"To them he presented himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking of the kingdom of God. And while staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit." So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Sama'ria and to the end of the earth." And when he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight." [Acts 1:3-9]
A time of waiting and discovery came to a conclusion. Forty days between the Resurrection and the Ascension were spent in coming to terms with what had happened and with the fact that nothing in life or in worship would be the same again. But the disciples were still trying to understand it on the 40th day, when they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" They were still waiting for the Messiah to free their small chosen people from the surrounding world, and from the Roman world in particular.
From "I am going fishing" (John 21:3) to "Feed my sheep" (John 21:17) is a gap, from the ordinary that once was and could never be again, but that Peter in an instant believed he could return to again, and the reality of who Jesus was asking Peter to become.
At the end of 40 days from the Resurrection, as they stood watching Jesus ascend to the Father, they waited 10 more days until Pentecost. But they were not alone. Along with having each other, and choosing one to replace Judas, Jesus already had told them, "I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Matt. 28:20). Mary was there with them during that time, waiting too. (Acts 1:14)
But in all of this, there is still a waiting that differs from the waiting of the Nativity because it awaits so different an arrival. Instead of the sound of a new baby's cry, it would be the sound of a fierce wind, the descent of the Holy Spirit.
And instead of the political Messiah that they had still asked him about, who would protect them from the world, Jesus gave them a mission that was quite the opposite: "You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Sama'ria and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8)
Image: "The Ascension," one of the frescoes by Giotto di Bondoni in the Capella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel) in Padua. Used with permission of the Web Galleery of Art.
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