By the Rev’d Jacky Sewell

Season: Ascension Sunday

Readings: Luke 24:44-53 | Acts 1:1-11 | Ephesians 1:15-23

How long after a person dies does their presence remain with their loved ones?

Some of you will know what I mean. A feeling that they are still in the room. An occasional glimpse of them, out the corner of your eye and you turn your head – and they’ve gone. Hearing their voice speaking to you, giving you advice.

Sometimes these senses evaporate over a few days or weeks; sometimes a lovedone’s presence will linger for years. And sometimes this never happens: the person has died, gone, and that’s that.

Sometimes it depends on who it is who has died. The person may have appeared to the world to be a close wife or husband or partner or father or mother, but the private reality may have been one of abuse or intimidation or betrayal and with their death comes a massive relief – for the first time in years you can learn to breathe again and your body may begin to heal.

For me, when my mother died it was after decades of debilitating illness and physical pain throughout her body. The relief when that poor, twisted frame finally let out its last breath was profound. I never wished her still alive, I was simply relieved that finally she was free of pain, and I have never once felt – or wished to feel – her presence.

With my dad it was very different. I have felt his presence walking alongside me many times over the years, and heard his voice telling me how proud he was.

So what are we to make of this? And what are we to make of these Gospel stories of Jesus still being present for several days – maybe a week or two – after his death and resurrection? Are these phenomena real, physical and spiritual happenings that defy science? Or are these things a psychological phenomenon, filling a psychological need? Or is this simply the full spiritual reality of our existence? Or is there a pastoral response that brings all possible explanations into the palm of God’s hand?

And is what happened with Jesus different from the experiences we have of some of our loved ones when they have died?

Let’s do the theological thing first. What does the church teach about the Ascension of Jesus, as something different from his resurrection. Why couldn’t Jesus have simply been resurrected, his presence felt by his friends and family for a week or two, and then gradually the sense of his presence just faded out as Pentecost took over and the disciples got on with their mission.

Traditionally, Jesus himself supplied the answer to this. In John’s Gospel we have a record – four chapters long – of Jesus’ final conversation with all his disciples present, where he tries to explain to them what is about to happen, right now – beginning this very night – when they leave the upper room where they have shared the Last Supper, and are about to head into the night, to pray, and Jesus to be arrested. These four chapters contain some seminal theology about Jesus’ purpose and what must happen in order for the Holy Spirit to come in fulness. You can picture the scene: Lots of red wine has been drunk, stomachs are full, the night is creeping on, there has been a bewildering exchange between Jesus and Judas who has exited the party, and now Jesus is trying to make them understand that what is about to happen is inevitable. Do they get it? Unsurprisingly, No! So for four chapters Jesus goes round in circles, using parable and metaphor and mystical language and the force of logical argument.

The bit that interests us is John 16:7: “If I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you”. Yes, death will not and cannot hold me. Yes, this temple will be rebuilt in three days. Yes, I am the resurrection and the life.
Jesus has been affirming that he will rise throughout all four gospels. But this is different. He has to physically leave the earth – his resurrected body will stop morphing through solid walls and appearing on beaches for dawn BBQs.

Why? Why couldn’t Jesus have continued to move through human existence for aeons?

Because he knew that basic human need, that we all have, and that his friends had, to rely and not to let go. If Jesus could simply be summoned up to fix things whenever things go wrong then courage would not be needed. Faith would not be
needed. Teamwork and the Body of Christ would not be needed. The Holy Spirit would not be needed.

Christian theology has taught that two things happened through the Ascension. The pathway was clear for the Holy Spirit to come in fulness; and Jesus Christ is now available for all humankind to experience, walking alongside us, in our hearts and in
our minds, rather than in particular times and places. These two things are fused and in a sense they are linked; the completeness of the Trinity who is One.

This is our spiritual reality. There is a continuum between the spiritual realms and the earthly realms that runs deep. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God, the presence of Jesus, the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit. There is
more to life, than physical life on earth.

So what of the spiritual presence of our own loved ones who have died? Is it different for us humans? Does – will – our spiritual presence also sometimes linger after we have died?

As I said at the beginning of this sermon, there are many possible answers to this. Some theologians summon scripture to state unequivocally that we pass straight into the hands of God. Some state unequivocally that we pass into a ‘sleep’ until the final day of judgment and the resurrection of the new creation. Some acknowledge that there may be circumstances of ‘unfinished business’ and a person’s spirit may not be a rest for some reason. Some maintain that any experience of a person who has died is an indication of our own psychological unfinished business. Some call on the ‘great cloud of witnesses’ to attest to the ongoing spiritual presence of all those who have died. These and other perspectives have been strenuously put forward as ‘correct’ Christian teaching. I suspect that grains of truth may be found in each.

Personally, I’m happy not to know: this is one mystery that I am happy to leave safe in the hands of God, and my love of God and knowledge of Jesus doesn’t stand or fall on such things.

What I do know is that attempts to label experiences of a loved one, after their death, as either spiritual or psychological simply tear apart a reality that is both spiritual and psychological. Of course we yearn to see, and hold on to, some loved
ones after they have died – just as Mary and Peter and John did. Of course their presence and their absence leaves a massive imprint on our souls and our senses. Love is physical, and spiritual, and psychological.

It is also true that sometimes we can get stuck, and not let go, and it may take a wise friend or wise counsellor to help us move on to a new way of living without the one we have lost. Let them ‘ascend’, as it were.

Luke wrote two versions of the Ascension of his friend: one at the end of his gospel and one at the beginning of Acts. I think the one at the end of his gospel has a single detail that just gives it the edge: “He led them out to Bethany and, lifting his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them.”

May Jesus’ blessing carry you through your griefs and losses. May it heal your psyche and your soul. May it accompany you, as it accompanies the ones who have died and are now in the hands of God. May your loves, and your losses, be blessed.