Daily Devotion – May 26, 2020 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Acts 1:6-14
1:6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”
1:7 He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.
1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
1:9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
1:10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them.
1:11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
1:12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away.
1:13 When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.
1:14 All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.
So many questions the disciples had for Jesus. Imagine traveling, eating, and learning together for almost three years. They had asked him lots of questions in that time, but after his death and resurrection, don’t you suppose the questions were coming faster, more intently, more deeply and from more faith but more confusion than ever before? And the disciples don’t know in the early verses of this story that he is about to vanish from their sight. They believe they are about to witness the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel. They ask him about that. They wait for his answer. And, like a parent speaking to excited disorganized children, he answers them in these three statements:
“It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
And then he was hidden from them.
As usual, these were probably not the answers they were expecting. Jesus cannot answer for his Father’s timetable, and Jesus once again establishes for these disciples the pecking order of knowledge: The Father, The Son, the expected Holy Spirit, and then the disciples. But then Jesus promises them the Holy Spirit and the Spirit’s power (and we know it came to them soon afterward). And Jesus gives them the job of witness, unlimited in scope (not just to Israel but to the ends of the earth).
We too receive the Holy Spirit in our baptism. So witnessing is our job, too. Witnessing is seeing and then telling. We know we don’t tell very often in this day and age. But do we see? Do we even look for what God is doing, whether we tell about it or not? Let’s open our eyes and pray for the Holy Spirit to help us see God’s working among us. We will surely see it, and be amazed. And perhaps even tell someone else! For our God is working in the world even now, in this day, and we can see and tell.
Dear Lord, Thank you for loving us. Send your Holy Spirit to remind us to look for your works all around us. Give us eyes to see. Tap us on the shoulder and tell us to notice when you are doing something right next to us. Help us to be your witnesses. Amen.
