20260514 THE GREAT COMMISSION
14 May 2026, Thursday, The Ascension of the Lord
First reading | Acts 1:1-11 |
Jesus was lifted up while they looked on
In my earlier work, Theophilus, I dealt with everything Jesus had done and taught from the beginning until the day he gave his instructions to the apostles he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. He had shown himself alive to them after his Passion by many demonstrations: for forty days he had continued to appear to them and tell them about the kingdom of God. When he had been at table with them, he had told them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for what the Father had promised. ‘It is’ he had said ‘what you have heard me speak about: John baptised with water but you, not many days from now, will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.’
Now having met together, they asked him, ‘Lord, has the time come? Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He replied, ‘It is not for you to know times or dates that the Father has decided by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth.’
As he said this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight. They were still staring into the sky when suddenly two men in white were standing near them and they said, ‘Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking into the sky? Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, this same Jesus will come back in the same way as you have seen him go there.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 46(47):2-3,6-9 |
God goes up with shouts of joy; the Lord goes up with trumpet blast.
or
Alleluia!
All peoples, clap your hands,
cry to God with shouts of joy!
For the Lord, the Most High, we must fear,
great king over all the earth.
God goes up with shouts of joy; the Lord goes up with trumpet blast.
or
Alleluia!
God goes up with shouts of joy;
the Lord goes up with trumpet blast.
Sing praise for God, sing praise,
sing praise to our king, sing praise.
God goes up with shouts of joy; the Lord goes up with trumpet blast.
or
Alleluia!
God is king of all the earth,
sing praise with all your skill.
God is king over the nations;
God reigns on his holy throne.
God goes up with shouts of joy; the Lord goes up with trumpet blast.
or
Alleluia!
Second reading |
Ephesians 1:17-23 |
God made him sit at his right hand in heaven
May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed, to bring you to full knowledge of him. May he enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, what rich glories he has promised the saints will inherit and how infinitely great is the power that he has exercised for us believers. This you can tell from the strength of his power at work in Christ, when he used it to raise him from the dead and to make him sit at his right hand, in heaven, far above every Sovereignty, Authority, Power, or Domination, or any other name that can be named not only in this age but also in the age to come. He has put all things under his feet and made him, as the ruler of everything, the head of the Church; which is his body, the fullness of him who fills the whole creation.
Gospel Acclamation | Mt28:19,20 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Go, make disciples of all the nations.
I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 28:16-20 |
Go and make disciples of all nations
The eleven disciples set out for Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had arranged to meet them. When they saw him they fell down before him, though some hesitated. Jesus came up and spoke to them. He said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.’
THE GREAT COMMISSION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ACTS 1:1-11; PS 47:2-3,6-9; EPH 1:17-23; MT 28:16-20]
Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord. The focus of this feast is not so much on His body ascending into Heaven but rather on the significance of the resurrection of our Lord. By raising Jesus from the dead, God has conquered sin and death, and in Jesus, we see the definitive establishment of the Kingdom of God. In the synoptic Gospels, the entire life of Jesus was about Him establishing the reign of God. Now that He has been raised from the dead, the disciples of Jesus are called to continue the work of proclaiming the kingdom of Christ and of God. And so, when the apostles asked our Lord, “‘Lord, has the time come? Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know times or dates that the Father has decided by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth.”
Consequently, the Ascension serves to underscore the mission of the Church: what the mission entails and how this mission is to be accomplished. In the first place, the one who authorises this mission is our Lord Jesus. He is the one who gives us the mandate. As He said in the Gospel, “‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” The Ascension of Jesus into Heaven, first and foremost, emphasises the power that is given to our Lord, and what it means to be seated at the right hand of the Father. In His Ascension, the Lord reassumes His divine power and receives the authority to send out His disciples for mission. St Paul, in the Second Reading, emphasised this power of our Lord who has been raised on high saying, “This you can tell from the strength of his power at work in Christ, when he used it to raise him from the dead and to make him sit at his right hand, in heaven, far above every Sovereignty, Authority, Power, or Domination, or any other name that can be named, not only in this age, but also in the age to come.”
