Jesus ascended into Heaven and the clouds hid him from his followers. But have you ever asked yourself, “Why did Jesus levitate if He could have just blipped into heaven?” It seems clear that Jesus didn’t rise up in the sky to travel to heaven. We’ve been quite far beyond the clouds. There is unimaginable amounts of space filled with cosmic background radiation, speckled with galaxies that take light 100,000 years to cross. It seems clear that heaven isn’t “up.” (Not to mention that going “up” sends you off in a different direction from every point on the globe.)

There must be something more behind the ascension of Jesus and there is: love.

The disciples had experienced Jesus appearing to them many times after his resurrection. Sometimes He appeared to one person, sometimes many. In several instances, disciples were kept from recognizing Jesus until He wanted to be recognized.

But this popping in and out of their lives was going to end. The disciples needed some sort of definitive evidence that they would not be seeing Jesus in person anymore. Jesus could have just told them, but the disciples had a proven propensity to misunderstand what Jesus was saying.

So, Jesus did something He didn’t need to do, something that from His perspective might have seemed almost silly. Levitating might seem like a silly party trick for the one who is risen from the dead but, in this context, rising into the clouds met the needs of His disciples.

Jesus brought them to a mountaintop, told them he was returning to the Father, and then levitated into the clouds. Because in the disciples’ minds, heaven was up, this physical action communicated in a powerful way that Jesus was going and would not be appearing again to them in physical form.

In this we see love. Jesus was talking to and working with the disciples the way they needed Him to. He loved them enough to act out going to heaven in a manner they would understand. In this way, the disciples would get the picture in a way that made sense to them. This little incident on the hill with Jesus floating into the clouds communicated to the disciples in a way that words would not that the ministry is now in their hands.

The ascension of Jesus is a carefully orchestrated leadership handoff from Jesus to the apostles. And Jesus did it in a way that met the apostles’ needs. Jesus levitated into the clouds for the love of his followers.

Jesus often did things in ways that worked for the people around him. His healings took all different forms, from praying to laying on of hands, to smearing with mud, to simply telling people he was granting their request.

Here is the point for you. Jesus is “the image of the invisible God and the exact representation of His being.” The way we see Jesus work is the way that God works. When you interact with God in prayer and through the scriptures, you can be sure that God is working with you in ways that you need and can understand. You can trust God to be taking who you are and what you need into account as you walk with Him and listen to Him.

To me, it is hugely comforting to think of God working with me according to who I am. I have a certain way of thinking. I have certain talents and ways of looking at the world. I have presuppositions (some of which need to be questioned from time to time). In all of this, because we have seen how Jesus works with people, we can trust that as God works in our hearts and lives, He is working for our good and taking the individuality of each one of us into account.

Connect with God. Trust God. Walk with God. Let God work in you. God will always be working for your good and according to who you are and what you need in the moment.

Much grace and peace to you!