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Easter · The Ascension of Our Lord · Year C

Acts 1:1-11

Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven

May 25, 2028

The Ascension, John Singleton Copley
The Ascension, John Singleton Copley, 1775Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Painted in Rome during the year Copley spent in Italy between leaving Boston and settling in London. It is his first attempt at a large religious subject.Acts 1 is the ascension and the question that follows it, and this is an American painter's first go at a scene he had only read about.John Singleton CopleyThe finest painter in colonial America, who left Boston on the eve of the Revolution and spent the rest of his life in London.Museum of Fine Arts, BostonOne of the oldest American museums, founded in 1870, with a collection that runs from Egyptian to contemporary and a famous Japanese holding.Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
LSB Three-Year Lectionary
GospelLuke 24:44-53Lk 24:44-53
EpistleEph. 1:15-23Eph 1:15-23
Old TestamentActs 1:1-11
PsalterPs. 47Ps 47

Overview & Insights

“This Jesus... will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)

Acts and the Third Gospel clearly come from the same hand. Not only their common dedication, but their common interests and their unity of language and style leave this beyond doubt. Moreover, the way in which they are introduced—the Gospel with its relatively detailed preface, Acts with its shorter introduction echoing the other’s language—points us to the fact that these are not simply two books by the same author, but two volumes of one book. This arrangement of a work into a number of “books” having a common preface, with the later books having their own brief introduction, was a not-uncommon feature of ancient writing (cf., e.g., Josephus, Against Apion 2.1–7; see BC , vol. 2, p. 491).

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Take it further: Acts 1:1-11

Commentary

Commentary on Acts 1:1-11 Working Preacher

Luther Seminary reading of Luke's second prologue, the promise of the Spirit, and the ascension.

Acts 1:1-21 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching

Reformed preaching commentary on Jesus' resurrection and ascension as two parts of one glorious act.

Acts 1 Commentary: Jesus Ascends to Heaven Enduring Word · David Guzik

Evangelical verse by verse study of the forty days, the promise of power, and the two men in white.

Acts 1 Commentary Precept Austin

Deep inductive digest on witnesses to the ends of the earth and the meaning of the ascension.

Acts 1:1 Commentaries BibleHub

Classic commentators gathered on Luke's opening address to Theophilus and the ascension scene.

Background & Word Study

Acts 1:1 Interlinear BibleHub

Greek text with parsing for the promise of the Spirit and the language of being taken up.

Book of Acts Overview, Chapters 1-12 BibleProject

Animated overview video placing this passage within its book's structure.

The Church Fathers

Catena on Acts 1 Catena

Patristic comment chained verse by verse on the ascension and the waiting for Pentecost.

Questions preachers ask

What happens at the Ascension?

After forty days Jesus is lifted up before the apostles and a cloud takes him from their sight; two angels promise his return, and he tells them to wait in Jerusalem for the Spirit and to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth.

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