Pints With Aquinas - 58: Why did Christ ascend into Heaven?

Episode Date: May 30, 2017

The feast of the ascension of Christ is in two days! For that reason I decided to ask St. Thomas about why Christ ascended into heaven and why it was profitable. --- HUGE THANKS to the following Patrons: Tom Dickson, Jack Buss, Sean McNicholl, Jed Florstat, Daniel Szafran, Phillip Hadden Katie Kuchar, Phillipe Ortiz, Russell T Potee, Sarah Jacob, Fernando Enrile and Christopher Beckett. SPONSORS EL Investments: https://www.elinvestments.net/pints Exodus 90: https://exodus90.com/mattfradd/  Hallow: http://hallow.app/mattfradd  STRIVE: https://www.strive21.com/  GIVING Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mattfradd This show (and all the plans we have in store) wouldn't be possible without you. I can't thank those of you who support me enough. Seriously! Thanks for essentially being a co-producer coproducer of the show. LINKS Website: https://pintswithaquinas.com/ Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/matt-fradd FREE 21 Day Detox From Porn Course: https://www.strive21.com/ SOCIAL Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattfradd Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattfradd Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattfradd MY BOOKS  Does God Exist: https://www.amazon.com/Does-God-Exist-Socratic-Dialogue-ebook/dp/B081ZGYJW3/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=fradd&qid=1586377974&sr=8-9 Marian Consecration With Aquinas: https://www.amazon.com/Marian-Consecration-Aquinas-Growing-Closer-ebook/dp/B083XRQMTF/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=fradd&qid=1586379026&sr=8-4 The Porn Myth: https://www.ignatius.com/The-Porn-Myth-P1985.aspx CONTACT Book me to speak: https://www.mattfradd.com/speakerrequestform

G'day, g'day, welcome to Pints with Aquinas. Yeah, that's the new theme song. Anyway, two things I wanted to tell you about. Number one, the new website's up, pintswithaquinas.com, check it out. Number two, I expected to play this podcast last week, but instead I put the debate up. So in this podcast, we're going to talk about the Ascension, okay. I refer to the Feast of the Ascension as about to happen when really it has just happened, but you'll be fine.

Pints with Aquinas depends on your support. If you're an awesome person and want to prove it, go to pintswithaquinas.com, click the Patreon banner, and there you can learn how to support the show for as little as $2 a month. Every dollar helps, and we are grateful for your support. Welcome to Pints with Aquinas, episode 58. I'm Matt Fradd. If you could sit down with St. Thomas Aquinas over a pint of beer and ask him any one question, what would it be? Today, we'll ask St. Thomas Aquinas about Christ's ascension. Was it reasonable that he should ascend into heaven and how was it profitable? Thanks for joining us once again at Pints with Aquinas.

This is the show where you and I pull up a barstool next to the angelic doctor to discuss theology and philosophy. In a couple of days, we will be celebrating the ascension of Christ into heaven. ascension of Christ into heaven. And so, I thought it would be appropriate that we take a look at what St. Thomas Aquinas had to say about the ascension. Today, I'll be drawing from the Aquinas Catechism put out by Sophia Press. This is a collection of Aquinas' preachings and therefore is easier to understand typically than the Summa Theologiae, the Summa Contra Gentiles, his commentaries and so forth. Because it's true that the Summa Theologiae was designed for beginners in theology, as humbling as that is, but it was still designed for those who were beginning theology, whereas these sermons weren't necessarily that. Nevertheless, they are packed with spiritual insight.

So today we want to see, was Christ's ascension reasonable and how was it profitable? So let's begin with whether or not it was reasonable. whether or not it was reasonable. And Aquinas is going to say that it was actually reasonable for three different reasons. Number one, heaven was due to Christ according to His nature, for it is natural for a thing to return to the place where it originated. Now, Christ drew his origin from God, who is above all. I came forth from the Father and am come into the world. Again, I leave the world and I go to the Father. Elsewhere, he says, No man hath ascended into heaven but he that descended from heaven,

the Son of Man who is in heaven. And though the saints ascend to heaven, they do not do so as Christ did because Christ ascended by his own power, whereas the saints are drawn up by Christ. Draw me after thee, it says in Song of Songs, chapter 1, verse 3. That's a good point right there. Let's pause a moment. I remember shortly after my conversion saying something like Mary, when she ascended into heaven, and someone corrected me and said she didn't ascend into heaven. She was assumed into heaven. And right there, Aquinas is going to show us why that's important. Okay. So, whereas Mary was assumed into heaven, right? She didn't ascend by her own power. Christ did ascend by his own power. That's why we say Christ ascended and Mary assumed, and we shouldn't, you know, mix those up.

Or, Aquinas continues, it may be said that no man but Christ ascended into heaven because the saints do not ascend there except as members of Christ, who is the head of the church. And we read in Matthew chapter 24, verse 28, Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles be gathered together. The second reason Aquinas says that it was reasonable that Christ should ascend into heaven is that heaven was due to Christ because of his victory. For he was sent into the world in order to fight the devil and he overcame him, which is why he merited to be exalted above all things. and he overcame him, which is why he merited to be exalted above all things. He says in the Apocalypse or the book of Revelation, I've overcome and am set down with my father on his throne. The third reason Aquinas says it was reasonable is on account of Christ's humility. There never was humility so great as that of Christ, who, although he was God, chose to become man, and who,

although he was Lord, chose to take the form of a servant, being made obedient unto death, and ascended into the depths of hell. Therefore, he merited to be exalted to the heights of heaven, to the very throne of God, because humility is the road to exaltation. And we read in the Gospel of Luke, he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. He that descended is the same also who ascended above all the heavens. Before we take a look at why it was profitable, why Thomas says it was profitable that Christ ascended, I wanted to say a couple of points about the ascension that may trouble you or maybe that someone has brought up to you and you're not sure how to respond to it. A couple of things I want to say. If someone says that the ascension is sort of silly, and I do remember thinking this, like what exactly happened to Christ's body when he ascended into heaven?

