Divergent: Ascension

Years ago, I was reading a review of the latest novel in a book series that I enjoyed. The review panned the new book saying, “It’s retcon on a major scale.” I had never heard the term “retcon” before, so I had to look it up and learned that it was a contraction for “retroactive continuity.” Retcon is defined as “a piece of new information that imposes a different interpretation on previously described events.” When writers bring back a popular character killed off in a previous movie, episode, or novel with a hand-waving explanation of how the character escaped at the last minute, that’s retcon.

We have an example of retcon with the ascension of the risen Christ. Luke gives us two versions of the ascension, one at the end of his Gospel (24:50-53), and the other at the beginning of Acts of the Apostles (1:9-11).

The First Ascension Account

The first ascension story is part of the composite passage that concludes the Gospel of Luke (24:36-53). As the two disciples from Emmaus are recounting their experience to the gathered disciples, Jesus appears in their midst and asks them to touch him to see that he is flesh and bones and not a ghost. They give him a piece of broiled fish and he eats it in front of them. He then explicates the Scriptures to them and instructs them to remain in Jerusalem until the Father invests them with power from on high. Finally, leading them outside the city to Bethany, he blesses them and is carried up to heaven. The disciples return to Jerusalem with great joy and “were continually in the Temple praising God.” The gospel concludes as it began, in the Temple.

The Lucan Jesus’ final appearance to the gathered disciples on Easter Sunday night (vv. 36-43) recalls the material that appears in John 20:19-21 and the Marcan appendix (16:14-15). Luke seems to be drawing on a common tradition that at his final appearance to the gathered disciples, Jesus commissioned them to go out into the world. There are similar elements in both the Emmaus narrative and the conclusion of the gospel: an appearance that is not immediately comprehended, a meal, an instruction based on Scripture, and the sudden departure of the risen Christ.

The Second Ascension Account

In the beginning of Acts of the Apostles (1:1-14), Luke references his “first account” in which he described Jesus’ teachings and actions. Luke then recalls how the risen Jesus presented himself to the apostles “throughout forty days.” He instructed them to wait in Jerusalem for the baptism of the Holy Spirit in which they will receive power to become his witnesses to Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth. And, as he says this, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. Two men in white robes – presumably angels – suddenly appear to explain that Jesus will one day return in the same way he was seen to go. The apostles depart the Mount of Olives and return to Jerusalem to await the coming Spirit.

In this prologue to Acts, Luke uses the ascension to conclude “the age of Jesus” and begin “the age of the church.” He recapitulates what he already said at the end of his gospel, but with more explanation on the coming of the Holy Spirit. Almost out of the blue, the apostles ask about the restoration of the kingdom of Israel (Emmaus disciple Cleopas also made a similar reference to the hope that Jesus would “deliver Israel” in Luke 24:21) and Jesus informs them their duty is to be witnesses to him throughout the world. In a similar fashion, the angelic interpreters assure the apostles that Jesus will return but there’s no point in standing there waiting for him. The implication is that the apostles have other work to do.

"See ya later, guys!" The ascension scene is the subject of the altarpiece in St. Peter’s Church in Copenhagen, by Danish painter Hendrick Krock

When was the Ascension?

We are left with a problem of dating the ascension. Luke’s Gospel clearly dates it to the night following the morning on which the empty tomb was discovered (i.e. Easter Sunday night). Acts describes the ascension occurring after a period of forty days in which the risen Christ appeared to the disciples.

A biblical literalist would try to harmonize the two ascensions. The one reported on Easter Sunday night would be merely the conclusion of Jesus’ appearance to all the disciples. His later ascension after forty days would be the “encore” performance. That’s a bit of a retcon, reinterpreting what appears to be the definitive final appearance of the risen Lord in Luke’s Gospel as merely the conclusion of one of many such appearances.

Another theory is that, having completed his gospel, Luke came upon information that Jesus appeared to the disciples for a period of time and wrote the beginning of Acts to correct his earlier account. In this hypothesis, Luke is retconning his earlier account.

Which Direction did Jesus Go?

At the other end of the spectrum from the biblical literalists are those who like to tweak the literalists by asking, “So which direction is heaven?” While there are some rock-ribbed biblical literalists who would claim that Jesus was bodily transported via cloud to heaven, most non-fundamentalists would agree that the ascension is a metaphor for the conclusion of appearances of the risen Christ to his disciples. At one time, the risen Jesus appeared to his followers and, at some point, those appearances stopped.

