Never to bid good-bye
Or lip me the softest call,
Or utter a wish for a word, while I
Saw morning harden upon the wall,
Unmoved, unknowing
That your great going
Had place that moment, and altered all.
- Thomas Hardy
Why does goodbye bring its moments of sadness to our hearts? I have
always thought that the French has got it right in the words "au revoir"
rather than "goodbye" for having hope until we meet again. Until now.
Interestingly, the English word "goodbye" has its origin in "Godbwyes" as a
contraction of the phrase of "God be with ye" used in as late as the 16th
century.
And we see this in Christ's ascension. Forty days after Easter, Jesus ascended into the heavens after his death and resurrection from the Cross. As Leon Morris has put it, there is an air of finality about Christ's ascension in Luke's portrayal as part of the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts that followed. "It is the decisive close of one chapter and the beginning of another" because it is the consummation of Christ's earthly work, the indication to followers that His mission is accomplished and His work among them has come to a decisive end. Yet, it is not a parting forever but simply that they can expect to see Him in the old way no more.
Jesus took the initiative and led the disciples as far as Bethany in the lead up to Easter then forty days after the resurrection, the ascension also took place in Bethany on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. Luke described this event rather simply. His gospel speaks only of Jesus as being parted from the disciples during the act of blessing them and 'they worshipped him' (in Greek). Whatever their view of His Person during His ministry, the passion, resurrection and now ascension of Christ had convinced the disciples that He was divine. It is interesting that their feeling at this final parting was not one of grief but of great joy. Worship is their response to His ascension as Christ was worthy to be worshipped and they gave Him His due with more understanding, far more than what they had previously.
And we see this in Christ's ascension. Forty days after Easter, Jesus ascended into the heavens after his death and resurrection from the Cross. As Leon Morris has put it, there is an air of finality about Christ's ascension in Luke's portrayal as part of the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts that followed. "It is the decisive close of one chapter and the beginning of another" because it is the consummation of Christ's earthly work, the indication to followers that His mission is accomplished and His work among them has come to a decisive end. Yet, it is not a parting forever but simply that they can expect to see Him in the old way no more.
Jesus took the initiative and led the disciples as far as Bethany in the lead up to Easter then forty days after the resurrection, the ascension also took place in Bethany on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. Luke described this event rather simply. His gospel speaks only of Jesus as being parted from the disciples during the act of blessing them and 'they worshipped him' (in Greek). Whatever their view of His Person during His ministry, the passion, resurrection and now ascension of Christ had convinced the disciples that He was divine. It is interesting that their feeling at this final parting was not one of grief but of great joy. Worship is their response to His ascension as Christ was worthy to be worshipped and they gave Him His due with more understanding, far more than what they had previously.
Leon Morris has pointed out that Luke began his gospel in the temple. Now
he brings it to an end with the disciples continually in the temple blessing
God. It is a fitting acknowledgement of the grace that God has shown so
singularly in the events he has narrated. For "it is not for you to
know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority"
(Acts 1:7, NRSV). Yet, all does not end here. Far from it, Jesus continued
to say "but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and
to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8, NRSV). So "when the day of Pentecost
came", we see the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and other
followers of Christ while they were celebrating the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot,
חג השבועות) in Jerusalem.
Pentecost celebrates the incoming wheat harvest which marks God's provision
for new life and renewal every year in the Jewish tradition. So the timing
of the Pentecostal narrative symbolises both continuity with the giving of
the law in Jewish tradition and the central role of the Holy Spirit in the
Christian faith that marks a separation from the traditional Jewish faith
grounded in the Torah and Mosaic laws, because the spirit is now understood
as an aspect of Christ poured into followers of Christ in fulfilment of the
prophecy (Joel 2:28-32). Pope Leo I has drawn an analogy between Jewish
practices and the Christian feast day in the 5th century. "As once to the
Hebrew people, freed from Egypt, the law was given on Mount Sinai on the
50th day after the sacrifice of the lamb, so after the Passion of the Christ
when the true Lamb of God was killed, on the 50th day from His resurrection,
the Holy Spirit came down on the apostles and the community of believers"
whereby such descent of the Holy Spirit upon disciples on Pentecost was "the
fulfilment of a long-awaited promise."
So with the departure of Christ from earth to the heavens and the descent
of Holy Spirit to earth from the heavens, a new era of renewal and salvation
by God began in Trinity. Even though the Father and the Son are now in the heavens, the
Holy Spirit, sent by God and the risen Lord Jesus, is their very presence
among his people and the same spirit that had filled and empowered Christ
for his ministry. In contrast to the Tower of Babel where different
languages were used by God to divide men as his judgement fell upon their
prideful efforts of building a tower of advancement in arrogance to live
without God, here, different tongues united people in God to mark the
beginning of a new community of God's people.
Just as theologians see in the ascension a taking into heaven the humanity of Jesus as he is seated on the right hand of God, the ensuing Pentecost sees the descent of Holy Spirit so that God and Christ can be with us in spirit on earth. The incarnation is not something casual and fleeting but a divine action with permanent consequences. The theologian Moule once argued that if the ascension means the taking of Christ's humanity into heaven, "it means that with it will be taken the humanity which Christ has redeemed - those who are Christ's, at His coming. It is a powerful expression of the redemption of this world, in contrast to mere escape from it". So at Pentecost, God brought to us a new life of renewal through the Holy Spirit so we can rejoice and join in with Christ under trinity in this world after his departure from it.
The hymn "God be with you till we me again" is written by Jeremiah Rankin as a Christian goodbye. The etymology of this now modern English word was the basis for this song as Christ does not desert us. “For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, NRSV).
So here's hoping it is au revoir and goodbye, because we will always have hope in Him.
All moral rights belong to the author except for other works quoted or referred to.
