Ascension of Our Lord
Mark 16:14-20
Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.
What a strange text for this evening; today, we celebrate the Ascension of Our Lord, and today’s Gospel lesson mentions the Ascension only in passing: “So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.” We get almost nothing with regard to what it meant for Jesus to ascend into heaven and sit down at the right hand of God.