Where is Jesus' body after the Ascension?

MAY 9, 2013 (http://newtheologicalmovement.blogspot.com)  -  Having already discussed whither Mary was assumed, we turn now to the Ascension of our Savior. Where is the physical body of Jesus? Must we believe that he is “up there” in space somewhere? Can his body be in heaven, if heaven is not “a physical place in the clouds” (as Bl. John Paul II stated)?

In this brief article, we will reformulate the essential position already established in our discussion of Mary’s Assumption and, then, we will turn to particular questions and clarifications regarding the current location of our Lord’s glorified body.

The Scriptural witness to the Ascension

And the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God. (Mark 16:19)

And it came to pass, whilst he blessed them, he departed from them, and was carried up to heaven. (Luke 24:51)

And when he had said these things, while they looked on, he was raised up: and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they were beholding him going up to heaven, behold two men stood by them in white garments. (Acts of the Apostles 1:9-10)

If then you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? (John 6:63)

Jesus saith to her: Do not touch me, for I am not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren, and say to them: I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and your God. (John 20:17)

Wherefore he saith: Ascending on high, he led captivity captive; he gave gifts to men. Now that he ascended, what is it, but because he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. (Ephesians 4:8-10)

Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1)

There are, of course, many more references than these (especially in the writings of St. Paul), but what we have reproduced here suffices to show several things about the Scriptural accounts of the Ascension of the Lord: First, it is clear that this is spoken of as a real, historical event. Christ was really taken up at a particular time in human history and from a particular place (the time was forty days after his Resurrection, the place was most likely Mount Olivet near Jerusalem). This was not simply a spiritual event, but occurred within history. The Catechism calls speaks of “the historical and transcendent event of the Acension.” (CCC 660)

Second, we see that his physical and glorified body departed from earth and was taken up – he ascends to the Father’s right hand, to heaven, and even above all the heavens. The glorified body of Christ is very clearly presented as physical and not a ghost, it is not immaterial but is material. Thus, he is able to be touch and to touch, to eat, to move about, etc. This physical body was taken up and is no longer on earth. Indeed, it is not anywhere in the universe but is above all the heavens.

St. John Damascene (De fide orth. 4,2), quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, speaks of heaven as a “there” and a “where”, he also states that Christ is seated in a bodily manner: “Henceforth Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father: ‘By “the Father's right hand” we understand the glory and honor of divinity, where he who exists as Son of God before all ages, indeed as God, of one being with the Father, is seated bodily after he became incarnate and his flesh was glorified.’” (CCC 663)

Is heaven a place?

Granting that the Scriptures speak of Christ as Ascending to heaven, we must ask whether it is proper to speak of heaven as a place. And, if it is a place, we must further question where this place is, since that is where the body of Christ must now be located.

Bl. John Paul II stated that heaven “is neither an abstraction nor a physical place in the clouds, but a living, personal relationship with the Holy Trinity.” (21 July 1999) Pope Benedict XVI has spoken similarly, “All of us today are well aware that by the term ‘Heaven’ we are not referring to somewhere in the universe, to a star or such like; no. […] It is his Love that triumphs over death and gives us eternity and it is this love that we call ‘Heaven’.” (15 August 2010)

What the two Pontiffs wished to stress, and what is especially important to consider today, is that heaven is not to be understood in terrestrial terms. Heaven is primarily a state of being and is certainly not a “place” in the worldly sense of the term.

The words of Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange (who taught Bl. John Paul II and oversaw his doctoral work) are most helpful: “Heaven means this place, and especially this condition, of supreme beatitude. Had God created no bodies, but only pure spirits, heaven would not need to be a place; it would signify merely the state of the angels who rejoice in the possession of God. But in fact heaven is also a place. There we find the humanity of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the angels, and the souls of the saints. Though we cannot say with certitude where this place is to be found, or what its relation is to the whole universe, revelation does not allow us to doubt of its existence.” (From Life Everlasting)

Heaven is first and foremost union with God; secondarily, heaven is the place where the bodies of Jesus and Mary abide, but this “place” is not like every other place we think of – its relation to our universe is not clear. The glorified bodies of Jesus and Mary are somewhere, but this “somewhere” will necessarily be a “place” which is “glorified” – just as the glorified body is different from non-glorified body, it resides in a “glorified place” which is different from a non-glorified place.

Where is heaven?

The simple answer is: This has not yet been revealed to us. However, we can say that it is certainly not on earth, since Christ was taken up. Neither is it within the earth. It is not in clouds either. Indeed, we ought to conclude that heaven is nowhere within the physical universe, since Christ has ascended above all the heavens.

Perhaps it is most likely that heaven is outside the universe in what some Thomists have called “uncontained place”. In ST III, q.57, a.4, ad 2 (which is not in the oldest and best manuscripts) we read: “A place implies the notion of containing; hence the first container has the formality of first place, and such is the first heaven. Therefore, bodies need themselves to be in a place, insofar as they are contained by a heavenly body. But glorified bodies, Christ’s especially, do not stand in need of being so contained, because they draw nothing from the heavenly bodies, but from God through the soul. So there is nothing to prevent Christ’s body from being beyond the containing radius of the heavenly bodies, and not in a containing place. Nor is there need for a vacuum to exist outside heaven, since there is no place there, nor is there any potentiality susceptive of a body, but the potentiality of reaching thither lies in Christ.”

