Explore "The Joy of Ascension" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Berlin, Ascension Day, May 25, 1933.
Ascension Day is a traditional religious holiday in Europe, observed forty days after Easter, on the Thursday ten days before Pentecost. In Bonhoeffer's time, schools and most workplaces were closed, and many faithful Christians went to church on that day. On Ascension Day 1933, Bonhoeffer didn't try their patience with a long sermon, but gave them a cheering word to take away with them. He quoted the first line of the familiar German chorale "Jesu, meine Freude" ("Jesus, my Joy") by Johann Franck, which we know as "Jesus, Priceless Treasure. " The refrain "Rejoice, o Christendom" that he repeats several times is from "O sanctissima," another Christmas carol that was very familiar to his hearers as "O du fröhliche" ("O How Joyfully"). Mindful, however, that Jesus' ascension had not been a joyful moment for his disciples-in fact, they felt abandoned! -Bonhoeffer recalled a story he had told to one of his first Sunday school classes in 1926-the parable in Luke's Gospel about servants keeping watch by night for the return of their master.