By Richard Vinson
After 40 days of instruction, the risen Jesus was preparing to leave his followers. He promises them the “baptism of the Holy Spirit,” as we’ll see in Day 3. He’s getting ready to leave, and we can imagine all the conflicted emotions within the disciples: Will we ever see him again? How will we get by without him around?
Maybe some of you have had the “one last question” experience putting children to bed —they don’t really want you to leave, don’t want you to turn out the light, and they try hard to think of one more thing that will hold you up. Maybe the disciples who thought up the question in verse 6 were hoping for the same effect. But it illustrates how often Jesus’ followers can be completely devoted to him and fully engaged with him, and yet miss the main thing. “Will you restore the kingdom to Israel now?”
In other words, “Jesus, will you kick the Romans out of Jerusalem, and then either take over the throne or appoint somebody else? Will the Judeans finally get to be their own political masters again?”
The short answer is “no.” The longer answer is “only God knows when the end of time will come. But you have a job for now — you are to carry the good news to the whole world.”
On that day, the disciples had no idea. Somehow, the message that the kingdom of God was bigger than just Israel, and was more than political freedom, had gone over their heads.
But as you read through Acts, you’ll find out how God enticed them, guided them, shoved them into fulfilling a much bigger future than they expected.
- Imagine that you had a chance to ask Jesus a question, face-to-face, just as these believers did. What would your question be?
- What do you expect your future will hold? Does “carry the gospel to others” fit into what you think will happen to you over the next stretch of your life?
- What other details did you notice in today’s reading?
Prayer: Teach us, Lord, to focus on the tasks you assign us, and help us to rejoice in our mission as your people. Amen.
