ACC ~ Mark 16 v19a

WHAT THE ASCENSION CONFIRMS

IRENAEUS: As he finishes his Gospel, Mark [1] concludes: “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.” [2] The ascension confirms what had been spoken by the prophet: “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool.” [3] Thus God who was announced by the prophets is truly one and the same as God who is celebrated in the true gospel, whom we Christians worship and love with the whole heart as the maker of heaven and earth, and of all things within it. AGAINST HERESIES 3.10.5. [4]

[1] This passage, often thought to be a later addition to Mark, was regarded by Irenaeus as the received Markan text in the late second century.

[2] Mk 16:19.

[3] Ps 110:1.

[4] AHR 2:39-40; ANF 1:426.

WE ASCEND WITH HIM

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: He dies, [1] but he makes alive [2] and by death destroys death. [3] He is buried, [4] yet he rises again. [5] He goes down to Hades, yet he leads souls up, [6] ascends to heaven, [7] and will come to judge the living and the dead, [8] and to probe discussions like these. ORATION 29, ON THE SON 20. [9]

[1] Cf. Mt 27:50; Mk 15:37; Lk 23:46; Jn 19:30.

[2] Cf. Jn 5:21.

[3] Cf. 2 Tim 1:10; Heb 2:14.

[4] Cf. Mt 27:60; Mk 15:46; Lk 23:53; Jn 19:41-42; 1 Cor 15:4.

[5] Cf. Mt 28:6; Mk 16:6; Lk 24:6; Jn 20:8-9; 1 Cor 15:4.

[6] Cf. Eph 4:8-9; Ps 68:18.

[7] Cf. Mk 16:19; Lk 24:51; Acts 1:10-11.

[8] Cf. 2 Tim 4:1; 1 Pet 4:5.

[9] TLG 2022.009, 20.31-34; FGFR 260*.

OUR HUMAN NATURE IS CARRIED UP

LEO THE GREAT: And so while at Easter it was the Lord’s resurrection which was the cause of our joy, our present rejoicing is due to his ascension into heaven. With all due solemnity we are commemorating that day on which our poor human nature was carried up in Christ above all the hosts of heaven, above all the ranks of angels, beyond those heavenly powers to the very throne of God the Father. It is upon this ordered structure of divine acts that we have been firmly established, so that the grace of God may show itself still more marvelous when, in spite of the withdrawal from our sight of everything that is rightly felt to command our reverence, faith does not fail, hope is not shaken, charity does not grow cold. … It was in order that we might be capable of such blessedness that on the fortieth day after his resurrection, after he had made careful provision for everything concerning the preaching of the gospel and the mysteries of the new covenant, our Lord Jesus Christ was taken up to heaven before the eyes of his disciples, and so his bodily presence among them came to an end. From that time onward he was to remain at the Father’s right hand until the completion of the period ordained by God for the church’s children to increase and multiply, after which, in the same body with which he ascended, he will come again to judge the living and the dead. And so our redeemer’s visible presence has passed into the sacraments. Our faith is nobler and stronger because empirical sight has been replaced by a reliable teaching whose authority is accepted by believing hearts, enlightened from on high. SERMON 74.1-2. [1]

[1] Cetedoc 1657, 138A.74.13; JF B 60-61*; CCL 138A, 455-57.