Taste and See (Psalm 34:8)

O taste and see that the Lord is good, happy are those who take refuge in him.

At one time or another, most human beings sense the need for something or Someone that is higher and mightier than themselves … for they are at their wits end, or their strength has failed, or they are in the midst of human suffering, or they see no purpose or hope ahead. Some will sadly suppress this search to their own detriment. Others will pursue answers and find encouragement.

We know well about Peter’s great low-point, when after three years of closely following Jesus he denied even knowing Jesus. Yet we know Peter was open to re-establishing his relationship with Jesus, and after the resurrection everything turned around for the better. We know that this very psalmist David experienced serious low-points himself in his life, and so the sentiments of this psalm (and others) come deep out of real life experience.

Psalm 34 certainly expresses such need in verses 4 and 6: “I sought the Lord” and “This poor soul cried”; but also expressed the end point of their search in these same verses: “[God] answered me and delivered me from all my fears” and “[I] was heard by the Lord and was saved from every trouble”. Verses 5 & 7 also express the good results that come from a successful search for God. When people sincerely seek out God, they will be found and delivered from wherever their fear has taken them.

This is at the same time an invitation to go further … and keep searching on … into a life of discipleship. There is naturally a temptation to just seek out God when at the bottom, and then forget about God when deliverance to the top arrives. This is no way to live, it has no real integrity, and it is of course quite disrespectful of God. The Psalmist, David, realises this, and on the basis of what God has provided in terms of help, suggests that there is a depth of relationship with God that should be very actively pursued (v.8) – “O taste and see that the Lord is good, happy are those who take refuge in him”.

Now we should note that to “taste and see” is a deliberate use of the senses. This is not just an intellectual search (so that we can understand more and argue better), but more so an experiential and experimental search. We cannot simply accept truths or religious practices and feel we have completed the search, we need to delve into God with our senses. We cannot borrow and adopt someone else’s faith, we must discover our own – one that stands up in the ‘cut and thrust’ and ‘ups and downs’ of everyday life. As a wise person said, “An ounce of personal experience is worth a ton of borrowed theology”.

So when on the search … we can try different forms of prayer, different approaches to worship, and various ways of studying the Bible, in an ongoing attempt to move closer to God and gain satisfaction with our spirituality. This is not to say faith is ever purely a personal matter – it is always interpersonal – but faith does start with each individual starting their engine and continuing to put fuel in their tank!

When we begin to “taste and see” all that God is, we experience the centrality of relationship. God existed in a community, a trinity, before the creation of the world, and it was through this relational community or trinity that this world was created. The greatest dynamic operating within this community of God was love, and it was the mutual love within the trinity that outworked into the creation of the world and all its features and inhabitants. So the energy of God is the relationship that exists between Father, Son and Spirit, and the output of these mutual relationships is love. So to “taste and see that the Lord is good” is literally to join the party – a party that has always been going on (within the community of God), a party to which we have certainly been invited (through the very fact of our creation), and a party that takes us to the very purpose of life … loving relationship.

It is in the very context of loving relationship, both vertically with God, and horizontally with all the others at the party, that we form the sort of trust and confidence that allows us to first survive, and then hopefully to flourish, in life – so our “taste and see” experience leads to (the second part of the verse) … “happy are those that take refuge in him”. As we align ourselves with God and press deeply into God, we sense that companionship [a companionship that first exists within God and is then shared with us]; and we also sense that Divine presence, that nurture, that creative coping mechanism, that redemption, that guidance, through which we can happily go forward.

Living in ‘refuge cove’ with God, is not about being in seclusion, far from it – but rather about living in society in a different way. In a New Testament context this means following in the Jesus way. This is about, as Paul tells us in Colossians (3:5-17), wearing the new clothes we have been given (as presents at Christmas and Easter), rather than wearing our old clothes that have become soiled and smelly.

