The sequel day2

 It probably wasn’t what they were expecting.

They may have assumed that they would get to continue sitting on the front row, watching the greatest Man who ever lived do what God sent Him here to do. But Jesus instead told them, “No more sitting on the front row watching. Get up there on stage. Get out there in the game and do what you’ve seen Me do. Tag! You’re it!”

And then He left.

They must have wondered if He was joking. “Us? But we don’t know what we’re doing! We’re messed up. We’re unstable and dysfunctional. We’re in need of remedial help.”

But Jesus just left. And the disciples stood there for a while looking into the sky where He’d gone. “He’ll be back in just a minute. He’s messing with us. There’s no way He’s leaving us in charge.”

Eventually two angels had to come and shoo them away. “You heard what He said. Go on. Get out there!”

Why in the world would Jesus have left things like this? Why them? Why would Luke write a whole book about their adventures? Why would God see fit to preserve that book for us today? Here’s why, God — who is far wiser than any of us — has a plan, and His plan to rescue the world is the Church. That’s His plan. Not a corporation or a university, not a nation or an economic strategy. It’s the followers He left behind, and now it’s us. The Church.

He still comes to His Church and says, “You’ll be My witnesses, and your main assignment is to come to know Me and love Me and follow My Spirit and help others do the same.” That’s the plan. Any questions?

The earliest followers bet the farm on it. Many of them ended up dying for it. They endured persecution and humiliation and even martyrdom for it.

Why would they do such a thing?

Because they remembered when their lives weren’t spent doing anything permanent. And one day this Jesus showed up and said, “I want to give you a bigger purpose — a bigger mission than just catching a few fish or collecting some taxes. How would you like to partner with God in the greatest mission ever conceived? It’s not merely the restoration of Israel. It’s the redemption of the entire world and the human race.” They said, “What do we have to do?”

He said, “Go be My witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Rome, Paris, London, New York, Cardiff, Aberdeen, Cork, Guernsey, Dover, Peterborough, Leeds. . . .”

And the crazy thing is that it actually started to work.

 

Prayer 

 

Lord Jesus, You have called me to Yourself and made me a member of the Church, which is Your Body. Now I am a part of Your Bride, a living stone in a living temple, indwelt by the Holy Spirit and empowered to be Your vital agency in the world. As a member of Your Body, You have gifted me to do what I could never have done before—be an instrument through whom You mediate Your presence and love in this bent and broken world. Just as the lives of the disciples were radically and permanently transformed by Your resurrection and by Your Spirit, so I desire that transformation in my life. You have invited me to become a part of a greater purpose and a greater mission than I could have created for myself. As an agent of Your life and authority in this world, may I give my life away to others and be faithful until Your return.

In Jesus’s name, Amen