Ascension – A
Mt 28:16-20

Jijo Kandamkulathy CMF
Claretian Missionaries

The Ascension often feels like a farewell. Jesus leaves. The disciples stare upward. Departures stir grief and the quiet fear of abandonment. But Matthew’s account is different. No rising clouds described. No angels. Just a mountain in Galilee, eleven disciples, and a Jesus who meets them. And here is Matthew’s raw honesty: “When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.”

Worship and doubt, side by side. That is not failure. That is the human condition. Jesus does not rebuke them. He does not wait for perfect certainty. He gives them the mission anyway. Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore.” This is not a goodbye speech. It is empowerment. The Ascension is not about absence. It is the expansion of presence.

Now consider the sheer absurdity of what Jesus does next. Eleven men. Fishermen, a tax collector, a few zealots. No formal education. No political power. No money. No social influence. And one of their original number has just hanged himself. This is the team. And Jesus looks at them and says, “Make disciples of all nations.” All nations. Not just Galilee. Not just Israel. The entire Roman Empire. Every people group, every language, every corner of the known world. It is not a strategic plan. It is a divine joke—if it were not spoken by the risen Lord. God dares to dream big with the most unlikely people. That is how God works. Not with the powerful, but with the available. Not with the qualified, but with the willing. These eleven, with their doubts and their clumsiness, are the seed of a global movement. God’s dream does not wait for perfect conditions or perfect people. It starts exactly where they are.

Jesus gives them a mission. Psychologically, this is wise. When people face loss, a meaningful task transforms grief into purpose. Without the mission, the Ascension would leave them in mourning. With the mission, they become apostles—the sent ones.

The mission is impossible. That is the point. They cannot reach all nations on their own. And that is why Jesus adds the final promise: “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” You are sent on an impossible mission, but not alone. The one who ascends is the one who remains. He is present in absence. He goes away in order to come closer. The disciples will no longer see him, but they will know him with a deeper certainty.

You have your own ascensions. People leave. Roles end. The spiritual high fades. And you stand staring at an empty sky. The temptation is to believe God has withdrawn. But the Ascension says otherwise. The absence is not abandonment. It is the condition for a more profound presence. The empty sky is not a void. It is a promise.

And the promise is not conditional. Jesus does not say, “I am with you if you never doubt.” He says, “I am with you always.” Period. The “always” covers the days of vibrant faith and the days of dry doubt. There is no gap.

The disciples doubted. And Jesus sent them anyway. God dreamed big with eleven fishermen. The same God dreams big with you. Go. Make disciples. Baptize. Teach. And do not be afraid. The one who ascended is the one who remains. Always. To the end.