Brief synopsis of the readings: Today we have a choice in readings. It’s the Seventh Sunday of Easter but it’s also the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. I’ve chosen the readings for Ascension. We start at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles which was written by Luke, who also wrote the Gospel of Luke. He described how, in his Gospel, he recounted Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and in this book how Jesus appeared to his followers for forty days after rising from the dead. Jesus told his followers to stay in Jerusalem until they were baptized by the Holy Spirit. After speaking to them Jesus was lifted up in a cloud from their sight. Then two men, dressed in white garments, appeared and told them that Jesus had been taken into heaven. Today’s Gospel, the end of the Matthew, shows Jesus speaking with his closest followers and gives his final instructions: “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Forty Days. After he rose from the dead, Jesus spent forty days with his followers before he ascended into heaven. Do you ever wonder what those days were like? We don’t have much information but it appears that Jesus wasn’t with them the whole time. We see snapshots where Jesus appears to his followers but he comes and goes mysteriously. The appearance to Thomas, the road to Emmaus, and others. And then he left.

So what now? Last week we read about the Holy Spirit and how the Spirit empowered all Jesus’ followers to begin the process of building the Church and indeed the Kingdom of God. And in today’s reading, just before he left Jesus said something that has reverberated ever since: go to the entire world and baptize everyone “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” If you’ve ever been to a baptism those are the exact words we use.

But seriously, go everywhere? Baptize all peoples? We take this for granted but Jews of that time defined themselves as being apart. They didn’t worship pagan gods and they had practices that set them apart from their neighbors. Even today Jews generally don’t try to convert others to their faith. The Jews of Jesus’ time were part of the Roman Empire and lived alongside non Jews but they never really imagined those non Jews would convert.

Now their job got much bigger and their worldview has become a World View. I think we can all agree that when Jesus attracted his first followers they didn’t come to Jesus because they wanted easy, predictable lives. They had to know that people they cared about would think they were foolish or reckless or even dangerous. Even Jesus’ own family may have attempted an intervention in Mark 3:31. But those disciples heard something that they found irresistible. Maybe Jesus’ words stirred their heart, maybe his call to serve the poor and marginalized touched something inside of them. Or maybe it was something they couldn’t articulate but knew they needed to follow.

And I think that’s what’s motivated us ever since. For those of us who were born into this faith it may be hard to imagine anything else, but something has kept us here. When we were baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit we (or our parents) recognized that all three persons of the Trinity provide the foundation of who we are and what we believe. Jesus’ first followers had no idea of what we believe about the Trinity, that understanding would be centuries in the future. But there was something there that said: “This way, no matter what.”

As I said, discipleship has never been an easy path. We live in a world where it’s become much easier to take the safe and easy path and there is a great deal of pressure to do that. I say only partly in jest that we employ lawyers to tell us what not to do “in case something goes wrong.” We are told in ways overt and covert to play it safe. Anyone who has done a will or a trust is acutely aware of the energy spent to ensure we are prepared for any eventuality, no matter how obscure. We seek (and pay for) assurance that regardless of what happens we are prepared and will not be surprised and our wishes will be carried out.

Now understand I’m throwing no shade on lawyers and it’s only prudent to think ahead about what may happen. But playing it safe can lead us to being too safe. The early disciples took a risk going out of their world and it didn’t always go well. St. Paul’s attempt to preach in Athens in Acts 17 ended with him being ridiculed and laughed at.

But we don’t do epic things by playing it safe and we show courage oftentimes without thinking about it. I’ve always believed that the decision to have children requires a superhuman level of bravery because that’s the clearest example of racing blindly into the darkness. We have hopes and dreams for our children but have no idea how they will turn out. We do know that they will demand that we live with uncertainty and even chaos.

Perhaps, at the end of the day, we need to look to our past to give us the courage to do amazing things. The easy, safe way is boring and we cheat ourselves and God when we refuse to leap into darkness. When we look at the lives of the saints we see St. Francis turning his back on family wealth and embracing the uncertainty of depending on the generosity of others. When see St. Damien of Molokai and his decision to live among the lepers in Hawaii we see how he risked (and eventually lost) his life to leprosy.

Hopefully we also see ourselves when we’ve welcomed the stranger or reached out to the outcast. It can be something as simple as being kind to the nasty neighbor whose life took a bad turn years ago or going out of our way to provide transportation to someone who can no longer drive. It is those eyes we are called to use.

When we do that, we fully act in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

In two weeks we’ll celebrate the feast of the Most Holy Trinity and I suspect I’ll have more to say about this.