Getting tangled in the moment
This week is on Acts 1:6-11:
These verses are the tail end of the last physical interaction the apostles had with Jesus. While they were having dinner, he told them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to come. If they had been paying attention or curious, they would have been astounded.
They don't care though. They want to talk about the politics of the time. They think Jesus is going to stick around and become a new king, and that Israel will regain her independence from nasty old Rome. They may as well have been in 2016 America asking if their candidate was going to win the election. Answer: It doesn't matter.
Jesus is like "Look, just focus on being here for the Holy Spirit and doing what you are on this Earth to do. None of this other stuff is any of your business to worry about." And then, as if to drive his point home, Jesus ascends into the heavens. Whoa.
So then the apostles are distracted again. First it was politics, now it's the sky. Jesus has passed behind a cloud and they're waiting to see if he appears again on the other side of it. So two men, probably angels, appear out of nowhere and scold them again. "What are you looking at the sky? Jesus will come back." In other words, this isn't the most important thing for them to be focused on right now either.
If I had to think of a word to describe the apostles' behaviour, I'd have to use the word "near-sighted." They aren't seeing the long plan. First they're worrying about Israel, when Israel is not the main focus any more. The church is. Not much longer after the church got established, the Jews revolted against the Roman empire and the Romans crushed them with an iron fist, destroyed their temple, kicked them out of Jerusalem, and forbade them to even call it Jerusalem any more! Preserving Israel was so not God's plan in that generation! But that's all the apostles could see, even after spending all of that time around Jesus hearing about the kingdom of God. If there's one thing Christians are good at being distracted by, it's politics.
So then they focused on the miracle of the moment. Jesus ascended into the heavens. All they could do was look and try to figure out what he would do next. I can't point fingers here. If someone did that in front of me, I'd be looking too! But chances are there'd be something more important that I should be focusing on. But isn't that the other thing Christians are good at being distracted by? Miracles, signs and wonders!
Jesus' last instructions to the apostles was to wait around for the Holy Spirit to become available and that they were to make disciples of all people. If that's your job, then politics no longer matter. It doesn't matter who is president, or what the economy is like, or whether the laws say it's okay for gay people to marry, or whether this statue or that statue are standing. Your job, in its entirety, is to wait for the Holy Spirit and make disciples of all people. God takes care of everything else that you need.
But what if there's a miracle? What if gold dust is falling from the heavens, or people are being raised from the dead, or angels are appearing? If your job is to wait for the Holy Spirit and make disciples of all people, none of that stuff is important. Your job isn't to chase miracles, but to do what God has put you on the Earth to do. Instead of staring at heaven waiting to see what God will do next, there's probably something more meaningful you could be focused on.
It's a lot harder than it looks. You have to start thinking eternally, which is not something we're used to. We're bombarded by political messages, the latest fads and scares, advertisements, and various bits of local drama in our social circles. It's natural that we would gravitate towards something like that. But if we're focusing on those things, how much do we really trust God to take care of us? Is he the favourite thing in our lives, or are we entranced by another? Do politics give glory to God? Do people come to Christ as a result of low emissions, or fewer landfills? Can anyone lay claim to a place in heaven because of stopping a law from passing or getting another passed? Is God only able to work when your favoured party has a majority in congress or parliament? A church that is focused on politics is a church whose first love has been forgotten. And that can be said for us as well.
But miracles aren't politics, right? The supernatural is still related to God, so technically we can focus on that and still be spiritual holy people, right? And yet people become obsessed with the supernatural. Some of the most horrible people I've met have been obsessed with laying down prayer foundations and performing signs and wonders and travelling from church to church trying to get a piece of whatever God is doing, when God is likely trying desperately to do something in their heart or in the local community they've abandoned to become an apostle groupie. There was something I read in a theology coursebook a friend had years ago, which said that a church that only focuses on the spiritual tends to fall into carnal sin like the Corinthian church. The same could be said for us.
So in his last interaction with the Apostles, where Jesus has given them the path he wants them to travel on, he also shows them the boundaries of the path. "Overly worldly" and "overly spiritual" are the two edges of the path we want to avoid veering off into. We need to pay attention because we don't want to slow down in the rocks and weeds and mire or be forced to come to a stop. We have places to go and things to do, and more importantly, people to meet.
Does anything else really matter as much as that? We serve a God who can literally do anything. In that context, what can we truly worry about? And in that same context, if we really believe that we serve a God that can do anything, why should a miracle be any more inspiring to us than gravity or the sun rising in the morning or potatoes fried in peanut oil? Miracles are meant to impress those who don't believe. Those who do believe should be amazed all the time.
So let's stay on the path God has for us. We don't always know every step of the way but we know how to know if we have gotten into the weeds. Remember, those same disciples who got scolded twice inside of the span of a few minutes are also the disciples God chose to start his church. He loves us just as much as them, even if we get a bit lost at times.
