After Easter

“After [Jesus’] suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. (Acts 1:3-4a, NRSV)

We find ourselves in that “in-between” time of waiting between Christ’s resurrection and ascension. During the 40 days between the resurrection and ascension, Scripture records a number of appearances of Christ to his followers; among them are his appearances to the women at the tomb, to the two travelers on the Emmaus road (Luke 24:13-35), to his disciples huddled behind locked doors for fear of the religious authorities, and to Peter, Thomas, James, John, Nathanael, and other disciples by the Sea of Tiberias (John 20:19-30; John 21:1-23). These appearances are fleeting, and the Scriptures describing them convey a sense of transience, a sense that time is growing short, and that Jesus must use this limited time to prepare his followers to carry on the work of the Kingdom after Christ’s ascension. It’s a transitional period, during which the work of Jesus becomes the work of the early church. Jesus tells his followers to remain in Jerusalem. They would soon receive the Holy Spirit, and with the spirit would come the power to turn the world upside down with the power of the Gospel – but the Spirit had not yet come, and so they were to wait.

As followers of Jesus we frequently find ourselves steering a course between two false choices. One of these is to act in a spirit of religious triumphalism, to be so confident in the power of our own righteousness that we find no need to rely on the power that comes from God. That path leads to religious bigotry and persecution. The other false choice is to deny that God has given us any power at all, and therefore to be too timid to risk stepping outside the doors of the church to minister in God’s name to our neighbors. That path leads us to hide the light God has given us under a bushel, and to bury our God-given talents. We must avoid both these false choices, and follow the path of humble reliance on the strength God provides us each day. When we follow this path, we approach our neighbors, not as religious bullies using our presumed righteousness to beat them over the head, but as humble servants ministering to them in God’s name. For the light we bear comes not from us, but from God; it shines through us like bright sunlight shining through a stained glass window, creating beauty to inspire anyone with eyes to see it.

‘This,’ [Jesus] said, ‘is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’” (Acts 1:4b-5, NRSV)