ascension day: clap your hands (psalm 47:1)

i am always delighted that one of the daily office readings for this day is the vision of ezekiel. i keep trying to paint it. it can't be done. peter paul rubens failed, so why should i think i can. the best effort i've seen is by william h. johnson.

one of the things implied by this juxtaposition of images, ezekiel's wheel with jesus' ascension, is that the throne to which jesus ascends is the throne which is occupied by yhwh. hear, o israel, old israel and new israel: the god of the old testament and the god of the new testament, is one god.

but the one god is not unchanged by the incarnation. the jesus who ascends is the same jesus who walked and talked and ate with us humans, and he is the same jesus who will return. this is the jesus who still has in his hands and feet and side the scars of the passion, who hungered and thirsted and who was tempted in all ways as we are.

thanks be to god.