"And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,
which also said: Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?"
- Acts 1:10, 11
The
"two men in white apparel," who immediately after the ascension of
the Lord appeared to the Apostles and asked them why they stood gazing up into
heaven, were without doubt themselves inhabitants of heaven; therefore it is
not to be supposed that this was displeasing to them, or that they desired to
direct the gaze of those men of Galilee elsewhere. No. They desired only to put
an end to the inert amazement of the Apostles when saying: Why stand ye gazing
up into heaven? Having aroused them from their amazement, they draw them into
meditation, and teach them and us with what thoughts we should gaze into
heaven, following our Lord Jesus who hath ascended thither. This same Jesus,
they added, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall come in like manner
as you have seen Him go into heaven.
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| Fr. Sebastian Dabovich |
The
disciples of the Savior then beheld the exact fulfillment of His words which
Mary Magdalene had recounted to them: I ascend unto my Father and your Father,
and to my God and your God. They could not but conclude that those joyful
visitations which He had bestowed upon them during the forty days after His
resurrection from the dead, those instructive conversations with Him, that
palpable communion between them and His divine humanity, were at that moment
ended. When neither hand nor voice could any longer reach Him, they followed
Him with their eyes, eager to detain Him; they looked steadfastly toward heaven
as He went up. We can conceive what an immeasurable bereavement the Apostles
must have felt after the ascension into heaven of Jesus, who was all and
everything in the world to them; and it is this very bereavement for which the
heavenly powers hasten to console them when telling them that this same Jesus .
. . shall come.
In
considering the circumstances of the ascension of Christ into heaven, we may
first note the blessing which He then gave to the Apostles, and it come to
pass, says the Evangelist Luke, while He blessed them He was parted from them
and carried up into heaven. What an endless current of the grace of Christ is
thus revealed unto us, Christians! The Lord begins a blessing, and before its
completion ascends into heaven; for while He blessed them He was carried up
into heaven. Thus even after His ascension does He still continue invisibly to
impart His blessing. It flows and descends continuously upon the Apostles;
through them it is diffused upon those whom they bless in the name of Jesus
Christ; those who have received the blessing of Christ through the Apostles
spread it among others; and thus do all who belong to the Holy Catholic and
Apostolic Church become partakers of the one blessing of Christ. As the dew of
Hermon that descended upon the mountain of Zion, so does this blessing of peace
descend upon every soul that riseth above passions and lusts, above vanity and
the cares of the world; as an indelible seal does it stamp those who are of
Christ in such a manner that at the end of the world He will by this very sign
call them forth from the midst of all mankind, saying, Come ye blessed!
And now,
my brethren, let us consider how needful it is for us to endeavor to gain now
and to preserve this blessing of the Ascended Lord, which descends upon us also
through the Apostolic Church. If we have received and preserved it, we shall,
at the future advent of Jesus Christ, be called together with the Apostles and
the saints to participate in His kingdom: Come ye blessed! But if, when He
shall call the blessed of His Father, this blessing either be not found in us,
or we be found in possession only of the false blessing of men who themselves
have not inherited the blessing of the Heavenly Father by grace and in the
sacraments, then what will become of us? Yea, I say, let us consider this vital
point before the opportunity be taken away.
The day
of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night. From this same unexpectedness of
His second coming our Lord Himself draws for us Christians a saving warning:
Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. Do not be led
away by curiosity or credulity, and beware of such ones who pretend to know
more than Christ hath granted them to know. Let us endeavor rather to know what
failings we have, to number our transgressions, and to seek a limit to them in
repentance. Let us take heed lest the children of this world and our own
passions lull our spirits into sleep, till the approach of that longed for, yet
dreadful hour: When the Lord come.
The
blessing of the Lord come upon you by His grace and love towards man, always,
now, and ever and unto the ages of the ages.
Source: http://www.orthodoxcanada.com/journal/2008-02-05.html
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