The Ascension of the Lord - Homily

‘’Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking into the sky?’’ The show isn’t over, the curtain hasn’t fallen, the action isn’t completed. The ending of the Gospel of Mark emphasizes this: ‘’Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation.’’ That process is open-ended. It is still going on. Not only is the process still continuing, but we don’t really know if we are at the beginning of the Christian movement, in the middle of it, or near the end of it. It could all end tomorrow in a man-made catastrophe. It could continue for thousands of years; we don’t know. All we know is that we are somewhere between the beginning and the end and that we are addressed by the same challenge to keep the story of Jesus alive. 
We are in-between people; we find ourselves in the middle of a complex variety of stories which compete for our attention. None of us can begin at the beginning of those stories because we are middle people. None of us started from zero: we were all born into a world that was already in motion; we found ourselves in the midst of a history we did not originate; we were ushered into a family and a tradition we did not form. We inherited the times we live in. We could make a start for ourselves only because we were given a start by others. Before we owned anything we owed everything. 
The story of Jesus was a power that was given to us, a gift of life to help us shape the world. The story does not simply reflect how things are but calls us beyond ourselves to a kingdom that is larger than the boundaries of geography and nationality and culture. It is like the story of the people who spoke to the man with the blue guitar: They said ‘’You have a blue guitar, you do not play things as they are.’’ The man replied ‘’Things as they are. Are changed upon the blue guitar.’’ And they said then ‘’But play you must. A tune beyond us, yet ourselves, A tune upon the blue guitar of things exactly as they are.’’ The story of Jesus is always played upon the blue guitar, for the story is ‘’a tune beyond us, yet ourselves.’’ The story of Jesus’ ascension reminds us that Jesus is beyond us, sitting at the right hand of God. But the same story also reminds us that the Lord was working with the apostles by confirming their word by the signs that accompanied it. Beyond us, yet ourselves. 
The Gospel beckons us, calls us on, challenges us to move beyond the boundaries that are set by our own fear and weakness, and sinfulness. That won’t take us into the clouds, but it will provoke people to share in wonderment at us for moving on. Our stories are not finished, the last word has not been written, the final scenes are still open-ended. Where the future is a mystery there is still hope; it is only when the future looks like an endless repetition of the past that there is a feeling of hopelessness. That is not Gospel, for it is not the tune that is beyond us, yet ourselves.