Acts 1: Gazing Up

 

Acts Chapter 1

The Gospel of Luke ends with Jesus ascending into heaven after some parting words for his inner circle of disciples. Luke’s second volume, The Acts of the Apostles, begins essentially in that same place. It is clear that Luke doesn’t want the reader to miss a thing. We get the vivid image of Jesus floating up into the clouds, or something to that effect, while the disciples stand on the group looking up, mouths agape. They stare until he disappears and then they continue to stare at the space where he was.

The reader may get the feeling that these men are at a loss as to what comes next. They were followers, but now the leader is gone. They were students, but now the teacher is absent. This will profoundly impact their identity. How can they be followers when there is no one to lead? How can they be learners without a teacher?

It doesn’t surprise me that they would feel aimless and purposeless right now. Three years ago they pulled up their roots and bet everything on this itinerant preacher. He became their north star, their direction, their guide. But now that he is gone – what next?

They go back to the upper room – the place they have been staying ever since they came to Jerusalem for the Passover. The next steps will be telling – and here is what they tell us.

They begin with prayer – not an unfamiliar practice for us. While we are accustomed to bookending our meetings with a brief prayer, these men and women were “constantly devoting themselves to prayer.” It shows a clear value, prioritization, for prayer. It indicates an understanding that their wisdom, strength, and hope will come from God – not their own resources.

Peter speaks first, and in this we see confirmation of the role he will assume. We have known Peter to be someone with natural leadership ability. Jesus perhaps recognized that when he anointed him with a new name, saying, “upon this rock (Petros) I will build my church.”

The first order of business is announced by Peter – to name someone new to the position that Judas Iscariot formerly held, to bring the group of disciples back up to 12 members. Why do you imagine this was the first order of business?

Certain numbers carried symbolic weight in the biblical world. The number 12 symbolizes completeness or perfection. It even carries over into our world today – there are 12 hours on the clock, 12 months in the year, 12 eggs in a carton. And, most significantly, we note that the 12 disciples of Jesus are modeled on the 12 tribes of Israel, descending from Jacob’s 12 sons. Perhaps this was reason enough for the disciples of Jesus to feel some urgency about filling the 12^th seat.

But on a more down to earth level, I can’t help but notice something else. They started with a simple problem, a manageable problem.

When life feels like so much is out of control, isn’t it a comfort to have a simple problem to deal with? Something that you already know how to do, a task on a to-do list that you can check off and feel that sense of accomplishment?

When you wake up one day and learn that there is a pandemic in the world. When each day you listen to the news and hear new guidance on changes that you will need to make to your lifestyle. When you need to learn new skills just to continue doing the same things you have done your whole life. At those times, it is a comfort to be able to do something that you already know how to do.

We know, and the disciples knew, that the world had just changed in enormous ways on the day of Jesus’ ascent. They knew that they were going to have to figure out the big things, somehow. Maybe they were just stalling a little bit when they sat down and drew up a plan to cast lots for a new disciple. Maybe they were hoping to draw some confidence from performing a simple act that they already knew how to do.

I recently read these words from the poet-farmer Wendell Berry:

It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.

May you be given work today that you know how to do, and may you have the pleasure of accomplishing it.

May you have compassion for your own bafflement.

May you receive light enough for the next step in the right direction.

Questions for Reflection:

·        The chapter describes a series of steps the disciples followed in selecting Matthias. Do these steps, all together, present an appealing or meaningful process? Can you see yourself using these steps, or different steps, in making a decision?

·        Think of examples of activities that you enjoy because of their familiarity. What is it about this familiarity that you enjoy? What do you think about Berry’s words, “the mind that is not baffled is not employed?”