Reflections
Psalm 47: 2-3, 6-7, 8-9 (Read)
"God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy."
This Sunday we celebrate the
Ascension of our Lord, who was
taken up to heaven to be seated
at the right hand of the Father,
far above every principality, with
authority over every nation.
(Ephesians 1:21)
With such an awesome God on
his throne, what hope do we have
as mere human beings that we will
ever be able to approach Him?
How far above us can this Jesus be,
if He is taken up to heaven and has
all things put beneath his feet?
The words of a popular song say,
“Our God is an awesome God, He reigns
with power and love.”
Power is often associated with arrogance
and brutal treatment, but our God uses his
power to work miracles, and bring about
healing. And his power is expressed by
his love, by which we are raised up with
Jesus.
Fortunately for us humans, Jesus has a plan
for us – we can feel his power and presence
within us, so long as we repent from our sins
and believe in Him. He is risen, and is seated
at the right hand of the Father in heaven.
Knowing this, we shout with joy, and we praise
Him. He leaves with us a way to share
in his divinity, through the Holy Spirit which He
sends to us. That same promise Jesus made
to his disciples is available to us – the promise
of the Father, the gift of the holy Spirit. (Acts 1:8)
After Jesus' Ascension, the disciples begin
their active ministry empowered by the Holy Spirit.
That same power is given to us so long as we believe;
we too are called to ministry. And for that we are
inspired to praise the Lord. As the psalmist says,
“Clap your hands, shout to God with cries of gladness,
sing praise to God!”
Amen
Discussion Questions for Reflection
1. Over and over our psalmist calls for us to shout to God and sing praise to God,
as God mounts his throne. Tell of how you personally praise the Lord with 'cries of gladness.'
2. The verses of our psalm for this Ascension Sunday place our Lord in his kingship and on his throne, and make it seem that God is so far above us that we may not be able to approach Him easily. How do you handle this apparent dilemma? How do you approach our Lord?
Our God is God of the Universe -- with such unfathomable power as to reverse physical laws and raise His Son from the dead. And yet, He is also Abba Father... "Daddy" to each and every one of us.
ReplyDeleteThe Message is a casual and modern-day translation of the Bible, which renders a powerful understanding of Romans 8:15. It reads, "This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike, 'What's next, Papa?' God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us -- an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with Him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with Him!"
It is clear in all translations that we are God's sons and daughters. While we serve a mighty King, we also love and are loved by this same authority; we are royalty. We can approach our Father with cuddles and warmth while we also display respect for His Word and His way, understandably difficult at times.
It's not just about our approach to Him, through prayer, meditation, or obedience. It's also about His response to us, through the promptings in our hearts, or even the gift of Himself at every Mass.
I am working on developing my ability to know that I hear from Him. I understand that spending more time studying His Word... with EXPECTANT prayers... leads to deeper and clearer understanding.
Last week, I used the word "expectant" in my comment. In The Message verse quoted above, "expectant" appears again. And I use it above, because it's such an important notion to me. In the way our own children expect good things from us, their parents, we can wait, pray, and be joyful with expectation of good things from our heavenly Father. We become full of reasons to sing His praises. Amen