of Jesus' life in this world—his teaching and preaching, healing, casting out demons, suffering, dying, and rising—were but a cover and title page. For now at last, in his ascension, Jesus begins Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read and in which every chapter is better than the one before.