But it is more than that. During the Emmaus encounter, the risen Christ explained that the Messiah was bound to suffer “before entering into his glory” (24:26). The crucified Jesus, raised from the dead, has entered “his glory,” and it is from there that he has manifested himself to Peter, the Emmaus disciples, and all the others. Luke’s account of the ascension in Acts uses the trappings of apocalyptic writings – clouds, movement through the heavens, angelic interpreters – to present Christ’s final departure from his disciples in visible form. Thus the apostles become eyewitnesses to Christ’s exaltation. After this, they will no longer experience him in a visible way, but only in “the breaking of the bread.”

Breaking Bread

In preparation for his First Communion in the Catholic Church, my son is learning about the two parts of the Mass: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. During the Liturgy of the Word, the priest welcomes the congregation and then we listen to readings from the OT and NT, followed by a homily where the priest or deacon explicates the Scriptures and helps us apply it to our lives. The Liturgy of the Eucharist begins when the gifts of bread and wine are brought forward. This is followed by the priest re-presenting the Last Supper during the Eucharistic Prayer and finally communion when the congregation comes forward to receive the consecrated bread and wine.

A Walk to Emmaus

Therefore, the order of the Mass was very much on my mind as I approached the exquisitely-told story of the risen Christ appearing to two disciples who were walking towards the village of Emmaus. This story is only found in Luke (24:13-35), although something similar is found in a brief reference in the Marcan appendix (16:12-13) to the risen Lord appearing “in another form” to two disciples “walking into the country.” Scholars are divided as to whether Luke elaborated on the snippet of tradition found in the Marcan appendix or if vv. 12-13 in the appendix are a summary of the story in Luke.

The Emmaus story can be broken down into four scenes:

1. Two disciples are returning to their home village when they are met by the risen Jesus but fail to recognize him (vv. 13-16).
2. The two (Cleopas and an unnamed disciple) recount how the women discovered the empty tomb that morning and Jesus then interprets for the two disciples the parts of Scripture that pertained to him (vv. 17-27).
3. Towards sundown they reach Emmaus and the disciples ask Jesus to stay with them. When Jesus breaks the bread and offers it to them, they recognize him and he vanishes from their sight (vv.28-32).
4. The two disciples return to Jerusalem where they find the Eleven and the others gathered together. They learn of an appearance of the risen Lord to Simon Peter and recount their experience on the road and how they recognized the risen Jesus “in the breaking of the bread” (vv. 33-35).

Looking at the details of the story, we see a familiar pattern: a greeting, an explication of Scripture, a proclamation of resurrection faith (“the Lord has been raised and has appeared to Simon”), and the meal setting with the breaking of the bread. Is Luke patterning the Emmaus story on early Christian liturgical celebrations? Is it a dramatization of a Mass?

The Supper at Emmaus (1936-37), a fake Vermeer by Han van Meegeren, a Dutch painter who was one of the most successful forgers of the 20th century. After WWII, one of his paintings was found in the possession of Hermann Göring. Accused of collaboration with the Nazis, van Meegeren copped to the less serious charge of forgery.

A Hidden Mass?

We know very little about liturgical celebrations at the time Luke wrote his gospel (80-85 CE). The first description we have of the Eucharistic celebration comes from Justin Martyr writing in 155 CE:

And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. (First Apology, 67).

All the elements present in Justin’s description of Christian worship in the second century – gathering on Sunday, readings from Scripture, instruction from the presider, blessing over the bread and wine and its distribution – are also present in many modern liturgical celebrations in various denominations. And these liturgical elements also have their echoes in the Emmaus account. While we can’t be absolutely certain in such things, it is not implausible that the Christian worship Justin describes in 155 was very similar to something Luke would have experienced 70 years before.

But to discern every element of the Mass from penitential rite to dismissal in the Emmaus story may be going further than the evidence allows.

The Breaking of the Bread

The last verse seems to sum up the central thrust of the Emmaus story: “They told what had happened on the road and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.” The words describing Jesus’ actions in v. 30 (“he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them”) are very similar to what Luke describes happening at the Last Supper in 22:19: “Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them.”

Did the two disciples recognize Jesus because they made a connection between his actions and gestures here with those he used at the Last Supper? We only know the name of one of the disciples – Cleopas – and he was not present at the Last Supper. But he could have been present at the miracle of the loaves and fishes (9:10-17). In v. 16, Luke writes: “And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.” Perhaps the disciples were reminded of the Feeding of the Five Thousand?

But Luke is writing a gospel, not history. The point he wants to make is that the disciples did not recognize the risen Jesus on the road, but only in “the breaking of the bread.” This is a uniquely Lucan term which he uses several times in Acts of the Apostles to refer to celebration of the Lord’s Supper (cf. Paul’s use of “the bread that we break” in 1 Cor 10:16). Luke is telling his audience (and us) that although contemporary disciples will no longer experience the risen Lord in visible form, he will be present among them in their weekly Eucharistic celebrations.