What Next?

I know that I would have been doing the same things as the disciples by watching Jesus ascend into heaven, but to me it seems both interesting and funny that these two angels are explaining to them that this is not what they should be doing with their time. Plus, how long are they going to stand and stare at the cloud to either see if they could get one final glimpse or if he would be coming back down again?

After all, Jesus is literally talking to them when he is taken up by a cloud. Jesus doesn’t say that he is going to leave them after the 40 days of being with them after his resurrection. he has simply been with them this whole time teaching them and opening their minds to the scriptures. From what Luke has written we don’t get a sense that Jesus has informed them that he is going to ascend into heaven. If we go back and look at Jesus passion predictions in Luke we even see that there is no mention of an ascension. He simply says that after 3 days he will rise. Plus we see in all the gospels including in Luke 18:34 that the disciples have no idea what Jesus is talking about. So even if Jesus had spelled out the ascension I have a feeling that they would not have fully grasped all of it. Which again, is why they’re staring up at the clouds.

I wonder if this is the term where we get having our heads in the clouds comes from. I don’t think it is, but it does offer us some perspective of how we look at this text and our own lives. We oftentimes find ourselves thinking of and paying attention to things that aren’t the real focus of what we should be paying attention to. Which can be even harder when we are told to wait for something to happen before we can do something.

I say that because if we look back at this last physical encounter with Jesus we see that Jesus tells the disciples to wait for what the Father has promised them. Jesus is inviting them to an intentional time of waiting. How many of you would be good with an unknown time of intentional waiting? How long would you wait? How many of us would get bored? Or find something else to occupy our time with while we wait? I’m not sure, but I would guess in the world that we live in today, the idea of being told to wait, without a determined time or a specific outcome, would be met with some pretty big frustrations. To be honest

I would probably count myself in that boat of impatient people. With 2, 1 or even same day deliveries from companies like Amazon and Walmart, instant answers on our smart phones or computers, and being able to watch an entire TV show without waiting a week for the next episode to arrive has only exacerbated our inability to wait for things. Waiting in line at the grocery store and wondering what the holdup is with the person currently at the checkout. Or the feeling that you always pick the wrong lane to be in on the freeway when trying to inch ahead in dead stop traffic. By and large we are not very patient people.

And yet, by and large this idea of waiting is exactly what the ascension text is all about. While the ascension itself is important the angels themselves tell the disciples to stop staring at the clouds. They are focused on the wrong thing. Jesus may be coming the same way they saw him go into heaven, but the kind of waiting they should be doing is not by standing around and staring at the clouds.

Jesus has invited them into a different kind of waiting. Jesus has just spent 40 days with them teaching them and opening up the scriptures to them so that they understand how to share the good news of Jesus on their missionary journeys. And as a part of those conversations he tells them to wait for what the Father has promised. Which offers us another interesting thought on waiting. I say that because the disciples know that they are in fact going to be the ones to share the good news with the world. They, as I have just said, have been given the knowledge of the scriptures. They seem to have everything they need for the work that they are about to do.

Yet Jesus says they still need to wait. It will be the gift of the Holy Spirit Jesus says in Acts 1:8 that will come upon them and after that they will be God’s witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

I believe these are powerful and important words for us to hear. Jesus invites the disciples into an intentional time of waiting for what is about to happen next and I believe that we should listen and look for the ways that we are being called to do something, while at the same time waiting for the right time to do it. So I believe Jesus is helping the disciples and us to understand this in-between time of having the knowledge or skills, and being given a sign from God that the time is right. We’ll see next week when we celebrate Pentecost that that is the sign, and that is now the time.

But the time isn’t yet and I don’t want to get ahead of myself so let’s look at what the disciples do during this in-between time. Our very last verse tells us that they were all united in their devotion to prayer as the disciples along with the women and Jesus mother and brothers. And if you notice that this time, the disciples are not corrected in their waiting activity, like they were when they were staring up at the clouds. This idea or prayer as preparation is what the disciples do. This is their ultimate activity of waiting before they are given the gift of the Spirit and sent out into the world to proclaim the good news of Jesus.

They are intentionally spending time in prayer. Despite having the knowledge, despite possibly being eager and excited to share everything they have seen and heard. They are waiting for more than themselves, they are waiting for God to be with them and help them with what they are being called to do next. And all of this sets both an example for our own ways of living out our own mission here at Bethlehem. That a time of waiting and time of in-between is ok and good for us. And ultimately though, it is a reminder that God will be with us through the Holy Spirit. That everything we do is greater than ourselves and what we are doing. God is active and alive in our activities and we should intentionally invite God into those moments in our lives just as Jesus did with the disciples. May you know that God is with you and active in your lives through the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit, and may you be content with the times of waiting for what may be next for each and every one of us. Amen.