THE DESIRE FOR A DIFFERENT PLACE [R, 5-29-25]

BEYOND WINTER: The Confusing Theology of An Old Man—THE DESIRE FOR A DIFFERENT PLACE [R, 5-29-25]

 

Daughter Katie Kennedy, the author [1], passed along this one told by her pastor, Dani Musselman: A ship was going by a deserted island. They saw smoke and stopped to investigate. They were met by a man who had been marooned there by himself for five years. “If you’re here alone,” said the captain, “why are there three huts?” “Well, one is where I live. One is where I go to church. And the other is where I used to go to church.”

This is Ascension Day, when Jesus ascended to heaven, forty days after Easter. In those forty days, he appeared to disciples and others in various ways and places. Apparently, that wasn’t working all that well, so he decided to go to a better place.

I understand Jesus wanting to ascend to heaven. There is always a tendency to think if we could just be some place else, that would solve our problems.

In the last years of his life, my father moved almost daily it seemed, from a nursing home to an apartment to a different nursing home to a different apartment… It was actually a few months in between each move, but it seemed like daily to Helen and me because we were the ones who had to do the work. He’d inform us that he had moved, and then we would get his utilities hooked or unhooked, get his furniture put some place else, change his mailing address with Social Security, etc. He was convinced, against all the evidence, that if he just changed his location, he would no longer be old and blind.

It wasn’t that I was unappreciative of that idea. As a young pastor I always thought getting to a different church would cure my problems. Sometimes it cured a particular problem, or person, but there were problem people wherever I went.

I didn’t mind people with problems, since there are no people without problems. But problem people are different from people with problems. You might be able to help a person with their problems. Problem people, though, are beyond help, because they don’t want help. It is their problem-making that gives them an identity.

That’s why heaven is so appealing. If we go to that celestial someplace else, our problems are over. “Just a few more weary days and then, I’ll fly away. To a place where joys will never end, I’ll fly away.” [2]

Didn’t work for Jesus, though, which is why I find Ascension sort of confusing. I mean, Jesus ascended to heaven, but resurrection means that Christ is no longer confined to the human body of Jesus, but is now available to everyone, any place, at any time, through the Spirit.

Poor Jesus. He thought he’d get to go to heaven, and take it easy, but he was resurrected, and now has to be everyplace all the time, going through everybody’s problems with them.

I like singing “I’ll Fly Away.” But I think that until I have ascended, I’m better off singing “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear…” [3]

John Robert McFarland

1] Her most recent book, Did You Hear What Happened in Salem? will be published in September and is available for pre-order now.

2] “I’ll Fly Away.” Albert E. Brumley

3] “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” Joseph M. Scriven