through. The prominence of the Spirit in Luke’s narrative from Pentecost onwards makes clear beyond doubt that for Luke the mission of the church could not hope to be effective without this empowering from God (the Spirit of God) which transcends human ability and transforms human inability. By making the narrative run on without a break, Luke indicates that 1:7–8 was Jesus’ final word. The account of the ascension thus functions to bring to a clear and unequivocal end this