Heaven is Our Home!
Acts 1:1-11; Hebrews 9:24-28; Luke 24:46-53
As a seminarian in theology, in the 90s, the seminary rector saddled me with lots of responsibilities. For a while, I managed to discharge them as best as I could, but they began to weigh me down. One day, I went to the rector to complain about all the responsibilities given me, whether he could give other seminarians some of the functions I had to discharge. His response to my request was unexpected; he said: “Ayo, the reward for hard work is extra hard work!” Really!
Our first reading and the gospel appear to be a glorious crowning of the earthly mission of Jesus Christ – his ascension into heaven. In a sense, that is correct: Jesus ascends to heaven to rest after dying and resurrecting from the dead in order to redeem human beings from sin. Really, is Christ resting in heaven, what about the sins, which seemingly appears to be on the increase every single day on earth?
Yes, heaven is our home, and Jesus precedes us there, and he waits to receive and welcome us to heaven, in our turn. But any idea as to what Jesus is doing in heaven right about now? The “World” he so loved, and which his Father sent him to redeem, has he abandoned it (Jn 3:16)? Interestingly, there is no end to Christ’s love of the world and his salvation of the world does not cease because he is not visibly present in the flesh upon earth, as he did once upon a time!
A liturgical pointer to what Jesus is doing right now in heaven is ad rem. The priest says at every Eucharistic Celebration: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world.” Why does the priest say “takes away” and not “took away”? What is certain to everyone who chooses to see is that sin is still very much around! So, to what purpose, the death and resurrection and Ascension of Christ?
Indeed, the reward for good work is extra good work – Jesus continues (meaning he extends salvation to every generation) our work of salvation even in heaven! He takes away the sins of the world even as you read this homily! This is the central point of today’s second reading. The permanent efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross provides us the access to heaven, but Jesus’ priesthood remains forever for the permanent effectiveness of the redemption his blood brings. According to our second reading, we have “a great priest over the house of God”. This great priest is Jesus Christ himself. In heaven, where he appears before his Father, he takes away my sins and your sins – Jesus is alive and active even in heaven.
Jesus departs and leaves us with an assignment in today’s gospel – to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins to all nations. If Jesus “took away” the sins of the world, my sins and yours today wouldn’t get a chance of forgiveness; but because of the continuous taking away of the sins of the world, Jesus “takes away” my sins and your sins even now, and he will continue to do that into every generation.
If Jesus continues his work of saving the world even in heaven, we should continue to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and we should continue to work daily on our own repentance, so that we might be with Jesus in heaven, for heaven is our eternal home! There is something else, those who have made it to heaven too, those we call SAINTS, are not jobless – they are praying for us.
Since every solemnity in the Catholic Church celebrates, at least, an aspect of the mystery of our salvation, two aspects of that mystery, present in the Creed we profess, is that heaven is our home and the importance of “communion of the saints”. Just as Jesus, after completing his work on earth is rewarded with a place “at the right hand of God” in heaven, we too should work out our salvation “in fear and trembling” in the hope of being with Jesus in heaven. Also, because the saints in heaven are in communion with those of us on earth, let us ask for their intercession as we struggle daily to make heaven!
Assignment for the Week:
Try to convince someone in doubt that there is no sin God cannot forgive.