Jesus went up to heaven and sat at the Father's right hand — is he somewhere out in space?

🔥The question: “If you took a rocket and went looking, would you find Jesus and God's chairs?”

🛡️The Church's answer: ‘Heaven’ in Scripture doesn't mean only some coordinate above the atmosphere; it points to the glory and the life of God, beyond every creature. The Ascension doesn't mean that Jesus left his body behind and flew far away from the earth; it means that with his risen humanity he entered definitively into the glory of God. It is also the hope that human nature has come to share in God's life in Christ.

‘The right hand of the Father’ likewise is not saying that God has a physical right side and a chair. It is a scriptural way of saying that Christ holds the Father's glory and power and reigns as Lord of the whole world. Jesus is not someone who abandoned us and disappeared; he intercedes for us before the Father, and he is with us in the Holy Spirit, in the word, in the sacraments, and in the community.

🧐If they press further: “Then when is Jesus coming back?” — the Church does not teach that the date can be calculated. The Second Coming means the victory of Christ over evil and death and the fullness of the kingdom of God. Instead of selling fear or decoding a date like a cipher, we practice the love and the justice entrusted to us today, and wait in hope: “Come, Lord Jesus.”

✨In one sentence: “The Ascension doesn't say that Jesus vanished somewhere into space. It professes that with his risen humanity he entered the glory of God, reigns as Lord, and will come again.”