Now, revealing Jesus through our lives, the very way we live day-by-day, lifts the possibility of God being noticed and appreciated. This goes back to that notion that looking to Jesus is the way to know what God is like. In this we read John 14:8-17. We point to Jesus, while Jesus points to God!! Or put another way, the Jesus in us points to the God who wants to love everyone! This is part of the commissioning of Jesus’ first disciples for their future mission – as they do the works like Jesus did, this reveals the God who is just like Jesus. The disciples, just like Jesus did, will be able to bring sight to the blind (e.g. John 9), and faith to the unbelieving. And this will all be possible because the disciples will and have received the Holy Spirit through which to become effective and fruitful.

So our “taste and see that the Lord is good”, becomes so much a part of us that we naturally desire others to experience God in the same (maybe even better) ways. We can represent God in our daily journey, through the resurrected Jesus living in us, in significant public ways, as well as in simple unassuming ways!

John 9 - God at Work!

Introduction

In John 9 we have been told of an incident with a great outcome. This was good news not only for the person involved, but also for the community which subsequently heard his testimony. Such testimony speaks of God being at work, and points to the full identity of Jesus (as Son of God) – the One who brings us out of darkness into the light. This is out there for people to either accept or reject. For those who accept, then there is for them a whole new future. Those who reject remain in the dark, which is such a great tragedy.

This was all very important for the original Jewish readers of John’s Gospel who were being persecuted and ‘put out’ of the synagogue because of their primary allegiance to Jesus. The testimony of the man who had been born blind showed once again that belief in Jesus was correct, and all opposition to Jesus such as that demonstrated by the Pharisees was in error. Such a realisation stands as an encouragement for all of us who follow in the Gospel tradition.

Textual questions

We read at the beginning of the text that Jesus initiated this healing ministry (v.6). Jesus didn’t require, in this case, any statement of faith … however their does seem to be faith progressively expressed later (so this healing was certainly well invested). Why did Jesus take this initiative??

Jesus did so it seems for various reasons:

(i)                  Jesus’ disciples had pointed to this man as a theological conundrum (v.2). Why was it that this man was blind? The disciples had some prior knowledge that this man had been BORN blind … perhaps they had been told, or perhaps it was his physical appearance that led them to this assumption. Either way, the disciples were working under a primitive uninformed idea that someone must have sinned for this man to have been born blind. To illustrate their theological immaturity, they even included the possibility of the man himself being the sinner – but how could that have been the case prior to his birth!?! Having had this man pointed out to him in this way, I reckon that Jesus was already committed to healing him. What a stigma this man was having to live under; and this certainly brought out the compassionate heart of Jesus. The people of the day saw someone seemingly deserving of derision; the disciples just saw an unsolved theological question; Jesus saw a child of God in need.

(ii)                The response Jesus gave, concerning the question about where this man’s blindness originated, also meant that something terrific was about to occur (v.3). It’s not that anyone sinned … it just is! The question as to who sinned or who was responsible for this blindness was actually the wrong question. The right question is what we would do, and in this case … what God would do, when faced with this level of need. If we look at this response with a Hebrew mind we might think that God causes such states as blindness (for God’s own purposes). But we know this could not be true, and it would be a very dangerous proposition to run with. God simply is not cruel. There are many people born blind who never receive physical healing in this world. Blindness, like many other states of being, is just something that happens in a fallen and imperfect world! Yet things don’t have to remain as they are. That IS the point being made here!! This is because God, the great Creator and Redeemer, lives! And more to the direct point – this God is fully present right here in Jesus – this is a sign of the very presence of God. And now, for those ready for change, change can happen. Ken Manley in his recent book on the Gospel of John critiques this common translation of John 9:3 and prefers, “Because of his blindness you will see God work a miracle for him”, or alternatively, “Let the works of God be displayed in him”.

This man who had been born blind, and had no doubt suffered in many ways, was ready for the touch of God. There was not only the stigma and ridicule mentioned earlier that he lived under, but there would have also been the need to beg to survive, and all the issues of isolation and dependency in that society. So, Jesus made a mud paste using his own spittle … which was believed to have healing powers, and applied this to the man’s eyes. The making of “mud” perhaps recalls a man being formed from the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7); Jesus very publicly supplying the eyesight that had not formed (for whatever unknown reason) in the womb. God was at work restoring the broken!

