This reflection is based on Mark 16:15-22 for Ascension Sunday.
This parting with the disciples as the Lord is taken up to heaven–that makes two goodbyes in a row.
A little over a month earlier, they’ve just been through that long, emotional goodbye at the Last Supper, the night of the Lord’s arrest and the eve of his crucifixion. Things are different now: Unlike then, this time the disciples have come to understand that Jesus is indeed Lord, raised by God from a death horrible and humiliating beyond words. Who would have known he would muster a comeback like that?