Today is the day of the ascension of the Lord.
Today's readings are Psalm 130, Numbers 11.1-23, 31-35, and Luke 17.1-19.
God's mercy shows itself in unusual ways. We aren't altogether prepared for the way our Lord cares for us. We complain and God shows his blessing, rather than censuring us. We are hungry so the Lord gives us an over-abundance of food, as he did with the Israelites. At the same time, like they did, we may see that satisfying our greed also brings a curse upon us. As Jesus says in our reading from Luke, we are often tempted in many ways, including the temptation to trust in what we see, what we can do, and what we know from our experience.
On the day of ascension we realize that all our power, all our claims to authority, everything that fits into our experience of normalcy falls apart. Jesus, the Lord who has risen from the dead and appeared to his disciples now promises to be with them always. He follows that promise by ascending to heaven and being received out of sight of the disciples. God is showing himself to be supernatural. He doesn't work according to our logic and our plans. He works according to his own plan. May he give us mercy and grace to understand, or at least to follow in his footsteps.
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