Acts 1: The Invisible Kingdom

"It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

The New Testament divides neatly into two equal sections. The first consists of four Gospels that tell about Jesus' life on Earth. The second section, beginning with Romans, concerns churches that sprang up after Jesus left. In between stands the book of Acts- answering the question how in the world Christ's story has traveled all the way to Rome from Jerusalem in a relatively short period of time.

For 40 days after the resurrection, Jesus appears and disappears seemingly at will. When he shows up, his followers listen eagerly to his explanations of all that has happened. When he leaves, they plot the structure of the new kingdom that he will surely inaugurate. They simply long for a Jerusalem, free at last from Roman domination. Expecting a kingdom along the lines of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and no matter how many times Jesus has explained the invisible kingdom and the way of the cross, it never seems to penetrate the disciple's thinking.

In this first chapter of Acts, Jesus gives some mystifying orders, however. He tells his followers to return to Jerusalem and simply wait. "Do no leave the city," he says, "until the Holy Spirit comes." At last one of the disciples asks Jesus the question they have all been discussing together: "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

No one is prepared for what happens next. Jesus seems to brush the question aside, deflecting attention away from Israel and toward neighboring countries, all the way to the ends of the earth. He mentions the Holy Spirit again, and then, to their utter amazement, his body lifts off the ground, suspends there for a moment, and then disappears into a cloud. And they never see him again.

Reflection

I've often wondered what the disciples must have felt like immediately following the Ascension. "Where's the prize?" comes to mind. It undoubtedly came as quite a shock that there was not going to be any tangible gift given to them...(i.e.- a restored kingdom free of Roman rule), but instead an invisible character boost, given by the Holy Spirit, to go out and spread the good news of Jesus Christ to all the non-believers. Quite a task for a small group of unassuming men from the surrounding area of Galilee.