Defining & Illustrating the Ascension of Jesus

First, what is the ascension? It is not simply Jesus’ return from the earth to heaven. It is a new enthronement for Jesus, bringing a new relationship with us and with the whole world. 

…In fact, the word “ascend” is probably the right place to start. We know it means to go upward, like an aircraft, but we are usually quite careful when we apply the word to people. For example, we could say “he ascended the ladder,” but we don’t usually use so grand a word to describe such a thing. (Or if we did it might be a bit tongue-in-cheek.) 

We would say instead that he climbed or went up the ladder. But we would certainly use the word to describe a coronation. When someone becomes a king or queen, there is a ceremony in which authority is officially transferred. 

And the person literally walks up onto a podium and then goes up steps and sits on a throne, a higher chair. And we say, “She ascended to the throne.” The word “ascended” gets across more than a change in elevation. She is not just physically higher than everyone else—she has a new relationship to others and has new powers and privileges to exercise authority. The steps and the higher chair are symbolic.

If you were to go to London you could find King Edward’s Chair in Westminster Abbey. It has been the chair used in the coronations of the kings and queens of Britain for eight hundred years. And if you literally went up the steps and sat on that throne it wouldn’t mean you’d actually have the royal job. (You would also be likely to get thrown out of Westminster Abbey, by the way.)

The point is that ascension to a throne is not defined by a change in physical elevation (though that happens in the ceremony) but rather a change in legal status and relationship. Going up and sitting on the throne doesn’t make you a monarch. And you can become the monarch of England without actually sitting in that old chair.