He went up in the clouds and then what? Into outer space? How did he breathe up there? Was the biblical worldview that heaven was above the stars or something? Well, regardless of what the particular belief was of the authors of the scriptures, since that doesn't really affect the truth of it or what we're concerned with here. The fact is, it's actually not the case that Christ went up in the clouds and then up into outer space. And one of the ways that we can see this is by reading Acts 1, verse 9. Okay. And here it says, after he said this, he was taken up before their eyes and a cloud hid him from their sight. Now, when we read that, we might be thinking, okay, yeah, so there's clouds up in the sky and he just went through them and up and away he went. But there's good reason to think

that that's not true. The word cloud is nephos in Greek, and this word is used in different places in the scripture. And it refers to sort of the dwelling of God or where God communicates with His people. For example, in Matthew 17, 5, we read, you know, while He was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them. All right. So, this bright cloud that covered them from which God spoke to them and said, you know, this is my son whom I love, I'm well pleased, listen to him, wasn't a natural cloud. It was a supernatural one. Or again, we see in Exodus chapter 13, verse 21, right? We read that the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud guiding them. Again, that word cloud is nephos. So, I think it would be more appropriate to think that Christ ascended into heaven and it was this cloud that somehow hid

him from his sight, but we shouldn't think of that cloud as a natural cloud that he went up, you know, in the middle of and then into outer space. Now, the second thing we should say is, if someone says, well, it's kind of silly, like, why did he go up? You know, that just seems sort of silly. Well, you might ask the person, well, how else would Christ get across the point that he was ascending to the Father? All right. It seems to me that there's a couple of ways he could do that. All right. If you wanted to go to the Father, what would you do? Well, I suppose one thing that could have happened is Jesus just could have became invisible, sort of like he did with those disciples he met on the road to Emmaus. He just

sort of disappeared. But that would perhaps be more confusing than anything else. Or I suppose, you know, he could have said, I'm ascending to the Father and you stay here and I'll, you know, it's been great. And he turns around and walks down the trail. But that doesn't seem to get across the point either. Well, what else could he have done? I suppose he could have sunk into the ground. But there is something about the symbols of earth and sky that do speak of something, right? Like when we think of the sky, we think of boundless, we think of unlimited, etc. When we think of the earth, we just think of something beneath us, right? Something that we walk upon. So, it seems to me, not that we need to

make an argument for Christ. You know, Christ isn't waiting with bated breath as I make an argument for why it was okay that he ascended into the heavens this way. But I think that would be a reasonable response to someone who wants to argue that this way, but I think that would be a reasonable response to someone who wants to argue that this was silly or unnecessary that Christ went up into the heavens. Okay, let's take a look at what Aquinas said regarding the profitability of the ascension of Christ. And just like Aquinas gave us three reasons it was fitting that Christ should ascend into heaven, he gives us three reasons why Christ's ascension was profitable. And those three reasons it was fitting that Christ should ascend into heaven. He gives us three reasons why Christ's ascension was profitable. And those three reasons are the following. Number one, Aquinas says, as he is our leader, in as much as he ascended in order to lead us there,

because we knew not the way, but he showed it to us. He shall go up, that shall open the way before them. And he ascended in order to assure us of possession of the heavenly kingdom. As he said, I go to prepare a place for you. The second reason it was profitable is that it increased our confidence in Christ. Again, something that probably may not have been the case if he had just walked away or disappeared. For, Aquinas says, for he ascended in order to increase for us, sorry, to intercede for us. As it says in Hebrews, he is able to save them that come to God by him, He is able to save them that come to God by him, always living to make intercession for us. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just.

The third reason it was profitable, says Aquinas, is to draw our hearts to him. Wheresoever thy treasure is, there also is thy heart, Christ says in Matthew chapter 6. So that we may despise temporal things. Hence, the apostle says, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. Do you notice how much scripture Aquinas uses? It's incredible. I mean, all of those, the three reasons he said it was fitting, the three reasons he said it was profitable, there's at least one scripture verse in each of those things. And I think we can learn from that as you and I seek to teach the faith to

perhaps our parish or a youth group or wherever we might be involved proclaiming the gospel. God bless you. Thank you so much for tuning into this week. I hope you have a beautiful Feast of the Ascension. Would you do me a favor and rate Pint the Aquinas on iTunes, if you haven't done that already? Secondly, I want to invite you to consider supporting Pints with Aquinas on Patreon. By your support, the show will not only keep going, but it will hopefully go from good to great. And we'll be able to do a lot of other things like a new website. And we have a bunch of other things in store, all of which we need money for. So please consider supporting Pints

with Aquinas, even for $2 a month. You'd go to pintswithaquinas.com, click the Patreon banner, and that's how you'd support. God bless you. Thanks so much. Who's gonna survive? Who's gonna survive? And I would give my whole life To carry you, to carry you And I would give my whole life you