This blind man would have to show some trust in grappling his way over to the pool of Siloam to wash. Yet in doing this without any apparent hesitation, he seems to understand that his life had been touched in a remarkable way. Upon washing his eyes in the pool of Siloam, the man could see for the first time in his life.

                                                                                                          

Spiritual meaning

We can be awestruck by the transformation that God brings about. Nobody had ever heard of a person being blind FROM BIRTH ever gaining their sight. This healing miracle becomes a sign then that yet nothing is impossible for God. We could and should also apply this in a spiritual way, whereby those who have been born into an environment completely devoid of any vestige of faith … ‘blind from birth’ if you like … can still come to faith later in life. This spiritual interpretation is brought out by Jesus’ self-reference as being “the light of the world” (v.5). Jesus can bring light into all sorts of dark places.

Practical outcomes

We now read scene after scene where people could not come to grips with what happened. The simplest explanation, that this man had been healed by Jesus, was actually the most elusive explanation. Some thought this must be someone else and not the blind man, while some recognised him correctly but had no idea how he could now see. So the people brought the whole situation before the Pharisees, who should be able to bring some sort of explanation concerning this happening, but they proved themselves to be in the ‘dark’ (to be the ones who were really ‘blind’). The Pharisees of course, with their closed minds, would likely never be convinced that Jesus was the source of this man’s new sight, despite the obvious. And certainly these Pharisees were also locked into the ‘no healing on the Sabbath ban’, which facilitated their attempts at discrediting Jesus – a ‘Sabbath-breaker’ could not possibly be an agent of God …  this was their persistent view (a view of course based on their own agenda rather than God’s). So this formerly blind man was given a bit of a hard time, when really there should have been a big celebration.

God was not only working in this man’s life toward the beginnings of faith, but towards a thorough discipleship as well. The more this man was questioned, and the more his testimony was challenged, the firmer and more forthright he became. This culminated with these great words of personal witness, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see” (v.25). Such questioning and such challenge would normally result in doubt, even fear, yet this man was open to the reassurances of God such that he became more confident, more courageous, and thus more effective in his witness. Here he is compared with his parents, who couldn’t move past the fear of being “put out of the synagogue” (that was attached to confessing anything positive about Jesus). The newly sighted man was even able to become a little sarcastic with the Pharisee’s lack of response to the obvious (v.27), and then even went on to preach a little sermon based on the notion that if Jesus was able to heal a man BORN BLIND, then, far from being a normal sinner, then Jesus must be from God (v.30-33). The irony must have occurred to him concerning these so-called religious leaders who had never done anything to help him his whole life, and now were more interested in the issue of Sabbath-observance than his obvious healing.

Conclusion

The special and most impacting thing in this narrative for me, is that this formerly blind man simply told the story of what had happened to him, and through the power of that sharing became more confident in pointing to the source of this great happening. When as a result he was ‘driven out’, i.e. religiously rejected, Jesus came back to him … of course he did, and through some helpful dialogue, the newly sighted man was able to fully embrace faith – “Lord, I believe” (v.38), he said! “The healed man now has the full gift of sight; he not only sees, but he sees Jesus” (Manley).

Jesus comes to the excluded and stigmatised in all his compassion and turns things around. Jesus will always be where he is needed! Those in the dark sought to silence one who had come into the light, but just couldn’t do so. This should all encourage us in our witness to what Jesus has done, is doing, and will continue to do, in us, through us, and around us. The light will continue to shine!

Acts 1:12-26 ... Ready for Leadership?

We have read about events that took place in the ten-day period between Jesus’ ascension and the Day of Pentecost (Acts 1:12-26). True to Jesus’ instruction, the disciples were together in Jerusalem “devoting themselves to prayer”. With them were the growing number of believers (up to 120 now), which included those “certain women” which had been following Jesus for a while (and had been first to the empty tomb), plus his family members as well – Jesus’ mother, and notably his brothers (who had previously expressed their disbelief, but now were clearly on board).

One thing they would be able to prayerfully discern would be a replacement for Judas Iscariot, who not only betrayed Jesus, but was also no longer alive to be able to redeem himself. Twelve was an important number to retain, as it referred back to and thereby superseded the twelve tribes of Israel (in terms of the future of the mission of God in the world). So who should replace Judas? On what basis should this decision be made? Who is fit for leadership like this? And how does the way this decision was made by the disciples affect the way we think about leadership?

