Magyar Egyház, 1991 (70. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)
1991-03-01 / 2. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 9. oldal HE ASCENDED TO THE FATHER: THE LINK BETWEEN EASTER AND PENTECOST It is a pity that even professing Christians reduce the number of holidays of the church year. One of them is the Day of Ascension. Many of us seem to be embarrassed to celebrate a holiday we don’t understand. So we drop it or modestly keep it alive by putting the date of the examination of our confirmand young people on Ascension Day referring briefly to this extraordinary biblical story. It is a pity, as I said, because the ascension event is an indispensable element of the salvation story. Without the ascension event there is no link from Easter to Pentecost, without the ascension event Easter is unfinished, Pentecost unprecedented. The more we penetrate into space the less can we imagine Jesus to ascend from the earth — to where? The Bible doesn’t say he took a trip into outer space. It doesn’t say that Jesus was taken up into the skies but into heaven. From the parables of Jesus, and — of course, from the Lord’s Prayer — we hear from Jesus himself speaking from heaven. So we understand that heaven is not a place but God’s presence, it is a state of blessedness. Therefore, it is clear that the Bible does not want to speak of a certain mode of physical disappearance of Jesus but wants to point to the end of his earthly ministry. The incarnation has come to an end. Significant is rather the situation in which the disciples have found themselves because of the ascension. Until then the disciples believed in the Lord but in their faith they were aided by the physical presence of Jesus. They were profoundly shocked by his death but Jesus was alive again — incredible though yet true. Then came this ascension which meant that there would be no more physical presence. On top of that they had their Master’s command to go forth to teach, to heal and to baptize. To fulfill this supendous command memory was not sufficient. What happened? Luke says that after the ascension the disciples returned to Jerusalem with “joy.” It must have meant that the disciples felt that somehow they would be able to fulfill the command. Let us note here that when Luke put his account into writing the ascension event had been many years past. By the time Luke wrote his account Pentecost, martyrs, Paul’s miraculous conversion, the expansion of the church was already history. When Luke wrote about the disciples’ “joy,” he wrote in the knowledge of the successful fulfillment of the command of Jesus by the disciples. Luke wanted to describe the end of the earthly physical ministry of Jesus. Ascension Day is the dividing date from which the Spirit of Christ would give power without the thrust of his bodily presence. The Ascension event must he linked to the words of Jesus to Mary that he would ascend to the Father (John 20:17). We should also recall the audacious and fearless words of Jesus to the Chief Priest at the trial by the Sanhedrin: “You will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power” (Mark 14:62). From the right hand of God Christ would fulfill his promise to his disciples by sending his Spirit of Power to them. The Spirit of Christ is with his disciples to the end of the world to inspire, to guide, to nourish, to continuously recharge to fulfill the Master’s command. The link thus is closed: from Easter through Ascension to the continuity of Pentecost. Andrew Harsanyi WHAT'S HAPPENING TO THE FAMILY What is happening to the family? Is marriage on the way out? These questions are being asked more and more as divorce rates soar and broken homes multiply. Although the American family today enjoys its highest standard of living ever, there are signs that the home is in critical condition. What are the reasons for this crisis? Several reasons have been suggested. 1. BROKEN FAMILIES First, the family is fragmented. In other words, it does not hold together any longer than circumstances compel it to. Thirty years ago, Harvard’s sociologist Pitirim Sorokin predicted, “Divorces and separations will increase until any profound difference between socially sanctioned marriages and illicit sex-relationship disappears. .. . The main sociocultural functions of the family will further decrease until the family becomes a mere incidental cohabitation of male and female, while the home will be an overnight parking place.” What a horrible prediction. While this gloomy forecast has not yet been realized, there are many signs that indicate Dr. Sorokin’s prediction contains much truth. Shocking predictions are being voiced today by professional people throughout the world concerning the very institution of marriage. The London Observer printed a headline some time ago that asked, “Are we the last married generation?” A member of England’s Official Marriage Guidance Council has predicted that engagements and weddings will soon be something of the past. In a Newsweek cover story, general editor Richard Boeth suggested that it is futile to believe there can be any reversal of this trend. “It is novel and bizarre of us latter-day Westernoids to imagine that we can make something tolerable of marriage. It doesn’t seem to have occurred to any earlier era that this was even possible. The Greeks railed against marriage [while] the Romans mocked and perverted it.” It is no secret that mankind has, throughout the centuries, perverted God’s plan for family living. But despite the past record of sinful man, statistics tell us that today’s marriage picture is the darkest ever. Divorce is bulldozing our society to ruin. In 1912, the census revealed that one in every twelve marriages ended in divorce. In 1932, one in every six marriages failed. Today there are two divorces for every three marriages performed. Professional psychologist Dr. Lacey Hall says, “The Christian needs to realize what is happening to the family if he is to understand the forces shaping his own home, his own children, the families in his church and the homes in his neighborhood.” 2. ROOTLESS FAMILIES A second reason for this crisis of the family is that the average family is rootless. Since the end of World War II, America has been on the move. Twenty percent of the population change their place of residence annually. Industry is demanding people who will move. One-third of all families with husbands under thirty-five years of age move each year. In an article in Moody Monthly, Dr. Lacey Hall suggests that this mobility is changing the roots of the home.
