Jesus' ascension into heaven

Today's gospel, is from Mark 16:15-20, the Ascension of Jesus. 15 [Jesus] said to [his disciples,] "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 These signs will accompany those who believe; in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. 18 They will pick up serpents [with their hands], and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover." 19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. 20 But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

The Ascension story is written only by two evangelists, Mark and Luke. John ended his gospel with Jesus asking St. Peter whether he loved the Lord three times, while Matthew ended his gospel when Jesus resurrected and the soldiers reporting to the chief priests, where they took the money given by the priests and peddled the story that the disciples stole his body, a story as written by Matthew continues to circulate among the Jews to the present day. While Matthew meant the present during his time, this story continues to circulate even now; the latest of which came from author Dan Brown's controversial book The Da Vinci Code.

If you want to know why only two of the evangelists wrote about the Ascension of Jesus, we can only assume that Matthew and John who didn't write about the Ascension were not present when it happened. But while John didn't write about the Ascension of Jesus, if you open to the beginning of his Gospel, he too doesn't even have any infancy narrative; he did not write about the birth of Jesus. Jesus first appears during the testimony of St. John the Baptist about the Lord.

Today's Gospel reading was written by the evangelist Mark; however, if you look into the beginning of his Gospel, it also starts with the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River. This is why we always exhort you to read the Bible so you would be able to learn more about who wrote what. Just because two evangelists did not write about the birth of Jesus doesn't mean that he wasn't born at all. It also goes without saying that if also two evangelists did not write about the Ascension, it doesn't mean to say that this did not take place.

Two important events in the history of the Catholic Church proves without a doubt that Jesus died just like the rest of the human race, but he is the only one who resurrected from the dead, a fact that the authors of the two controversial books, Holy Blood, Holy Grail or The Da Vinci Code have tried to dispute. They say that Jesus didn't die on the cross and ended up marrying Mary Magdalene without presenting any iota of evidence to prove their allegations.

They're trying to sell the simple logic that Jesus was only human and just like us, susceptible to human weaknesses and succumbed to sexual temptation. I have no doubt that Jesus as a man was just like us, but as we read about his temptation in the desert, he was able to hurdle all that the devil threw him. So their logic continues that if Jesus didn't die at all, how could he ascend to his Father in heaven? But then, the huge difference between the Holy Bible and the books written by the controversial authors is that, we read divinely inspired scripture in the Bible, while there is no doubt that the authors of the controversial books were inspired by money. As we all know, love of money is the root of all evil!

Let's go back to what Mark and the last words of Jesus before he ascended to heaven where he asked his disciples to proclaim the gospel to every creature. To give his disciples credibility, he told them, "These signs will accompany those who believe in my name. They will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents [with their hands] and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover."

Clearly, Jesus gives his disciples certain divine powers that can cure the sick or drive out demons, all in his name. In those times, there were many sorcerers or magicians who also held serpents with their hands. Perhaps some of them tried to shift professions and even declared themselves as divine? Many of them today are claiming this. You will find these people trying to emulate the powers of Jesus but one thing is certain: Only Jesus was crucified, died and was buried and on the 3rd day he resurrected from the dead then finally, he ascended bodily into heaven to sit at the right hand of his Father in heaven. God Bless you in this Ascension Day of our Lord.

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