Sunday after the Ascension

Our Lord’s earthly ministry, by His obedience, gave glory to His Father. On the eve of His sacrifice on the cross and in the presence of His disciples, Jesus made His high priestly prayer: “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one."

Our Lord prayed for the unity of His disciples and for all who would believe in Him. His prayer for His people is that we be united with God the Father in His Son and through His Holy Spirit and so be joined together in unity with all who are members of Christ's body.

And now Christ is gone into that far, distant heaven, and in His going, He has brought heaven near to us. The One who shares our human nature has actually been received up into that unspeakable glory, and there He dwells - still the Son of Man, still our Brother.

So heaven is no longer the name of a place unknown, a place which is to our ears something too glorious and exalted for us to think of, except as the seat of the unapproachable God; but it is now the resting-place and familiar home of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. He is gone there, so that where He is, there we may be, one with Him as He prayed.

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Pictured: "Christ in Glory" from an illuminated Gospel book, c. 1220