Ascension Sunday: The Ascension Is a Call To Evangelization

In other religions, the idea of a divine being taking on a human form is conceptualized very differently from Christianity. In other religions, gods might become human here and there, for short periods of time. Not so in Christianity.

In our faith, we believe that God became incarnate at a specific time in creation history. The Creed mentions Pontius Pilate, thereby highlighting the exact period in human history when God came among us. We believe that the Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, took on a human nature when Christ was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit.

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The very first Christian controversy revolved around who could be received into to the Church and how. The first Christians did not see themselves as belonging to a new religion. They were deeply religious Jews, who recognized Christ as the fulfillment of the Jewish tradition, both the Mosaic Law and the prophets. The first question was whether Gentiles, that is to say non-Jews, could be received into the fold.

We see in the reading from The Acts of the Apostles for this Sunday that Peter recognizes the power of the Holy Spirit working among Gentile believers as well, so he orders that they too be allowed to receive baptism, which is the first step of being initiated into the body of Christ. But as the New Testament narrative unfolds, we see that the question arising from this decision is not quite so easily solved. That question is whether and to what extent the Gentiles have to observe the Mosaic Law.

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