“The eleven disciples set out for Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had arranged to meet them. ”
Mountains feature a lot in the Gospels.
Jesus preaches his sermons from the mount. Time and time again we are told that he goes into the mountains to pray. The Transfiguration of Jesus in glory, just before he makes his fateful last journey to Jerusalem, takes place on the mountain. The Garden of Gethsemane where he prays in great anguish, is on the Mount of Olives.
The Mountain, in Scripture, throughout history, in many different faiths, has been a place of encounter with God, a place of prayer.
And Prayer, like life itself, is both an act of sorrow and joy, tears and laughter, anxiety and hope.
And today we celebrate the moment when the risen Jesus took the apostles to the mountain to witness him being taken up into the glory of heaven. He who has shared our sorrows, he who had wept tears in human sadness and anxiety goes from us to eternal joy. He goes into heaven, in order to take ourselves with him: he appears to leave us, and yet he is with us always, even to the end of time.
