Forty Facets of the Ascension

<p> </p><p>A birth. A ministry. A death. A resurrection. An ascension. And now... what? What is Jesus doing right now? And where is he doing it?</p><p></p><p>Are you a preacher wondering what on earth you can possibly say new and interesting on Ascension this year-to say nothing of all the Ascensions that lie ahead of you?</p><p></p><p>Are you a churchgoer curious about this little odd holiday stranded on a Thursday between Easter and Pentecost?</p><p></p><p>Are you of a scientific mindframe perpetually stressed out by the thought of Jesus rocketing up to the outer stratosphere like an out-of-control hot air balloon?</p><p>If you answered yes to any or all of these questions then Forty Facets of the Ascension needs to be at the top of your reading list!</p><p><strong>Questions about the Ascension answered in this book:</strong></p><p>+ Why is up better than down?</p><p>+ Why do Luke and Acts both have Ascension stories... but not identical ones?</p><p>+ Was it really forty days later?</p><p>+ Why don't any other New Testament authors depict the Ascension like Luke does?</p><p></p><p>+ Or rather why does Luke breach the reserve and depict the Ascension when nobody else did?</p><p>+ If Luke is the only one to depict the Ascension why does he studiously avoid using the word ascend?</p><p>+ Who are the two men that appear at Jesus' Ascension? If they're not angels why doesn't Luke tell us who they are?</p><p>+ Whose ascension is Jesus' Ascension absolutely nothing like? (Not a trick question but a tricky question for sure.)</p><p>+ Is the Ascension necessary? Isn't the Resurrection enough?</p><p>+ While we're at it what does Jesus' Ascension have to do with being exalted to the right hand of the Father? Is that a separate thing or the same thing?</p><p>+ Why is Jesus' self-sacrifice incomplete until his Ascension?</p><p>+ Is the ascended Jesus absent from the earth? If not how can he possibly be present and still be his risen human self?</p><p>+ What is Jesus doing right now?</p>