The "Gospel of the Forty Days"       This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday which remembers the descent of the Holy Spirit as told in chapter 2 of the Acts of the Apostles. Last Sunday we celebrated the Ascension of Jesus which remembers Christ’s ascent into Heaven as told in chapter 1 of Acts.       The Gospel of Mark also mentions the Ascension: “So then the Lord Jesus ... was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.” (Mk 16:19.) Mark might have been there to see Jesus ascend – as he may have been at Jesus' arrest (Mk 14:51-52), and the Apostles and disciples regularly met at his mother's house (Ac 12:12) – but how did he know Jesus “sat down at the right hand of God?” That wasn’t anything anyone could have seen.       In Peter’s Pentecost sermon he says Jesus was “exalted at the right hand of God” (Ac 2:33; cf., 1 Pet 3:22). How did he know that? Where did he get this? When?    ...

Christ's Ascension       Today, May 21st, is 40 days since Easter. 40 days after the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, He lead His disciples to Bethany, on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem, and there He “was taken up into heaven and took His seat at the right hand of God” (Mk 16:19). St. Luke says that Jesus “parted from them and was carried up into heaven” (Lk 24:51), that “He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). Recall that the first thing Jesus said to Mary Magdalene Easter morning was not to cling to Him because He had not yet ascended, and to go tell His brethren that He will be ascending (Jn 20:17).       Traditionally the Feast of the Ascension was celebrated on the Thursday, but in order for more people to participate, the dioceses now have the option of celebrating the following Sunday, which we do on the West Coast and so will celebrate this Sunday, May 24th.     ...

Sermon on Our Lord       The Deacon St. Ephrem the Syrian (306-373) has a wonderful (and lengthy) sermon simply called Sermon on Our Lord . In St. Ephrem's poetic and imaginative language, he describes the Easter victory of Christ Jesus over death, which he personifies as a contest between the Lord and Death. Note that "Sheol" is the Biblical term for the place of the dead.       "Our Lord was trampled on by Death; and in His turn trod out a way over Death.       "This is He Who made Himself subject to and endured death of His own will, that He might cast down death against its will.       "For our Lord bare His cross and went forth according to the will of Death: but He with a loud cry upon the cross [Mt 27:50] brought forth the dead from within Sheol [Mt 27:53] against the will of Death.       "In that very body by which Death had slain Him, in that as a weapon,...

Skeptical about Resurrection Proof?       Was Jesus’ appearances after His resurrection any kind of proof of who He said He was? That He is God incarnate? That He had indeed risen from the dead – not resuscitated but with an entirely new human body, resurrected with new qualities and nature?       Skeptics say no. No proof at all. Jesus only appeared to people who believed in Him. What proof is that? They already believed.       Well, let’s take another look at the historical account.       Early that Easter Sunday morning Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women (including Salome, Mk 16:1) came to Jesus’ tomb and found it empty. Two men “in dazzling apparel” appeared and said Jesus had risen. The women returned to the “eleven and to all the rest” and “the apostles” and relayed what had happened – “but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not beli...

The Centrality of the Resurrection       In Jaroslav Pelikan, Ph.D.’s book, Acts , part of the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible series, he pulls together all the numerous references to the resurrection of Christ throughout the Biblical book of the “Acts of the Apostles," and makes several general observations, as follows.       Pelikan, who was a Yale historian of Christian doctrine, notes that Luke, the author of both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, ties together his Gospel and the Acts “preeminently by the resonances of the Easter narrative.” Luke 24 ends with the women, and then Peter and John, at the empty tomb; with Jesus meeting up with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, followed by His appearance to the apostles, and ending with His ascension. Acts, then, begins with Jesus’ “presenting Himself alive” “by many proofs,” followed by a more detailed account of His ascension. Luke is writing both as a historia...