Acts 1: In God’s Season
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
“It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”.
These are some of the words spoken by Jesus to the eleven he left behind. The resurrected Christ returns, after having died, to gather his flock, to bless them, and to send them into the world. They are to be his hands and feet, eyes and ears . . . they are to build the new kingdom in all places of the earth.
After Jesus ascends into heaven and out of sight, the eleven and their companions are asked by two men dressed in white garments who are standing beside them, “Why are you standing there looking at the sky?”
We too, are sent into the world as the hands and feet, eyes and ears of Jesus. We also must wait for the events in our lives to unfold in God’s full season. We will want to linger in the places where we have felt Jesus’ presence as he has walked with us; but we must move on, knowing that although he may not be physically present to us . . . Christ walks with us still.
The eleven and their companions formed a tiny community of one hundred and twenty (verse 15), the number needed to form a new worship group in the Jewish tradition. They elect Matthias to replace Judas the Iscariot. The Mother of Christ remains with them, as do the other women who walked with Jesus. They come together to devote themselves in one accord to prayer. They are the nucleus which the Holy Spirit nurtures into a world-wide church.
When I think of the many obstacles that stood in the way of this small beginning . . . I see as miracle the fact that the story of Christ survived . . . but then it is Christ’s story . . . it is the only story worth telling . . . and it remains with us still . . . in God’s full season.
We will want to repeat this story often . . . both to those we know as we do old family stories . . . and to those we meet . . . as a story of welcome . . . as a story of wonder . . . as a story of praise . . . as we move through God’s seasons . . . in God’s time. We will want to stand staring at the sky . . . we will want to be certain that what we have witnessed is true . . . but we will not have time to linger . . . for we are called to God’s work . . . in God’s time . . . in God’s season.
Written on November 2, 2008 and posted today as a Favorite.
The Noontimes 