NOTES for Luk 24:36-53

The Ascension of the Lord, as described by the evangelist Luke, at first glance brings a certain conclusion to the Gospel narrative. Strictly speaking, it ends the time of the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ. From now on His ministry will be continued by the Church, which He founded upon the apostles. But for Christians it has always been important that the Ascension does not separate us from Christ. If during His earthly life the presence of the Son of Man was limited, from the moment of the Ascension He is everywhere, and the bounds of the material world no longer constrain Christ’s omnipresence. As a result of the Ascension, in every place and at every time we call upon the Lord, and He, according to His promise, comes to us when we are gathered in His name.

There is another important aspect of the Ascension that has mattered to Christians since deep antiquity. The Lord ascends together with the human nature He assumed from the All-Pure Virgin. From that moment, what the Fathers of the Church call the “deification” of the human person takes place. The barrier between God and humanity has been overcome, and the path of eternal life—of drawing eternally nearer to God—is open to us.