1.       PRAYERFUL ENVIRONMENT. The disciples did not just pray when a crisis decision needed to be made (as a sort of desperate reaction) – they had formed a habit of being prayerful people, and prayerful people together. So it wasn’t just the need for a new leader that led them to prayer – it was in the context and environment of prayer that they understood the need to go in this direction. So if we are looking for guidance or discernment, then it’s not just an isolated prayer that will bring the best results, but much more so the good habit of prayerfulness. Peter’s little speech (v.15-20) reflects an understanding of both recent events and ancient scripture that was no doubt informed by his devoted participation in prayer.

2.       WITNESS TO JESUS. The main criterion that was put up concerning this new disciple (v.21-22) was that he should have been one of those who had accompanied Jesus (and the other eleven main disciples) for the three-year journey of ministry. In this way, this new disciple would be very familiar with what he was getting involved in and the sort of character he was representing. This person was to be one of those who Jesus “went in and out among”, meaning that there existed a familiar and unhindered association over some time. [Which is like the familiar unhindered association God can have with us according to Psalm 121:8 – “The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore”.]

Special mention was made to what? This new leader would have to become a witness to Jesus’ resurrection. Now I would suggest that this not only meant having been personally encountered by the risen Jesus, and not only being a witness to the truth and reality of Jesus’ resurrection, but what else?? Living out Jesus’ resurrection in his own life!! This leader would have to have been obviously transformed by the living Jesus within him. We will come back to this point. The task of ‘the twelve’ was to be ‘guarantors’ of the gospel tradition through their companionship with Jesus in his earthly ministry and to be witnesses to the reality of his resurrection (Longenecker).

3.       PURE OF HEART. There is mention too of the necessity of seeking out God again in prayer, because this new leadership was a matter of the condition of the nominee’s heart. Where the Bible talks about the ‘heart’, this refers to the centre of the human spirit … the place from which springs our feelings, emotions, longings, decisions and actions. It is so easy to fool people through external deeds. How often the ‘go-to-people’ are those who have a good track record of activity. But what about the motivations! Jesus was very strident in his criticism of people, i.e. the Pharisees, who were so overly focussed on external pretences rather than considering inner motivations (especially their own). Good leadership, especially spiritual leadership, begins within a pure heart focussed on the ways of God and the needs of other people.

Jesus himself said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). To add the concept of ‘purity’ to our ‘heart’ would mean to be unmixed with undesirable elements. Thus the ‘pure of heart’ are always genuine, honest and sincere. The ‘pure of heart’ always deal with issues like bitterness and animosity, so that these negative feelings never take root. Such ‘pure of heart’ people are first seeking God for the sheer joy of a relationship with their Divine Creator, well ahead of what can be done for that God or gained from that God! It is out of our delight in God that we desire to serve him and share with others (Hudson).

Ultimately, through the method of ‘casting lots’, it was God that was seen to be directing the choice of Matthias as best fitted for the role of new twelfth disciple. ‘Casting lots’ involved throwing down various kinds of marked objects in order to determine God’s will; substantiated by Proverbs 16:33 – “The lot is cast into the lap, but the decision is the Lord’s alone”. It is interesting to note that this practice now ceased within the Christian community, replaced by the coming of the Holy Spirit … through which all decisions will now be made!

4.       KINGDOM FOCUSSED. One further phrase instructs us on good spiritual leadership. It is how the disciples prayed about what had happened in the case of Judas (v.25b). Judas had failed as a disciple because he had “turned aside to go to his own place”. Judas had come to believe that his own way was better than the way that Jesus laid out. Judas, much more so than the others, failed to see beyond everyday realities to the greater work of God. Because he second-guessed and thus defied Jesus, this led Judas down the track of dishonesty and betrayal. Even his likely regret over these actions could not assuage the extent to which this level of self-destruction had come to. So this begged the question – who could go with Jesus the whole journey … who could carry their own cross in following the way of Jesus (rather than going to their “own place”)?? Who could give up their own agenda, giving preference to God’s Kingdom agenda?

