Of all the episodes in the life of Christ, the Ascension is among the most difficult to make sense of today. A literal understanding of the account would have Jesus being asphyxiated in the thin air around 7,500 feet above sea level. The saving message of this narrative lies in its symbolic message, that God's invincible grace remains available to all.
All four Gospels recount that at a certain point after the resurrection, the risen Christ ceased to appear in the flesh. Only Luke recounts how this final departure happened. In his telling it resembles the biblical story of the ascension of Elijah (2 Kgs 2:11-12) and nonbiblical accounts of the ascensions of Enoch, Abraham, Moses and Isaiah that were popular among the Jews of Luke's time. In these narratives, a summons from above results in a chosen character ascending through multiple heavens. These celestial spheres are home to angels, spirits and other heavenly beings who have power over the worlds below them. Each higher level of being has power over everything in the lower spheres, and all these heavens are under the power of God, whose throne is above them all.
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