We’re The Rag-Tag Crew

A Reflection on the Gospel for Sunday, June 1st, 2025:
The Ascension of the Lord

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Luke
24.46-53

Jesus said to the disciples, “Thus it is written, that the Christ is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

“And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

It’s really wild to think about this initial crew who was chosen to actually be there with Christ as He walked the earth.

This little handful of humans who were chosen to be His inner circle as He travelled, broke bread and taught the truth of who He was and why He came.

It was a simple crew. Fishermen, frustrated at their own lack of success. Both rule breakers and law abiders, prone to getting into petty arguments about who will be first in the Kingdom and who will sit at Jesus’ right hand.

Here was Jesus, God in the flesh, sharing and entrusting the nucleus of the meaning of life and the entire universe with this simple, often-missing-the-point, utterly human group of people.

It’s so easy to think “What if I was there? What if I was one of those chosen?”

But we are here. We’re chosen now. We’re one of this crew.

That’s us, gathered around Christ this Ascension Sunday as He says to us:

You are witnesses to these things...

I am sending upon you what my father promised…

...you will be clothed from on high.

Here we are—2000+ years later—and now we’re the rag-tag group of followers who are trying to understand Christ’s words about who He is and why He came and what it means that He’ll come again.

We’re the ones still walking with Him. Still writing about Him. We’re reading blogs about Him. We’re gathering around the Eucharist to discover and rediscover Him and His Word.

And here we are—still bickering about who’s going to be first. And who’s right about what. We’re still really faulty and can be unreliable and we’re still making lots of unnecessary messes.

But--we’re the group blessed to know Him in this time and space in history.

We’re the group--now scattered all over the world—who, just a few weeks ago, excitedly gathered around our laptops, TVs and phones to watch the momentous announcement of Peter's 267th successor, Pope Leo XIV.

I’m struck today by the good news and the hope of it all.

This really imperfect group of humans listened and followed enough that we’re here all these years later, reading about and sifting through this gospel passage. They simply bore witness to what they saw and experienced in walking with the living Christ.

As we gather around Him this Sunday for this intimate moment of listening to His last words before He ascends into heaven, may we take heart in having been chosen to be here.

May we, in our utter simplicity, excitedly anticipate the coming of Pentecost as He promises—and may we simply have a willingness to bear witness to what we have seen and experienced in walking with the living Christ.




Catherine Burnham

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