Secondly, the Ascension means we now have a different relationship with Christ than during the days when He was on Earth. Our relationship with the Lord is even deeper than before because now the Lord is the head of the Church and we are His body. According to St Paul, the relationship of the Church to the Risen Christ is truly extraordinary. “He has put all things under his feet, and made him, as the ruler of everything, the head of the Church; which is his body, the fullness of him who fills the whole creation.” The Church is now a physical extension of Christ in the world. Indeed, St Paul was told that persecuting Christians meant persecuting Christ. (Acts 9:4) So the Church is now identified with Christ, and lives in Him and from Him. In saying that the Church is filled with the pleroma of the Risen Lord, we are saying that Christ and the Church together make the “whole Christ”. Nevertheless, Christ and the Church are not co-identical or co-extensive, because Christ is greater than anything; as His presence and power permeate the entire Universe.
Thirdly, this becomes a reality only when the Holy Spirit comes upon us. He told the disciples, “not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for what the Father had promised. It is what you have heard me speak about: John baptised with water but you, not many days from now, will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.” With the Ascension, Jesus , who reassumes His divine power and authority, now gives us a share of that power by bestowing upon us the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We need the help of the Holy Spirit to witness to the Lord; it will not be by our own strength or wisdom, but through the Holy Spirit working in us. The letter to the Ephesians says, “When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.” (Eph 4:8) “He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things. The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” (Eph 4: 10-12)
Fourthly, the core commission is this, “and then you will be my witnesses.” To witness to Christ is more than just speaking about Him, and least of all, expounding our doctrines. Rather, the witness of Christ is to be Jesus to all. Just as Jesus is God in the flesh, we too are called to be the flesh of Jesus to the world. The message we proclaim is what God is doing for us through the person, life, death and resurrection of our Lord. The goal of this mission is not reducible to making converts or baptising them. Jesus said, “Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.” Rather, it is about discipleship. It is about teaching and mentoring the would-be disciple to listen to Jesus, to pray with Him, and to do the will of His Father. Christian discipleship is to live the Gospel and the life of our Lord in everything we do. Jesus becomes the centre and reference point of all we say, think, and do. It is our commitment not just to the Word of God, but to the person of Jesus who is the Word of God in the flesh. This lifelong discipleship begins at baptism and continues to be reinforced through the other Sacraments.
It is therefore critical that when we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord, we are not like the apostles, continuing to gaze at the heavens and the stars. “As he said this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight. They were still staring into the sky when suddenly two men in white were standing near them and they said, ‘Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking into the sky? Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, this same Jesus will come back in the same way as you have seen him go there.'”
Indeed, we are called to be witnesses, not stargazers imagining nostalgically how Jesus was taken up to heaven. We should not indulge our curiosity about Heaven and what we do there, as the Lord warns us because these are all distractions. Truly, some of our faithful are more concerned about speculative questions of what hell or heaven is like, how the world will come to an end, and what death is like. Those of us who are obsessed with such matters have forgotten the more important aspect of our mission: to witness to Christ and to live out the Gospel. Until Christ comes again, we must go on with witnessing. This is the mandate given to us by the Lord.
Fifthly, the Great Commission requires us to find ways to spread the Gospel to the unevangelised. We must bring the Gospel to the ends of the Earth. Out of obedience to the Lord, we should be ready to be sent out. Pope Francis reminds us that we are missionary disciples; thus, we are both disciples and missionaries at the same time. Our task is to bear witness of our Lord everywhere. We cannot passively expect people to come to our churches; the Church must go out to meet the people. Truly, it was not the nations that came to Jerusalem, but the disciples who were sent out to the nations. When it comes to the spread of the Gospel, there are no boundaries, prohibited places, or people to whom the Lord cannot be witnessed.
Finally, let our testimony be made in joy – the joy of Christ crucified and risen, and the joy of the certainty of a God who is always close. Pope Francis reminds us that we are called to be witnesses of joy because it is the Good News we are called to share. To have this joy, we must touch the Cross, and the Cross will affect us by healing our sins. We must encounter the Risen Lord so that we can enter into the joy of His resurrection. The disciples were full of joy only because with the Risen Lord, Jesus will never be far from us again, for He lives in our hearts. Pope Benedict XVI once preached, “In Christ ascended into Heaven, the human being has entered into intimacy with God in a new and unheard-of way; man henceforth finds room in God for ever. “Heaven”: this word Heaven does not indicate a place above the stars but something far more daring and sublime: it indicates Christ himself, the divine Person who welcomes humanity fully and for ever, the One in whom God and man are inseparably united for ever. Man’s being in God, this is Heaven. And we draw close to Heaven, indeed, we enter Heaven to the extent that we draw close to Jesus and enter into communion with him.” So, at this feast of the Ascension, let us grow closer to our Lord and His people. May we live in Him as He lives in us.
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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