Also, seeking to lead, witness or serve in our own strength, for our own reasons, and according to our own needs, may go alright for a while, but will eventually cause our collapse (and other people will likely be caught in the falling debris). This is why the eleven disciples, supported by the larger number of Jesus-followers, sought to so carefully discern who the new twelfth disciple should be. And this also offers us a challenge toward our particular readiness to fulfil the role of God’s choosing for us.

So returning to our point about living out Jesus’ resurrection in our own life, that is, if we want to be leaders or influencers or effective followers of Jesus, we have to keep watch over our relationship with Jesus and the progress of our life – Paul refers to this, in the context of participating in communion (1 Corinthians 11:28), as ‘examining ourselves’. 1 Timothy 4:16 also records these words of Paul, “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers”. This is where the ‘fruits of the Spirit’ are more crucial than the ‘gifts of the Spirit’! The quality of our witness to the risen Jesus will be defined through our capacity for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Federal Budget

If we look carefully through the Bible, we see that the quality of a society, government or community leadership, is seen in how they treat the poor and most vulnerable. If we then, through this lens, look at this week's budget, no matter how we might think economically about perceived or real debt, we would see gaping injustices. I can only quote some of Bill Shorten's broadly philosophical comments in response to the budget to echo my own. "On Tuesday we saw a Budget that seeks to demolish the pillars of Australian society: universal healthcare, education for all and a fair pension. This is a budget that pushes up the cost of living for every Australian family and hurts those who can least afford it most. The very things this Prime Minister promised not to touch, are the first casualties of his deceit, including new and higher taxes. This is the Budget of a Prime Minister and a Government who want to tear down everything Australians have built together. I believe in a different Australia, a place where your destiny is not pre-determined by your wealth or your postcode, a fair and prosperous nation populated by a creative and productive people. We believe that economic growth comes from extending opportunity. We believe in a prosperous Australia: prosperity for everyone who works and prosperity which works for everyone. An Australia ready for the future, optimistic about the future and investing in the future." Bill goes on to say, from a party political perspective, but a sentiment I would heartily support, without necessarily supporting how they have or would attempt to achieve it, "Labor believes in an Australia that includes everyone, that helps everyone, that lets everyone be their best, that leaves no-one behind. This is the Australia that the Prime Minister has forgotten." 

"Our Life in God" (Psalm 121)

Some encouragement is always a good thing. Psalm 121 reminds us of God’s great love for us – this is a psalm of trust and confidence in God’s care for each one of us. The first verse of this psalm asks a question, which the remaining seven verses answer. It might be at a point of exasperation, or at a time of loneliness, or when it seems that all resources have dried up that we, along with this psalmist, say, “I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come”? In a way, there is already an acknowledgement here, that God exists and can be contacted. It may not have always been this way, but thanks be to God it is now!

There is some existing background of faith that allows a particular person’s eyes to be lifted upward toward God in the heavens. Yet the power of certain concerns, loneliness or need require a specific and concerted search for the source of help. People who have lost their job or just cannot find work, start to lose hope and become frustrated. Mothers can feel desperate under considerable pressure to respond to the nurturing needs of their children, sometimes feeling ill-equipped or generally just too tired.

It only takes to the next phrase for this psalmist to express the certainty that God hears and will respond. This is not a private little wishing-well being addressed, but rather the God who created the whole universe. And this God never takes his eyes of his loved creation (God neither slumbers nor sleeps) – God is always available for a consultation. We are being encouraged to bring to God the areas of life that worry us, or cause us to feel alone, or where we feel weak and lack hope; and it is an act of maturity to do so. Where we put our trust firmly and resolutely in God … ultimately we will never be disappointed. Even when one door closes, another door will no doubt open!

Just off now on a couple of tangents briefly. We must feel for those who actually, unlike the psalmist, throw their hands in the air in desperation but have no background in faith at all through which to find God at the end of their search for help. This is where tragically many people, especially young people, resort to pain-softening substances, that only ultimately make their problems bigger and broader. Sometimes their outrageous behaviour makes us want to squirm, yet really this is a loud cry for help (from the hills)!

