1:9 Now when He had
spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received
Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as
He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said,
“Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who
was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him
go into heaven.”
I don't even know where to begin. 6 weeks earlier these
eleven men abandoned Jesus to the angry mob and murderous officials. They
watched from a distance while He was nailed to a cross and hung to die. They
weren't just frightened. They were disillusioned. It was not supposed to go
like this. The Messiah was supposed to conquer, not be conquered. For those
initial hours/days they tried to come to grips with the fact He was dead. They
tried to make sense of the things He had said which opposed everything they had
been taught since childhood. Then early Sunday morning they get news He is
missing. They go to the tomb and for sure it is empty. What does this mean? By
Sunday evening they are huddled together with the doors locked trying to make
sense of it all when none of it makes sense.
As they sit there scared and confused Jesus appears without
knocking or opening the door. Is it Him? Is it a ghost? Understanding their
fear and disillusionment Jesus demonstrates He is a real person with a real
body.
Over the next 40 days He keeps visiting them. He keeps
talking about the kingdom of heaven. It doesn't sound like the kingdom their
parents and rabbis talked about. Now they finally get the courage on the 40th
day to ask "Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?" He
cuts them off. It was just like when Peter tried to defend Jesus with the sword
in the garden the night He was arrested. Jesus just shut him down.
Instead He kept talking about the Spirit of God and power and
being witnesses in Jerusalem and all over the world. What is He talking about?
Then just as He is finishing His last sentence He starts to lift off the
ground. Is He floating? Walking on water wasn't freaky enough so now He's
walking on air? No He's not walking. He's floating straight up like steam off
the lake! They all stood in shocked silence until He disappeared into the
clouds like an eagle soaring upwards. As if their lives weren't weird and
confusing enough!
Suddenly the silence was broken, yet the voices belonged to
none of them. "Men what are you staring at? This SAME Jesus that you saw
taken from you into heaven will so return in the way you saw Him go into
heaven."
That clears up everything. Two strangers in white say a
couple of things and all the confusion is over right? Hardly. None of this was
taught them at home or in school or at the synagogue. They are so far off the
script that if east and west agreed to meet together they wouldn't find the
script on the way...
Why am I pointing all this out? Because Jesus poured His
Spirit out on these men. He gave His Dynamite to these men. He entrusted these
men to be His witnesses. These fumbling confused men filled with bad theology
and false expectations were to be the conduits for the Catalyst (Dynamite) that
would turn the world upside down.
Seems highly unlikely doesn't it?
Lesson: Your limitations, inabilities, and hang ups have
nothing to do with what He can do in and through you. Stick around and see what
happens next...
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