Thought for the day – Saturday 30th May 2020
Based on The Acts of the Apostles Chapter 1 verses 1 – 11
It had been a very confusing time for us. We had been with Jesus for about three years and we had done quite a lot of travelling around the countryside in that time. Then came the time when he said we were going to Jerusalem, which came as a bit of a shock to us. Surely that is going to be a very dangerous place. Well, we went, and not only was it a very exciting place to be, Jesus made some really brave moves against the Jewish authorities and this led to his crucifixion and death. But then came the biggest surprise when Jesus appeared to some of his followers, including the disciples in the room we were using as a headquarters. For most of us this happened on at least two occasions when we not expecting it. You can imagine our joy at what happened and we thought that maybe we would continue life as it was before the visit to Jerusalem.
But that was not to be. His instructions to us were to go back again to Jerusalem and wait there. We asked him all sorts of questions about the future but he would not be drawn on the subject. All he would say was that we would receive his Father’s promised gift while we were there. He had spoken of it in earlier times but now it would come to pass. There was no indication of the time it would arrive, just that it would come. You can imagine what conversations that started.
So, we continued to wait. There was nothing much for us to do, but we did have times of prayer throughout the days and talked of all that had happened during the time we had travelled with him, and tried to imagine what this gift would be like. Sometimes we did go out to get some air and a favourite place was the Mount of Olives which was just close by.
Then one day, Jesus came to us and invited us all to go for a walk with him. We thought it a bit unusual, as he hadn’t done this before, but he seemed to be in a strange mood that morning. It wasn’t unusual for us to head towards the Mount again, but on that particular day the cloud was quite low and we could hardly make out the top of the Mount. But that didn’t stop us from climbing gently to the top. As usual Jesus talked to us for a while, but then, quite suddenly, we realised that Jesus was no longer there. We stood around and tried to find him, but he had gone. What should we do? Then we became aware that there were two men in white garments standing with us. They asked us what we were doing there, and went on to say that Jesus had been taken in to heaven and that we would not see him again until he returns in a similar manner. Was that it? Was it all to end just like that? He hadn’t even said goodbye. All we could do was to go back to our lodgings and see what happened next!
Prayer
God our Father. You had done all that you can here on earth. We thank you that you came down to earth to live and show us what you expect of us. Please be with us through the good times and bad. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ Our lord.
Amen.