7th Wednesday of Easter
20 May 2026
The enthronement of Christ the King
The Ascension is not merely the conclusion of Jesus’ earthly ministry. It is His enthronement as the true King of creation.
That is why the liturgy sings with such joy after the Ascension: “God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy.” The Church is reading the Ascension through the lens of the Old Testament kingship psalms because the apostles themselves came to understand the Ascension as the fulfillment of those royal promises.
Throughout Israel’s history, the great hope was that God Himself would reign over His people definitively. Earthly kings failed repeatedly. Saul failed. David sinned. Solomon’s kingdom fractured. Even the best kings could not overcome sin, death, idolatry, and exile.
But the prophets continued speaking about a coming Son of David whose kingdom would never end.
And now the apostles realize something astonishing: the crucified and risen Jesus is that King.
But notice how different His kingship is.
In Book of Daniel 7, the “Son of Man” ascends on the clouds into the presence of the Ancient of Days and receives everlasting dominion. The early Christians saw the Ascension as the fulfillment of that vision. Jesus ascends not simply upward, but into royal authority over heaven and earth.
And yet He reigns still bearing the wounds of the Cross.
That is essential.
Because every earthly kingdom before Him ultimately relied on force, domination, and violence. But Christ reigns through sacrificial love. The Lamb who was slain now stands at the center of heaven.
That means the Cross was not a tragic interruption of His kingship. The Cross was His coronation.
This is why the Ascension mattered so much to the early Church. The apostles preached it not as a private spiritual comfort, but as a public proclamation about reality itself: Jesus Christ is Lord.
Not Caesar.
Not Rome.
Not the powers of the world.
Christ, Himself.
And this changed how Christians understood history.
The world no longer moved toward chaos or meaningless cycles of rise and collapse. History now had a center: the reign of the ascended Christ. Even persecutions, wars, martyrdoms, and suffering existed under His sovereignty.
That gave the martyrs courage.
Book of Psalms 110 becomes especially important here: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” The New Testament quotes that psalm constantly because the apostles saw the Ascension as Christ taking His seat at the Father’s right hand as priest and king.
But there is another Old Testament image fulfilled here too.
When Elijah ascended, Elisha received a double portion of his spirit and continued the prophetic mission. The Church Fathers often saw this as a foreshadowing of Christ’s Ascension and Pentecost. Christ ascends, and the Spirit descends upon the Church so that His mission may continue in His Body.
That is why Jesus says, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses.”
The Church exists because the ascended Christ continues acting through the Holy Spirit.
And this reveals something profound about our lives now.
Christ’s kingship is already real, but not yet fully manifested. The kingdom has begun, but it has not reached its consummation. So the Church lives in tension: already sharing Christ’s life sacramentally, while still awaiting the fullness of His reign visibly.
That is why Christian witness matters so much.
The reign of Christ becomes visible in history through the lives of His people. Through saints. Through martyrs. Through fidelity. Through charity. Through ordinary believers living under the lordship of Christ in the middle of the world.
And perhaps this is the deepest meaning of the Ascension for us now.
Humanity no longer belongs merely to earth.
Our true life is hidden with Christ in God.
The ascended Christ reigns in heaven, but He also draws His Church upward toward the Father through the Holy Spirit until all creation is finally gathered under His kingship.