We used to call this Holy Day of Obligation “Ascension Thursday.” However, the American Church followed in the footsteps of the Canadian bishops and now celebrates this Holy Day on Sunday. It coincides with the American secular feast of “Mother’s Day.” Both have an interesting history.
As for the feast of the Ascension, theologians tell us that Jesus did not go to sit at the right hand of the Father 40 days after Easter. Rather, they say that the Resurrection and Ascension should be looked upon as connected. In the first few centuries of the Church, there was no Ascension feast day. It evolved later on. When “40 days” are associated with its occurrence, that’s a theological statement—40 being a symbolic number in both the Old (Hebrew) and New (Christian) scriptures. In short, Christians honored the return of Jesus to the Father by acknowledging it separately—and associated it with other great events of scripture that were associated with “40” (e.g., the great flood that produced a new creation).
Furthermore, we read about an “ascension” or departure of Jesus in three of the gospels, but John is silent on the matter. Wouldn’t you think that such an occasion would be mentioned by John?
Today’s reading from Mark is especially eye-catching since those concluding lines of the gospel were the inspiration for an American preacher to found a denomination. Today called the “Holiness Church” of Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia, these good folk found the preacher’s message somehow captivating. He and his followers took the concluding verses literally—and picked up rattlesnakes and drank poison at their services. They are thought to be the only Christian group that embraced this understanding of the text.
Mark intended to report that Christians would be able to speak different languages, cast out demons, and heal people. These behaviors were not extraordinary supernatural powers but rather graced efforts that the Holy Spirit moved missionaries to perform. Picking up snakes, drinking poison, speaking diverse languages, etc. were to be understood metaphorically. That is, with the Spirit’s help, Christians will take the message given to them by Jesus, accomplish many great works, and overcome diverse challenges.
What would Holiness Church people think if they learned that bible scholars say that these concluding lines of the gospel were not written by Mark? Broad consensus exists that what was read this Sunday possibly came about in the following way.
Early scholars like Eusepius and Jerome knew of almost no version of Mark that went beyond verse 8. This week’s reading follows that verse, and scholars say that this ending to the Gospel has a vocabulary, syntax, and style that are “decidedly non-Markan.” A basic position on this strange scriptural history is this: over time, scribes added the longer ending, either for the richness of its material or because of the abruptness of the ending at verse 8. The strange variety of endings suggests that early scribes had a copy of Mark that ended at verse 8. They filled out the text with what seemed to be an appropriate conclusion. Voila! Our concluding verses of Mark. Not to worry. The verses are canonical (accepted as the word of God).
This topic will be revisited after a few words about Mother’s Day—a secular “holy day.” Keep in mind that not all secular holidays need be recognized within our services. Mother’s Day, however, has gospel roots—and so merits our reflection on its connection to Scripture. We need to go back some 150 years when Anna Reves Jarvis tried to rally mothers in West Virginia to agitate for clean water. Her efforts combined with those of Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”) to put an end to war. They pleaded for all mothers of the world—from all cultures—to agitate for an end to war. After all, they had witnessed the greatest loss of life in U.S. history because of the Civil War.
Mothers saw their husbands, sons, brothers, and fathers killed in this war over an issue that should never have existed in the first place—slavery. Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens justified this reason for the war—and like all evil ideas—it led to death and destruction. These women did their best to awaken the world (not just the U.S.) to embrace negotiation and not bullets to settle disputes (“to promote the alliance of all nationalities & amicable settlement of international questions”). And their efforts were laudable—especially since women could not vote during the period that Jarvis and Howe were active. Despite having no voice at the ballot box, they staged rallies—which caught the attention of Wall Street and Madison Avenue.
Corporations cared little for the goals of Jarvis and Howe, but they did see a business opportunity aimed at mothers. Whereas war brings wealth to manufacturers, women might provide the same economic impetus by virtue of their role as mothers. This thought spawned candy companies, florists, and the cosmetics industry to target husbands, sons, and daughters to BUY their products as a special gift “for mom.” Either that or take mother to dinner at some restaurant.
When “Mother’s Day” was made a national holiday in 1914, big business had stripped a movement whose noble origin was to legislate clean water, end racism, and no longer wage war. As one business journal boasted, big profits were now being made because they had successfully “squelched” the work begun by Jarvis and Howe.
There’s a saying “Money is the root of all evil,” but Mother’s Day has managed to salvage something good. Namely, those who put so much time, energy, and unselfishness in being our mom—certainly deserve our honoring them THROUGHOUT the year. But they have at least one day on which we formally give them some show of gratitude.
Spiritually, in thinking of a mom, we can’t help but think of qualities we associate with God! In the time of Jesus, one’s father played a key role in the kinship system and in economic affairs. To speak of us as children of “Our Father in heaven” was an appropriate connection to make. However, God transcends gender and physical appearance such that we can only struggle to express who this incomprehensible Creator is. So we can refer to God as father—and mother. After all, our mother bore us and gave us life (like God did). The Old Testament said that just as a mother would not forget the baby at her breast, so God would not forget us. God is father, mother, creator—and more (e.g., God is “Love”—as revealed by Jesus). And if one has no memory of a good home life with a good mom or dad, they can still imagine what such a person would be. In short, God is the best father one could have. And God is the best MOTHER one could have. Mother’s day can remind us of this theological reality.
When my mother died, I realized that I no longer had a home where I could go and just be me—with access to the refrigerator or TV, or napping on the couch, or sunning myself in the back yard, or doing any of the hundreds of behaviors I could do in mom’s presence since childhood. Most people have spouses or children with whom they gather at some family home. With my mom’s passing, I no longer had such a port in the storm. It helped me spiritually to have a high school student remind me that “the only permanent relationship we ever have is our relationship with God.” That was a good reminder for me to hear.
I chuckle when thinking of this experience and then recalling when my dad died. It, too, was a felt loss. I was standing next to a Lakota student of mine (a serious young man whose face was expressionless). He spit tobacco on the ground. Then, in a monotone voice that seemed older than his years—said: “You’ll get over it.” He walked away, still expressionless. That ended his “condolence.”
As stated earlier, three of the gospels have a departure scene for when Jesus no longer appeared to people (which we call the “Ascension”). Two themes common to those departure scenes are important for us to internalize. They are at the heart of our faith. One theme common to the three was summed up by St. Francis of Assisi when he said: “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary use words.” That’s an Ascension message.
The second theme was well stated by author Ernest Hemingway in his novel For Whom The Bell Tolls. His Christ-like main character basically says what Jesus said when He ascended to the Father: “There’s no need to say goodbye because we’ll never be apart.” That, too, is an Ascension message.
Next week’s scripture reminds us that Pentecost brought the Holy Spirit that assures us of God’s presence to us always. With the Spirit, we are able to overcome snakes and poisons that present themselves to us “in sheep’s clothing” throughout life. [Once again, we ask you to email or call the office and say if you read the bulletin]