Acts 1:6-14
6
So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this
the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He
replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that
the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses
in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth." 9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was
lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was
going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in
white robes stood by them. 11 They said, "Men of Galilee, why do
you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up
from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go
into heaven." 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount
called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey away.
13 When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs
where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew,
Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus,
and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 All these were
constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain
women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.
He
replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that
the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses
in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth."
- This passage is full of power and weakness at the same time. Jesus assures his disciples that the Holy Spirit will confer power on them when the Spirit comes. He tells his disciples that they will be his witnesses everywhere, from the city of Jerusalem to every corner of the entire earth. Yet Jesus also tells the disciples that they will not know what exactly is to come or when the fullness of the Kingdom will come to pass.
- Maybe this was frustrating to the Eleven. To have a mission but a mission without a time of completion could be confusing.
- The mission of the disciples then was “you will be my witnesses.” Jesus mentions Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and finally “the ends of the earth.” The progression mentioned here is important. For the Jewish people, Jerusalem was the centre of the world. Because it was the place of the Temple, it was figuratively the highest place in the world; after all, one always went “up to Jerusalem” when one went there. From there, the disciples were to witness to Judea and to Samaria, the areas that had at one time been the Kingdom of Israel. This was also the areas that lay near Jerusalem and it would make sense geographically to spread first to these districts. We should also note that these places would be the home of the Chosen People, the place all Jewish folk would look to for their identity.
- From there the disciples would witness to “the ends of the earth.” This term is inclusive of the entire world without exception. Jesus never said “Witness to the entire world, except for...” He also never said “Witness to the people of the entire world, except for these people from this place/ who look like this/ who act like this.” The mission of the first disciples excluded no one and no place.
- The disciples were called to be witnesses of what Jesus had done. To be a witness can mean a lot of things. The word used here is the Greek word for witness: martyrion, the root of our word “martyr” and “martyrdom.” Originally this idea had to do with bearing witness, even in the legal sense and did not necessarily include going as far as the shedding of blood. Our understanding of “witness” had come to encompass the loss of life or a form of exile, even if the later were self-imposed. In any event, even if it were not actively sought out, witness or “martyrion” includes some idea of giving up or self-denial.
- Our lives as Christians can be called a form of witness even if we do not serve as formal missionaries to a certain group. Our life of witness by how we live, by what values we hold to be important, and even by what we say are all witnesses to the power of the Gospel and the grace of God. In many cases, how we act is a more powerful witness that what we might say. It reminds me of a saying attributed to Francis of Assisi: “Preach the Gospel always; use words if necessary.”
- Just as Jesus called his disciples to be “...my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.", we too are called to be his witnesses in Aylmer, London, Tillsonburg, St. Thomas, Manitoba, Lithuania,Transylvania, and all corners of the earth... and maybe sometime in the future, beyond the earth.
- Just as we are to be Jesus' witnesses to all nations, we are also to be witnesses to the Kingdom of God and the grace of God to the generations to come, to the future. Just as we cannot control how our witness will be received by the so-called “nations”, we cannot control how the generations that follow us will receive our witness. How it is received is not our concern; that we witness is our concern.
- In short, we can listen to Paul in his first letter to the Corinthian church where he says What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. (1 Corinthians 3:5-7)
- We are to be witnesses to Jesus, his story, this grace, and his salvation. The Spirit supports us and helps us in this. The mission is ours, but the Word is the Lord's. Success or failure is far less important then our ministry and call to witness, with our words and with our lives.
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