It's called The Ascension and for some people, it's one of the strongest visual images associated with the life of Jesus: Twelve guys gathered on a hillside near Bethany and one of them...Jesus...just lifts off the ground and floats into the air until they lose sight of him in the clouds.
According to the first chapter of Acts, two people in white...presumably angels...appeared and asked why they were standing there staring into the sky (which I think is hilarious). Then they said that Jesus would be coming back "in the same way [they] saw him go" (Acts 1:11).
Dear Jesus: I don't think it has ever struck me before, but all this being-taken-up-into-the-air business was totally unnecessary. You could have just dematerialized. You could have faded away like the Cheshire Cat. Heaven is no more "up there" than hell is "down there". But you and the Father and the Spirit decided this was a good visual to give us.
Truth is...I'm looking forward to seeing you return, no matter what it looks like.
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