The second tangent … if God is constantly watching over all his creation, then God must feel a lot of disappointment, frustration, even anger, for what has been done to it … not just the physical environment, but also to the human spirit over the centuries. God has had to endure so much violence, and so much evil that humans have unleashed on other humans – imagine entering into all that suffering. Yet God has been willing to enter all this suffering … we see this most plainly as Jesus hangs tortured on a cross. For God can’t just watch passively; God desires to engage with us as we journey through whatever life throws at us.

When we read that, “God will not let your foot be moved” (v.3a), this signifies that God will help us build our life on a firm footing (or, foundation) from which we will not easily be moved. A careful building process has been begun well, leading to a ‘house’ with all the right characteristics and features. This will also mean that we will not be destructive nor negative people, and more often than not, that we will be helpful builders in our neighbourhood (despite any strong winds that come against us).

Then when we read that, “The Lord is your keeper” (v.5a), we sense protection, or at least a sustaining influence upon our lives. As we trust in God, we can experience God’s presence with us; so that the excessive heat in the day or the danger of the night, don’t have the destructive force that they otherwise might have. We might also sense God bringing certain light into situations that just expose the otherwise dark and unseen dangers. God does not want evil to touch us to take away our joy, hope or life itself. God does not want fear to mean that we become distrustful or disengaged. The New Living Translation (NLT) translates the second part of verse 5 as: “The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade” … taking us back to that thought of God being our constant companion. So when it gets hot in the oven, so to speak, “the Lord stands beside you as your protective shade”.

G. Campbell Morgan wrote that God keeps his children safe in “the faithfulness of his tender vigil”. So, when we are short on ideas or resources, no soon as the words ‘Lord help me’ spring from our mouth, (in some form or another) God is there! The Lord being our “keeper” is never imprisoning like a zoo-keeper (nor even controlling), but rather a benevolent offer of love and care for our own good (or in our best interests)! None of this of course represents any promise of a soft care-free existence, as we well know, but rather brings the opportunity of a well-prepared life. We know that very bad things can happen even to people who wholly put their trust in God, so there is also a sense here of the eternal spiritual destiny that remains safe as we continue to trust in God – “he will keep your life” (verse 7b).

The “going out” and “coming in” of verse 8, signifies that God’s care is continual … at all times in all places. God has plenty of time for us, though we probably should try not to waste too much of God’s time. God doesn’t want to be just involved in our lives, God wants to be fully involved; yet this remains a matter of our freewill whether we are up for this or not. By the same token, we should remember too, that there is a degree to which God’s love and care is unconditional and inclusive – remembering the parable Jesus told about the shepherd leaving the ninety-nine sheep to chase after the one rebellious sheep. So in one way, each of us can resist, but in another God is hard to put-off!

Having gone to the source of grace and blessing, we should also recognise that God’s way of providing help will often come through other people. So if we have expressed need (whether only to God or quite publicly), we should be open to receiving the generous support of those around us (rather than remaining aloof and self-reliant). As we experience some resolutions to our areas of concern, there is a release of anxiety, a lessening of isolation, and a new feeling of worth. Also through this process, which might be later seen as a source of growth, faith actually deepens, and a joy in life is possible again. So we emerge from this psalm, I trust, with some encouragement and new confidence in God. We can press deeply into God, as God companions with us.

Waiting on God (Luke 24:49-53, Acts 1:4-11)

Jesus met with his disciples on a number of occasions after his resurrection. No doubt Jesus taught them, encouraged them, and tried to build up their faith. In one famous incident, Jesus restored Peter in his discipleship, through refocussing Peter on what mattered most – “Do you love me more than these”, Jesus asked, to which Peter replied “Yes”, and then Jesus recommissioned Peter with the words “Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-19). But ultimately, these disciples were only human, and they would need significant Divine help if they were going to succeed on mission. The resurrection of Jesus changed a lot, but they would still need help in applying and sharing their new found understanding of God’s mission to the world. So these gathered disciples were given a promise. The Father would be sending them power from on high that would clothe them with effectiveness (Luke 24:49).

