Acts 1:6-14 Commentary

It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday

After the miracle of Christ’s ascension, it took a little while for folks to move on. A bit like Peter who wanted to build shelters on the Mount of Transfiguration, now the apostles’ feet are frozen on the Mount of Olives. So much so, that it took a couple of angels to nudge them along. Willie James Jennings offers this empathetic and relatable assessment: “We must never discount the next step that must be taken at the sight of Jesus’ leaving. Such a step is understandably a labored step, unsure and unclear. Nevertheless it must be taken because faith always leans forward to Jerusalem, toward the place where God waits to meet us.”

How often are our eyes, hearts and expectations set on the last place that God met with us? The last experience of spiritual consolation? The last clear glimpse of Christ? And yet, God is not done meeting with, consoling, and empowering God’s people.  It’s just that they have to move on, move forward—like Abraham–into the unknown future where God has promised to meet them.

Who is Included? Who is Missing?

That group of disciples gathered and waiting in the upper room is interesting for a couple of reasons.  First, for who is included. Will Willimon observes, “The inclusion of women in the roster of the community would not have been missed by a second-century reader, as an indication that already we have a group which breaks barriers.”

The inclusion of Mary, especially, is of interest because we haven’t heard a peep from her since the second chapter of Luke’s Gospel. For Luke, Mary’s presence dominates the first two chapters, with her accepting God’s invitation to birth the Messiah, her defiant song of praise, the birth itself and the quiet wonder in reflecting upon it. Mary was present to present 8-day-old Jesus at the Temple and she was there alongside Joseph, returning to the Temple to find her 12-year-old schooling the scholars.  Then Luke places her in the band of women who bears witness to the resurrection.  But here she is, in the center of the crowd, awaiting the arrival of God in unexpected fashion yet again. Luke Timothy Johnson suggests the parallel this way: “As Mary has the Spirit overshadow her to give birth to the prophet-messiah, so she is present at the gift of the Spirit that gives birth to the church.”

But there is a noticeable absence in that upper room as well. Well, besides Jesus. Eleven disciples.  In the section just beyond our Lectionary reading, Peter gets up to address Judas’ absence.  Verse 16 elaborates on Peter’s speech. “Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus. He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.”  Frankly, a far more positive assessment than I think he deserves! There’s a tension in this description that, I think, bears resemblance to the truth. Judas betrayed Jesus AND he was a fellow-follower of Jesus, a friend, even. I wonder if there is an unspoken weight to that last line. Not just that they shared ministry but that they also share in Judas’ betrayal.  Not one of the 12 (save, possibly, John) showed up or showed out in Jesus’ final days. All of them betrayed Jesus in some fashion and I wonder if that realization was live in the room while Peter spoke.

Will Willimon helpfully moves the camera lens from the earliest church to our reality today when he writes, “The church meets no failure or deceit in the world that it has not first encountered in itself — even among those who founded and led the very first congregation.” One of the easiest mistakes we can make when reading Acts is to idealize the early community. But the church has never been perfect. From Willimon again: “Peter’s speech reminds us that what has happened up to this point in the story includes both apostleship and apostasy. Far from painting some idealized portrait of how wonderful everything was for the apostles, Luke places Peter’s speech about Judas at the beginning as a somber reminder that traitors were among the ranks of the disciples from the first.”

Waiting on the World to Change

From the miracle of Jesus’ ascension, the disciples are tasked with … waiting. I can’t imagine this was the job they were hoping for.  Trudging back up the stairs to the room that already holds the memory of Jesus’ Last Supper, of hiding out together after his death.  Here they were, back again, waiting.  Of course, now it is also the case that they are waiting in a world where the dead don’t stay dead and where some people are raised up into heaven before their very eyes.  One imagines a different kind of waiting in this reality. Whereas the first time, they didn’t know what to do as they waited, this time they were waiting to a purpose. Bible scholar Robert Wall articulates it this way: “Waiting on the Lord to act is not passive inactivity: They waited by praying and studying Scripture together.” Similarly, he writes: “Waiting for God to act is also a community’s project. Waiting with others is an act of solidarity with friends. The apostles do not scatter and go their separate ways to await a private Spirit-filling or a personal experience of divine faithfulness. They ‘were joined together’ in a specific place to await God’s action on them all.”

Worship Idea

There is something deeply relatable in the second half of this reading. A church in confusion, waiting, wondering about God’s promises.  In general it can be a good idea to conclude a sermon with a time of reflection and contemplation. I call it “leaving room for the Holy Spirit” instead of rushing to proscribe application points.  Perhaps you could invite the congregation to consider some of the following questions:

• How do you hear God’s promise of the Holy Spirit?
• Is that a promise you see fulfilled in your own life?
• The disciples had to regroup and wait. Is there something you are waiting for?
• How does the prayerful example of the disciples in their waiting encourage you to respond?
• The disciples are getting over a betrayal in their midst, maybe even some shame and regret about their own behavior. Is there a similar disappointment in your own life? Something you can’t quite “get over” even though everyone says you should?