Belief In Afterlife And The Ascension Of Jesus Series

Ascension Sunday 2020

What if you see?

Recently, a prominent obviously atheist Harvard professor tweeted, “belief in an afterlife is a malignant delusion, since it devalues actual lives and discourages action that would make them longer, safer, and happier.” The problem with such a statement, other than the devaluing of billions of his fellow human beings’ opinion, is that it is a scientifically proven fallacy. The peer-reviewed studies of Parnia (2014), van Lommel (2001), Ring (2006) and Holden (2007) “provide significant verifiable evidence of survival of human consciousness after clinical death. This evidence is derived from studies and interviews of patients who showed no signs of heart or brain activity as they were being treated. What impresses me the most is that people blind from birth describe after resuscitation the exact scene in the surgery while they were being revived, and do so with uncanny detail. Thus anyone with a PhD who calls our belief in the immortality of the soul has demonstrated either ignorance or incompetence.

If the professor really believes that his existence is extinguished at the moment of death, what does he make of today’s solemn feast of the Ascension? I know what most unbelievers hold about the biblical account, so carefully preserved by the Church through 300 years of Roman persecution. They think that the stories of Christ’s resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God are a clever story meant to dupe the listener into believing and supporting the Church. In other words, it’s an apostolic scam. Moreover, they point to discrepancies in today’s narrative. Matthew, in today’s Gospel, seems to imply in more than one place that the Ascension and Great Commission happened on a mountain in Galilee. Luke, in the Gospel and Acts, clearly states that Jesus held His last sermon and ascension just outside Jerusalem at Bethany. So the unbeliever tells us to doubt it ever happened at all, because the witnesses don’t agree.

There are two big problems with this statement. First, Matthew has everyone in Galilee, as John does in his Gospel after the Resurrection, and states that the great commission to evangelize the world is given there. But he does not write of a disappearance or an ascension. And he is an eyewitness of the event. Second, ask any detective what the most confusing evidence is collected from the scene of a crime. You may know the answer. Eyewitness accounts are notoriously unreliable because of pre-existing prejudices and differing vantage points. So even if there were two conflicting accounts of Christ’s ascension, they might only differ in one detail, but are very much in agreement that Jesus did vanish from sight and was not seen again. After all, His post-resurrection appearances often show him vanishing from sight, as He left our limited world and vision.

Christ’s disappearance left His disciples confused, despite His repeated promises that He would return again and, in the meantime, send the Holy Spirit. As one pastor told me, it’s a lot like what we experience when the churches close in a pandemic. Many Catholics say the worst part of being quarantined is being unable to participate in the Eucharist and receive Holy Communion. That’s what the apostles felt, but what did they do? They returned as instructed to Jerusalem and were in constant prayer for nine days with the Blessed Virgin Mother and the other women. And then, after that nine day gestation, the Church was born through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Why did Jesus leave? He did not leave us orphans because His body remains–His Mystical Body called the Church. He promised that we who live His life in this time between the Ascension and His return in glory would not just do the wonderful things He did during 33 years, but even greater things. The Church has spread all over the world, and has continued to preach the Gospel and celebrate the sacraments in good times and bad. Moreover, we are promised that this work will never end.

In a week we will celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. Each of us who have reached Christian maturity should have received the anointing of the Spirit through the sacrament of Confirmation, a sacrament that equips us for spiritual warfare and evangelical fervor. Every day we need to arise, say our prayers, and ask the Lord who is Spirit for a new mission to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to everyone we meet, either in person, on Skype or elsewhere in social media.