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
These verses are the tail end of the last physical interaction the apostles had with Jesus. While they were having dinner, he told them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to come. If they had been paying attention or curious, they would have been astounded.
They don't care though. They want to talk about the politics of the time. They think Jesus is going to stick around and become a new king, and that Israel will regain her independence from nasty old Rome. They may as well have been in 2016 America asking if their candidate was going to win the election. Answer: It doesn't matter.
Jesus is like "Look, just focus on being here for the Holy Spirit and doing what you are on this Earth to do. None of this other stuff is any of your business to worry about." And then, as if to drive his point home, Jesus ascends into the heavens. Whoa.
So then the apostles are distracted again. First it was politics, now it's the sky. Jesus has passed behind a cloud and they're waiting to see if he appears again on the other side of it. So two men, probably angels, appear out of nowhere and scold them again. "What are you looking at the sky? Jesus will come back." In other words, this isn't the most important thing for them to be focused on right now either.
If I had to think of a word to describe the apostles' behaviour, I'd have to use the word "near-sighted." They aren't seeing the long plan. First they're worrying about Israel, when Israel is not the main focus any more. The church is. Not much longer after the church got established, the Jews revolted against the Roman empire and the Romans crushed them with an iron fist, destroyed their temple, kicked them out of Jerusalem, and forbade them to even call it Jerusalem any more! Preserving Israel was so not God's plan in that generation! But that's all the apostles could see, even after spending all of that time around Jesus hearing about the kingdom of God. If there's one thing Christians are good at being distracted by, it's politics.
So then they focused on the miracle of the moment. Jesus ascended into the heavens. All they could do was look and try to figure out what he would do next. I can't point fingers here. If someone did that in front of me, I'd be looking too! But chances are there'd be something more important that I should be focusing on. But isn't that the other thing Christians are good at being distracted by? Miracles, signs and wonders!
Jesus' last instructions to the apostles was to wait around for the Holy Spirit to become available and that they were to make disciples of all people. If that's your job, then politics no longer matter. It doesn't matter who is president, or what the economy is like, or whether the laws say it's okay for gay people to marry, or whether this statue or that statue are standing. Your job, in its entirety, is to wait for the Holy Spirit and make disciples of all people. God takes care of everything else that you need.
But what if there's a miracle? What if gold dust is falling from the heavens, or people are being raised from the dead, or angels are appearing? If your job is to wait for the Holy Spirit and make disciples of all people, none of that stuff is important. Your job isn't to chase miracles, but to do what God has put you on the Earth to do. Instead of staring at heaven waiting to see what God will do next, there's probably something more meaningful you could be focused on.
It's a lot harder than it looks. You have to start thinking eternally, which is not something we're used to. We're bombarded by political messages, the latest fads and scares, advertisements, and various bits of local drama in our social circles. It's natural that we would gravitate towards something like that. But if we're focusing on those things, how much do we really trust God to take care of us? Is he the favourite thing in our lives, or are we entranced by another? Do politics give glory to God? Do people come to Christ as a result of low emissions, or fewer landfills? Can anyone lay claim to a place in heaven because of stopping a law from passing or getting another passed? Is God only able to work when your favoured party has a majority in congress or parliament? A church that is focused on politics is a church whose first love has been forgotten. And that can be said for us as well.
But miracles aren't politics, right? The supernatural is still related to God, so technically we can focus on that and still be spiritual holy people, right? And yet people become obsessed with the supernatural. Some of the most horrible people I've met have been obsessed with laying down prayer foundations and performing signs and wonders and travelling from church to church trying to get a piece of whatever God is doing, when God is likely trying desperately to do something in their heart or in the local community they've abandoned to become an apostle groupie. There was something I read in a theology coursebook a friend had years ago, which said that a church that only focuses on the spiritual tends to fall into carnal sin like the Corinthian church. The same could be said for us.
So in his last interaction with the Apostles, where Jesus has given them the path he wants them to travel on, he also shows them the boundaries of the path. "Overly worldly" and "overly spiritual" are the two edges of the path we want to avoid veering off into. We need to pay attention because we don't want to slow down in the rocks and weeds and mire or be forced to come to a stop. We have places to go and things to do, and more importantly, people to meet.
Does anything else really matter as much as that? We serve a God who can literally do anything. In that context, what can we truly worry about? And in that same context, if we really believe that we serve a God that can do anything, why should a miracle be any more inspiring to us than gravity or the sun rising in the morning or potatoes fried in peanut oil? Miracles are meant to impress those who don't believe. Those who do believe should be amazed all the time.
So let's stay on the path God has for us. We don't always know every step of the way but we know how to know if we have gotten into the weeds. Remember, those same disciples who got scolded twice inside of the span of a few minutes are also the disciples God chose to start his church. He loves us just as much as them, even if we get a bit lost at times.
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