Next
Read Acts 1:1-8.
There they are, gathered on or near the top of the Mount of Olives, just outside of Jerusalem. From where they stood, they could see the Temple, and many parts of the city in which Jesus had taught and healed and argued. At the foot of the mount, they could see the tops of the trees that made up Gethsemane. The garden and the city would always bring back memories of his arrest, his sham of a trial, and his crucifixion. But that was in the past. He was back now. For forty days, they had been with him in all sorts of different places. Everything was going to be just like it was all over again. Just wait until they went back down to the city and kicked the Romans out and...
Wait, what? What did he say? He's NOT going to build his kingdom now? We're still going to wait? But he's back, and they are rested and ready to go. It's been forty days...shouldn't they be doing something? Didn't Jesus come to take back the kingdom of Israel for good?
No, he's telling them to wait some more, to go back into the city and wait. These are men of action; waiting is not a strong point. Prayer does not come naturally to them; doing something, fighting something, working at something—that was natural. And they don't even know what they are supposed to be waiting on. The Holy Spirit? Gift of the Father? What in the world does that mean?
And, maybe most importantly to these men of action: what comes next? What happens after the waiting? Jesus does give them a small clue to that, though it's not very specific. "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (1:8). Witnesses? (The word there is the root for our English word "martyrs.") What does that entail?
And yet, before he could give further instructions, Jesus was gone. Beamed up. Disappeared. Transitioned from this realm into the next. (I wish we knew what that event looked like, but I imagine that even for those who witnessed it, it was hard to describe.) So...what next?
The disciples, we know, did what Jesus told them to do. They waited. And then they did what now just came naturally. With the filling of the Holy Spirit, they found themselves doing just what Jesus had done. They preached. They healed the sick. They invited people into the Kingdom. They shared good news.
So why don't we do more of that? (The average Christian invites an unchurched person to church once every 38 years.) Why don't we, as their descendants, continue to do what Jesus did? Is it possible we're not as full of the Spirit as we think we are? Is it possible we haven't waited long enough and allowed Jesus to transform us into people for whom the things he did are what come naturally? Is it possible that what comes "next" for us is not what came "next" for them because we're not as like them (or as like Jesus) as we think we are?
I'm just asking questions of myself. If these are questions you need to ask as well, I invite you to join me.
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| Chapel of the Ascension, Jerusalem |
Wait, what? What did he say? He's NOT going to build his kingdom now? We're still going to wait? But he's back, and they are rested and ready to go. It's been forty days...shouldn't they be doing something? Didn't Jesus come to take back the kingdom of Israel for good?
No, he's telling them to wait some more, to go back into the city and wait. These are men of action; waiting is not a strong point. Prayer does not come naturally to them; doing something, fighting something, working at something—that was natural. And they don't even know what they are supposed to be waiting on. The Holy Spirit? Gift of the Father? What in the world does that mean?
And, maybe most importantly to these men of action: what comes next? What happens after the waiting? Jesus does give them a small clue to that, though it's not very specific. "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (1:8). Witnesses? (The word there is the root for our English word "martyrs.") What does that entail?
And yet, before he could give further instructions, Jesus was gone. Beamed up. Disappeared. Transitioned from this realm into the next. (I wish we knew what that event looked like, but I imagine that even for those who witnessed it, it was hard to describe.) So...what next?
The disciples, we know, did what Jesus told them to do. They waited. And then they did what now just came naturally. With the filling of the Holy Spirit, they found themselves doing just what Jesus had done. They preached. They healed the sick. They invited people into the Kingdom. They shared good news.
So why don't we do more of that? (The average Christian invites an unchurched person to church once every 38 years.) Why don't we, as their descendants, continue to do what Jesus did? Is it possible we're not as full of the Spirit as we think we are? Is it possible we haven't waited long enough and allowed Jesus to transform us into people for whom the things he did are what come naturally? Is it possible that what comes "next" for us is not what came "next" for them because we're not as like them (or as like Jesus) as we think we are?
I'm just asking questions of myself. If these are questions you need to ask as well, I invite you to join me.
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