God is Lord over all the earth, let all peoples sing songs of joy and of praises (Psalm 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9). After His ascension, the followers of Jesus Christ empowered with the Promise of the Father and filled with great joy are His witnesses to all the nations (Luke 24:46-53).
God is Lord over all the earth
Psalm 47 celebrates God’s enthronement as king of all the earth. In a cultic setting, it starts with a call to give praise to God with clapping of hands and ringing cries. Clapping hands is a traditional ritual action, akin to and sometimes substituting for the blares of trumpet, while joyous shouts also customarily accompany ritual events. Two significant titles are used for God: “Lord” (YHWH), the personal name of Israel’s God, and “Most High” (’elyon), favorite epithet of Mesopotamian kings and now reserved for God as king to indicate YHWH’s superiority, the awesome one who is king over all the earth.
Amid shouts of jubilation and trumpet blasts, God ascends His throne. He reigns over the nations, thus emphasizing the Lord’s pre-eminence over all other gods who may be the patrons of other nations. Ultimately, monotheistic faith is here asserted, and all peoples are called to acclaim God’s kingship. Behind this notion of the kingship of God is the cosmic, mythological Near East tradition of the mortal combat between the forces of good against the forces of evil before creation. God representing good emerged triumphant and ascended His holy throne, ruling over the whole universe and maintaining the order established. Indeed, “the creator of heaven and earth” is the “Most High” (Genesis 14:19).
He sends His witnesses to all the nations
Before ascending into heaven with His risen body, Jesus delivered one last instruction to His disciples. By claiming “thus it is written,” Jesus placed squarely at the heart of the tradition of ancient Israel His death and resurrection and His mission for the forgiveness of sin. More than just the earlier traditions foreshadowing the later events in the life of Jesus, these earlier traditions are now interpreted and understood in the light of the events in Jesus’ life, as promises are truly understood according to their fulfillment. And to these events Jesus’ disciples themselves were eye-witnesses.
Now Jesus tells them they must be His witnesses (martyres), authenticating the religious significance of these events. They must proclaim to all the nations that Jesus, indeed, died and rose again from the dead, and that He preached repentance and the forgiveness of sins, and that all these are the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation. That the disciples did Jesus homage shows that they have finally understood what had happened. Jesus wanted them not only to come to resurrection faith, but to bring this faith to the whole world. And they were to wait in Jerusalem until they have been strengthened by the Holy Spirit, the promised power from on high. Their work begins with Jerusalem, thus portraying that Jesus’ mission is the continuation and fulfillment of Israel’s mission (Isaiah 2:3).
Alálaong bagá, with the feast of Jesus’ Ascension, we celebrate His exaltation following His resurrection, even as we commemorate the turning point in the life of the Church as His body carrying on what He began on earth. The end of the visible, earthly life of Jesus begins for us the awesome reality of His continuing presence in a new way, in His new body the Church as His witness to the whole world in the power of the Holy Spirit. His triumphant ascension and enthronement in heaven and the empowered mission of His followers on earth should elicit from all shouts of jubilation and songs of praise.
Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, 5 to 6 a.m. on DWIZ 882, or by audio-streaming on www.dwiz882.com.
1 comment
Sing Praises to the Lord and not to Mary.