May 26, Ascension (Luke 24:44-53)
Like the disciples at the ascension, we need a little help with interpretation.
The disciples struggle to understand their encounter with the risen Jesus, so Jesus teaches them a new way to understand their scriptures. So too do we turn to the scriptures to make sense of our own lives. But we need help.
There’s no such thing as pure experience. We interpret our experiences even as they happen, knowing we may tell our story to ourselves or to someone else at any time. No clean division, no gap in time, separates experience from interpretation.
I had a scary car accident when I was in college. My car hydroplaned in heavy rain, and I knew, for sure, I was about to hit a steel barrier head-on. I let go of the steering wheel and threw my upper body across the empty passenger seat. The crash happened. I sat up, collected myself, and realized I was intact and pain-free. But what about the car? Rather than striking the barrier head-on, my Datsun B210 slid into it almost perfectly parallel, like a boat docking beside a pier. I sensed no serious damage. Although I was at the bottom of a ditch in heavy rain, I managed to drive the car up the bank and back onto the freeway.
