Luke knew that his ascension story, along with his Pentecost account, was not literal history, but he also knew that the inclusive love of God was universal, so he told this story.
it's hard for me to assume, or even grant, any kind of metaphorical intent. it seems to me that if Luke wrote this down, he probably believed it. why would we give him this kind of crazy benifit of the dowbt? the most logical explaination is that he was a religious zealot who believed in a supernatural assumption
