Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I’m sure we’ve all seen airplanes in the sky or stood by airports and watched the airplanes take off down the runway and launch into flight. That fascinates me, how about you? Those huge and heavy airplanes, filled with people and cargo, flying like birds in the sky! Perhaps you’ve had the experience of strapping into your seat on an airplane, then feeling the plane taxi away from the gate out onto the runway and pause waiting for its turn to fly, and finally the exciting sound of the engines roaring to life as you and hundreds of others on that airplane prepare for takeoff.
If you have flown, then you probably have also experienced WAITING, maybe even prolonged waiting, due to weather delays or mechanical problems on the airplane or crew delays. What do you do with your WAITING times, especially if you are waiting while anticipating a new beginning, a launch into something very exciting?
I left you yesterday with the disciples of Jesus standing on the Mount of Olives looking up into the sky. Jesus had elevated, right in front of them and disappeared into the clouds. Then two angels appeared and explained that Jesus had returned to heaven. Eventually those men on the hillside wandered back to Jerusalem and gathered together with other friends of Jesus.
Why this gathering? They were waiting and preparing for what God had promised and planned for them, for the rest of their lives! Acts 1:12 tells us “The apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives… When they arrived…they all joined together… with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and His brothers.”
You’ve all been to great celebrations of joyous events like graduations or weddings, and ‘m sure you’ve watched perhaps the most exciting waiting-anticipation event called pregnancy! Waiting with anticipation of a significant future is a strategic time isn’t it?
As these friends of Jesus gathered their emotions ran the full gamut, I believe. Oh, they had so much to celebrate as they remembered the months they had with Jesus and the hundreds of wonderful memories. They had so much to ponder as they reflected on all Jesus had taught them.
But they also shared the troubling reality that Jesus was gone from them permanently. They would not see Him, hear Him speak, touch Him, share a meal with Him on this earth again. And we can assume they were all filled with some confused anticipation as they tried to imagine what their future would be like without Jesus!
It shouldn’t be difficult for us to put ourselves in that room with those people, feeling what they felt, eavesdropping on their conversations of remembrances about Jesus, trying to imagine their future without Him!
I’m sure it didn’t take long, perhaps only hours, for the word to spread… Jesus was gone! As that word spread through Jerusalem it appears a crowd started to gather, unannounced, not choreographed, simply a gathering of like-minded people who each had a special appreciation for Jesus and were deeply touched by the news that He was permanently gone from them.
Luke tells us the group grew to 120 people who gathered together. They talked of Jesus, they prayed to God seeking His guidance and thanking God for Jesus. They shared stories of Jesus. Suddenly Peter stood up and said: “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas who served as a guide for those who arrested Jesus. He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.” (Acts 1:15-17)
Most Jews in those days knew their Old Testament Scriptures very well, especially the Psalms of David, very well. You notice Peter gave no explanation of what specific Scripture of David that he was talking about. Peter evidently assumed they all knew. Most Bible scholars believe it was Psalm 41:7,9 “All my enemies whisper together against me; they imagine the worst for me… even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shares my bread, has turned against me.”
As Peter mentioned Judas, I’m sure everyone in the room had a flush of emotions and unanswered questions, mostly WHY questions. Why had Judas betrayed Jesus who had treated him as a friend all through those months? Why, if Jesus was God incarnate, had Jesus selected Judas to be one of His disciples if Jesus knew the day would come Judas would betray Him? Why had Judas betrayed Jesus immediately after the Passover meal, during the great Passover week celebration? Why did Judas kill himself after betraying Jesus rather than coming back to Jesus and repenting, and seeking reconciliation as Peter had done with his denials of Jesus? No one had answers, only questions about Judas.
Peter continued, calling the group who was gathered in remembrance of Jesus to consider selecting a replacement for Judas. I’ve always found this interesting for I see no indication God had directed Peter to do this, yet Peter was such a leader the friends of Jesus evidently didn’t question him.
Luke records for us in Acts 1:21-28 that Peter called for nominations and two men, Matthias and Barsabbas, were put forward as candidates! The criteria for consideration which Peter proposed was this: “it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of the resurrection of Jesus.” I’m grateful the mission for this man would be clear… a witness to the miraculous resurrection of Jesus! The good news of Jesus is built on His resurrection, do you agree?
Luke records that “They prayed…and cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias, so he was added to the eleven apostles.” Nothing more is said about how the eleven disciples integrated Matthias into their group or commissioned Mathias to his new life purpose. In fact, the story Luke is telling goes silent for several days, with only this brief statement: “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.” (Acts 2:1)
For the Jewish people there were three great, annual festivals, which invited them to Jerusalem for several days of thanking God celebrations. Pentecost was the Festival of First Harvest. It was celebrated 50 days after Passover each year, according to Deuteronomy 16. Moses had given the instructions he had received from God on Mount Sinai, about these festivals, to the people. As the title suggests, this annual festival celebrated God’s provision of everything that is needed for the crops to grow and harvest… sunshine, rain, warm temperatures and protection from those things which would damage or destroy the crops… drought, frost, locusts etc. Do you see it was a thanksgiving celebration to God for His Provision and His Protection for what the people desperately needed to survive… Food!
Now remember, Luke tells us the resurrected Jesus appeared many times to many people over a period of 40 days from His resurrection, and then He ascended back to heaven. Jesus died and was resurrected on Passover weekend. Pentecost was 50 days after Passover, so we conclude this crowd of people who had gathered in remembrance of Jesus, spent about a week to 10 days together, talking about Jesus and praying to God asking for His guidance for how they should live their lives without Jesus present. They also selected Matthias to join the apostles replacing Judas. It was a prolonged time of waiting with anticipation.
Jesus had told them to wait in Jerusalem until His Father will send the Holy Spirit who will come upon them in power and then they would go out as witnesses of Jesus to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the world. So… they waited. But these days of waiting were very strategic as they prepared for their empowerment and their launch into an exciting and unpredictable future, led by the Holy Spirit who they were waiting for…
I invite us to spend some time with them. It should not be difficult to imagine this gathering. Over there is Mary Magdalene, and over there Mary the mother of Jesus, and over there Lazarus, Mary and Martha, and scattered all around, the disciples who had been with Jesus.
What would you like to ask each of them, my friends? What can we learn from them as we watch them wait in anticipation of what God will do next…in their lives and in ours? Here’s a vibrant song to help us in our waiting with anticipation …
Today’s Scripture is Acts 1:12-26.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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