Gone from sight Luke 24:44-23

Ascension Sunday Year C
Hope came back to Jesus followers when they met him again after the resurrection. The day he died they were lost--leaderless and without hope--the day before Jesus death they had been confident; over-confident because they didn't understand either the nature of Jesus' power or the nature of the Kingdom of God.
After the resurrection Jesus' friends would be ready to go forward without being able to see him. Luke writes,

he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God. Luke 24:50-53 NRSV

The difference: resurrected hope. Jesus friends were filled with hope until he died; but their hope was too small. The resurrection was the proof; it was the evidence that God's kingdom isn't limited to our space and time or even by death or sin or the devil.
Jesus was the first glimpse of the plan to redeem all of Creation. Paul described Jesus as the first fruits (1st Corinthians 15:20). And that is true. He is the first redeemed. His rising from the dead meant that hope started again; but the hope of the Christian isn't limited by the boundaries of human power. Our hope in Jesus is eternal. Returning to his father Jesus didn't leave his followers; instead through the Holy Spirit God comes to His followers today.