But what would these disciples have to do?? They would have to “stay here in the city”! Or as Acts 1 puts it: they were not to leave Jerusalem, “but to wait there for the promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4). This I think was quite a big ask … to stay exposed in a city where Jesus had been tortured and crucified and many of these disciples had previously felt highly threatened. The first Gospel written, Mark, makes the very raw admission, that following Jesus’ crucifixion and the scene of the empty tomb, all of the disciples scattered because of their fear (Mark 16:8)! In John’s Gospel, Jesus seems to later reconnect with his disciples after some of them had returned to their fishing business (John 21:1-3). So, given these emotional reactions, it was quite a big thing to ask them to now stay put in Jerusalem for an undetermined amount of time.

It turned out to be only ten days between Jesus’ ascension and the ‘Day of Pentecost’, but even a ten day wait may still have been a challenging and frightening concept for these disciples. I sometimes find it hard to wait one day for something I’m quite expectant about, let alone ten! So, a fair question would be … how well do we wait for God’s promises to come to fruition in our lives? How do we react to having to wait for God’s promises, or for God’s answer to our prayers, or for circumstances to change for the better??? The more mature we are in Christ, the more patient we would likely be!

The other question worth asking is: What do we do while we wait? Can we stay still enough to hear God’s voice or to clearly see God moving in a certain direction? Or, at the other end of the scale, can we be about the activities that help us be part of the solution – part of bringing about God’s promises? It’s likely NOT one or the other, stillness or activity, but rather a bit of both. So, what did the disciples do when Jesus asked them to wait (according to Luke)?? Refer chapter 24 verses 52 & 53 – the last two verses of Luke’s Gospel. These disciples worshipped Jesus, were obedient (yet with joy), and spent their time around the centre of spiritual activity … quote, “blessing God” – which would surely mean both: living how God would have them live, and, bringing due attention to God’s goodness and love.

In Acts, Luke adds another bit of dialogue that occurred between Jesus and his disciples … refer chapter 1 verse 6-8. Here the disciples asked Jesus a question about the future … if only they had a better idea of what the future held, then they would feel better about things (and feel better about waiting)! Why do you think Jesus answered in the way that he did?? First, faith is not about knowing the future, but rather about trusting God whatever the future might hold! And second, the job description of the disciples does not concern having all the answers, but rather about being witnesses (in the power of the Holy Spirit). So, in waiting, we have to be careful not to fall into diversions from the main game. We will find God’s promises fulfilled much more so in the main game than in the peripherals.

Jesus is saying: ‘Don’t be side-tracked by things like this – I’m about to lay out for you your ultimate mission – get on with this, and leave the rest to God’! God himself will not be a party to our diversions. So if we ever seem to be praying or waiting in vain, then this might reflect on what we are praying or waiting for! ‘No, don’t worry about what only God needs to know, just be my witnesses’. As the Holy Spirit empowers us to witness to the Jesus who once walked the earth, this job description of being witnesses to Jesus will involve addressing and embracing Jesus’ own job description (Luke 4:18-19), i.e. bringing good news to the poor, releasing captives, restoring sight to the blind, and letting the oppressed go free.

Then, in the Acts version of the ascension of Jesus, we have heavenly messengers speaking to the disciples, saying, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven”? Now it would be understandable that these disciples would respond with awe and wonder at such a sight, but they had just been given their job description, and such a job description had some urgency attached. The heavenly beings did not want the disciples so caught up in this moment that they then became paralysed. If they had become content in this moment, or at this level of experience, they may have missed being together in Jerusalem in the one place when the Holy Spirit arrived (refer Acts 2:1)!! We can so easily become content, and thus miss something even greater or of more significance!

So, waiting then becomes a time of good preparation. And the biggest part of waiting seems to be actively watching, so that we don’t miss the sort of answers that God is bringing to us. God always fulfils his promises, but sometimes in surprising ways. Who would have expected all sorts of different people to hear the Gospel in their own language when being spoken by mere Galileans! Returning to Luke 24:52-3, the best waiting is done in the context of worship, joyful obedience, and an attitude of blessing God in the centre of one’s life.