Where did Jesus go?

Ascension Day 2025

I gaze at Christian art, and there’s Jesus, ascending to the heavens, fully dressed but sporting bare feet. I can’t help but chuckle—did he forget his sandals? Or maybe they just couldn’t keep up with his rapid ascent! The artwork is sandal-free at ground zero, which adds another layer of mystery. As if the Ascension wasn’t puzzling enough, now we’re left scratching our heads over the case of the vanishing footwear!

The age-old mystery of Jesus’ whereabouts might just be because people believe Heaven is a serious hike—way up in the sky! (Can you hike into the sky? Never mind), And let’s not forget, God’s glory apparently has a VIP section even higher than that (Psalm 113:4). It’s no wonder those stained glass windows depict Jesus shooting up like a rocket, leaving only his feet dangling out of a fluffy cloud—imagine the heavenly traffic up there!

People now know that heaven cannot be a location within our universe. So where did he go?

⁶ So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” ⁹ And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰ And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, ¹¹ and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Acts 1:6-11 ESVUK

So what is the Ascension about? Here some misconceptions:

• We assume because of the up language that Jesus has gone a long way off, to distant heaven, but this view is deeply misleading.
• Modern secularism has actually assumed that because there isn’t such a place as Heaven within our Cosmos, it can’t exist.
• Many Christians view heaven like the philosopher Plato. The soul’s true home is in heaven, which is a spiritual place not material at all.

But the Ascension truly reflects the reality of Jesus’ physical body, still marked by the nails, yet fully alive—capable of walking, talking, and sharing meals with his friends. It’s deeply moving to consider that this very physical body is now embraced in heaven, a testament to the connection we share with his humanity.

But Jesus has not gone a long way away.

From Genesis onwards, Heaven and Earth reflect two essential halves of God’s creation, intricately designed to interlock and overlap in a beautiful union; they exist for one another. The Scripture continually reassures us that their ultimate purpose is to come together as one, reminding us of the profound harmony and connection we are meant to experience.

Heaven represents the divine realm designed by God, while Earth is a unique part of our experience; it’s important to understand that heaven isn’t merely an abstract space devoid of time, matter, or physicality as Plato suggested. It is a mistake to take either modern ideas, or ancient ones like Plato’s theory, and then add Jesus to that.

No! Put Jesus at the centre and rethink everything around him.

With the Ascension, we witness the moment when the human body of Jesus finds a glorious home in his Father’s territory, a reflection of the hope that one day He will return. This is a time when everything will come to judgment, leading to the eagerly awaited universal restoration that Peter spoke of in Acts 3:21, reminding us of the promise of renewal and healing for all.

Both Paul and John, in their reflections on that pivotal moment (as Paul shares in Colossians and John in 1 John 3), speak not merely of Jesus coming from a distant place but of his profound appearance. Heaven and Earth are already intimately intertwined, with the Heavenly reality centered on Jesus Himself—near yet concealed behind a veil, poised to be revealed in all its glory.

So I kicked things off with the great mystery of Jesus’ vanishing sandals—just a little artistic flair, mind you! Then, thanks to N.T. Wright’s deep thoughts about the ascension* and the elusive nature of heaven, I’ve taken a quirky turn: imagine Jesus playing hide and seek! It’s like, “Surprise! I found Jesus! He was just chilling behind the curtain this whole time!”

Luke said that Jesus was taken a short distance then the clouds hid him. Acts 1:9
Paul said that the mystery hidden for ages and generations has now revealed to God’s people. Colossians 1:26.
John looks further forward to Jesus final revealing. “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2
Peter talkes about the time for restoring all the things. Acts 3:21

That’s quite an apostolic witness!

The Ascension isn’t about Jesus going away and leaving us to our own devices, it’s about Jesus now at the Father’s right hand, holding the place of authority and power in the universe. In the Bible Heaven is the the place from which things are run and God made the world in such a way that it would work properly when God’s Sovereign Authority was put into operation through obedient Humanity.

Jesus is now enthroned in the place of authority which was marked out for the human one from the very beginning.

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*N T Wright Ascension Cosmology | When Truth Meets Power, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwWVcQtmQ_E