This argument from the Summa Theologica claims that, because the glorified body in no way relies upon the non-glorified world, neither does it need to be contained in the universe. Thus, the bodies of Jesus and Mary may in fact be outside of the universe, outside of space and time, no longer contained by place. There is no space or place outside of the universe, excepting the bodies of Christ and Mary. Since they need not be contained by physical place, there is no need for there to be some pre-existing place outside of the universe to which these bodies go; by their exiting from the universe, they are that place where heaven is, and there is no place beyond or around these two bodies.

Therefore, heaven is not a “place” as we usually think of “place”, but is a “non-containing place”, a “glorified place”. Heaven is not some star or planet in our universe, it is not even really some place “up there” or “out there”. It is where the glorified physical bodies of Jesus and Mary reside.

[In particular, we point our readers to the third objection and reply, below]

Objections and replies

I. It would seem that Jesus’ body could have just disappeared. This is untenable for many reasons. First, a body (in order to be a body) must be physical. Therefore, even a glorified body, if it is truly a body, will be material and will take up space. The glorified and risen body of Christ is the pattern for our own glorified bodies, and though the mortal is raised immortal it is not raised immaterial.

II. It would seem that Jesus’ body does not have to be anywhere, for he is present in all places. Again, if the body of Christ is still a body (and surely it must be), then it must be somewhere. The Lord is present in all places by virtue of his divinity, not by virtue of his humanity. Hence, we do not say that the humanity of Christ is present in its proper species in all places. Rather, the humanity of Christ (in particular, his body) is ascended to heaven – outside the containing radius of the universe and into uncontained, glorified space.

III. It would seem that, since Jesus’ body is glorified, it no longer needs to be in a place. This objection is partially true. A glorified body does not need to be “somewhere” in the same way that a non-glorified body does. For this reason, we have argued that the bodies of Jesus and of Mary are not in a containing place. Still, the glorified body remains a body and, therefore, must have dimensive quantity (i.e. it has some size and form, which are the principle qualities of any body). Therefore, we affirm that the body of Jesus need not be “somewhere”, excepting insofar as it itself is that “somewhere”. The heaven where Christ and Mary now dwell in their bodies is not a place which contains them, but is the very bodies themselves. These bodies are the only sense in which heaven is a place – there is no other space in which these bodies dwell, for they are outside of and beyond all containing space.

IV. It would seem that Jesus’ body could be somewhere in the earth. This directly contradicts the witness of the Scriptures which state that Christ’s body ascended, and was taken up. His body is in heaven, not on earth.

V. It would seem that Jesus’ body could be somewhere in the universe, perhaps among the stars. Again, this is contrary to the witness of the Scriptures which state that the Lord ascended above the heavens and even above the highest heavens. Moreover, the very logic of the Ascension is that Christ’s physical body has passed beyond the limits of the natural universe. What good would it be for Christ’s body to reside on Pluto or in a distant star? At that point he may as well be within the earth.

VI. It would seem that the notion of the Ascension is based on an out-of-date view of the universe, namely that of Ptolemy. While it is true that we must understand the words of the sacred authors according to their time in history, we must also affirm that whatsoever the human authors desired to affirm (and not merely what they spoke of in passing and in accord with the custom of the time) must be true and without error. Therefore, while it is not necessary to think that Christ was taken “up” from the earth in the strict and absolute sense (since the earth is round, and “up” for one is “down” for another), but rather we affirm that he was taken “up” from the relative position of the apostles. The very notion of the Ascension presumes that the Lord’s body went out and away from the earth and above the clouds and above the heavens (i.e. out from within the limits of the universe). This is what we affirm when we affirm the Ascension: Christ ascended beyond the limits of all contains space, beyond the limits of the universe; and this affirmation does not rely on the Ptolemaic world-view.

A Scientific Comparison

As the universe is not contained in something larger than itself or within some place, but rather is that very place; so too, the bodies of Jesus and of Mary. They are, as it were, a glorified quasi-universe unto themselves. They are not contained in heaven (as in some greater place), they are heaven insofar as heaven is a place! These two bodies are the very place in which they rest. Neither ought we to think that these bodies are next to or beside our universe, as this would imply that both the universe and the glorified bodies are all contained in a single larger place. Rather, since neither the universe nor the glorified bodies of Jesus and Mary are contained in a place greater than themselves, it is impossible to think of any physical or local relation between heaven and our universe.

How far we are from an antiquated world-view. Indeed, we have taken into account the modern discoveries of science and developed a sophisticated theory of the Ascension, all the while remaining faithful to the Scriptural witness and firmly planted within the Thomistic tradition.
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