Final, Final Thoughts
Review & Recap
The text for his week is Luke 24:44-53. This is the story of Jesus’ final moment of his earthly ministry. It is otherwise known as Ascension Sunday. The text begins, somewhat oddly with a review and recap of the Passion of our Lord. The point it seems is to remind the disciples (and us) of the reason for it all. That as the Hebrew texts indicated, Jesus was to fulfill the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms. He reminds that it was written that the Messiah must suffer, die, and rise again on the third day.
The other lesson in this first part of the text is that Jesus has opened the minds of the disciples so that they may understand. That is, they, like all of us, heard God’s good and gracious word, and their minds were opened. That is, they believed. We understand that Jesus is the Messiah, that He died and rose. All of this for the salvation of humanity. This is the core of what we as Christians hold as true.
To Go Forth
None of this belief is worth much if we do not share the Good News. News is not news if it is not shared, it is just a secret and God never wants his people to hold back in secret what He wishes shouted from the mountaintops. This, then, is Jesus’ command. We have heard the good and gracious word; our minds having been opened. Which is a fancy way of saying we believe. Now that we believe we are to obey. Jesus offers us a path toward our response to God’s gift of grace upon grace.
We are to take this belief and to repent (which means to turn around) and to accept God’s forgiveness of our sins. In that order, I would note. We are then to proclaim this Good News to all the nations, starting with Jerusalem (which I think means the Jewish people). This is a clear reminder of why God chose the Jews. We are now witnesses to all this love that Jesus gives us, and we are in turn to share this truth, as witnesses to all the world, Jew and Gentile alike.
Jesus does not expect us to go it alone in this evangelistic enterprise. It is at this point that Jesus promises the Holy Spirit. Verse 49 makes this clear “And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; ‘so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’” The Day of Pentecost will be here soon (next week on the liturgical calendar). The Holy Spirit will guide us and help us to fulfill the commission Jesus has given us. The lesson here is that God never leaves us without the resources to fulfill His desire for His people.
Back From Whence He Came
The text concludes with Jesus giving his disciples, and us, His final blessing. He then returns to the Father, from whom He came. The disciples see Jesus carried to heaven and they go to the Temple to continually praise and worship God. Jesus’ earthly ministry is now completely over, for the time being. Our ministry, done in His name, has now begun. The disciples now await the arrival of the promised Holy Spirit. We need not wait. We are firmly living between the Acts of the Apostles and the Book of Revelation. If our minds have been opened, and we believe, then it is time to repent, forgive and proclaim. In short, we now believe, let us obey.
Praise Be to God