A Waiting Game

Text:  Luke 24:44-53

            It was the morning after the night before and it was becoming clear that nothing was clear.  Votes cast and counted, no single party had an outright majority.  There would be no euphoric scenes of landslide victories sweeping party and Prime Minister into 10 Downing Street.  No.  This was a waiting game.

            Politicians negotiated.  Journalists speculated.  Nick Robinson ran out of superlatives.  Ordinary folk followed the papers and watched the news and chatted in the shops and pubs and pavements. 

            Five days of waiting.  Five days of political machinations.  Five days coming to an abrupt end as the Prime Minister made his way to the Queen to tender his resignation.  Five days ending in an unlikely coalition in which two parties at the opposite ends of the political spectrum find themselves wielding power. 

            The waiting game is not one of the easiest to play.  It is the time that passes between handing in the exam paper and receiving the mark; between having a medical test and getting the result; between planting the seed and waiting for it to grow and produce flower and fruit.  Will we pass the exam?  Will we get the all clear from the doctor?  Will Mother Nature cooperate with our efforts?  Waiting time is a time of not knowing.

            The disciples had already played the waiting game between Jesus’ cruel crucifixion and his rising from the dead.  The Sabbath after Jesus breathed his last was a dark day of grief.  Then women spouted wild words about Jesus being alive.  Peter had to go and see and found an empty tomb.  Then two disciples, one named Cleopas, encounter a stranger and, in the breaking of the bread their eyes are opened and they recognised this was no stranger at all.  It was Jesus!  Retraced their steps to Jerusalem they verified the ‘idle’ tales of the women:  The Lord is risen indeed!  And yet there’s still disbelief. 

            Even as they’re chatting about these happenings, Jesus appears and frightens the life out of them.  His word of peace falls on deaf ears.  They’re convinced he is a ghost.  He shows them that it’s for real.  He’s alive.  “Look.  See.  Touch.  My hands and feet are scarred.  I’m no ghost.  I’m flesh and bone.”  Jesus shows them his scars and meets their joyful disbelieving by eating a piece of broiled fish.  “See?!  I eat.  A ghost doesn’t eat.”  The waiting game is over.  Or is it?

            The waiting game after Jesus death had given way to an action packed drama of angelic appearances and empty tombs; of a journey of strangers recognising a friend in broken bread; of a ghostly figure revealed as flesh and bone.  Surely there would be no more waiting.

            Yet Jesus has different ideas.  Yes, waiting in grief is over but now they must wait in the city of Jerusalem for power.  The power is Jesus’ gift promised by the Father - the Holy Spirit.

            Why another waiting game?  Why the need for power?  The followers of Jesus are witnesses.  They’ve seen Jesus in action.  They’ve heard his words.  But they didn’t understand it at the time.  As Jesus had opened their eyes through the breaking of bread; through showing them his hands and feet; through showing them he could eat; now he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. 

            Jesus said, “Before my death and resurrection I spoke to you about what was going to happen.  Three times (9:21-22, 43-44; 18:31-34) I spoke to you of everything that is written in the law, the prophets and the psalms.  I pleaded with you to let the words sink in.  I tried to make you understand that the words of scripture must be fulfilled.  When I told you that I had to suffer and rise from the dead on the third day you simply did not get it.  Now I’m going to tell you even more.  Not only was my death and resurrection written in the scriptures but so is your mission.  The scriptures point to a day when people from every nation will be called to turn from sin to God and experience forgiveness.  This news will first be heard in Jerusalem and ripple around the world.  Your job is to witness to what you have seen and heard.  This is something that you can’t do on your own.  You need power.  Stay in Jerusalem and wait for the gift of the Spirit.” 

            For Luke, Jesus fulfils the scripture – the law, the prophets and the psalms.  The Christian ordering of the Old Testament is quite different from Jewish scripture.  One of the big differences is that 1 & 2 Chronicles are included amongst the psalms – or the wisdom books instead of our ‘historical’ books.  Also, 1 & 2 Chronicles is the last book of the Jewish scriptures instead of Malachi.  The last verse of the last book of the Jewish scripture in 2 Chronicles 36:23 is the decree of King Cyrus of Persia:  “The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.  Whoever is among you of all his people, may the LORD his God be with him!  Let him go up.”  Jesus fulfils scripture as the one who has been given all the kingdoms of the earth.     This is why Luke focuses his good news story on the temple in Jerusalem because this is where the scriptures left off.  Luke’s story begins in Jerusalem with the people waiting for Zechariah to emerge from the temple and with Simeon and Anna in the temple greeting the child for whom they had waited.  It’s in the temple of Jerusalem that Jesus is lost to his parents and amazing the teachers with his understanding, his listening, questioning, answering.  It’s on the temple of Jerusalem that Jesus stays true to his identity as the Son of God by refusing to jump at the devil’s invitation.  Luke’s good news story involves Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem and his teaching in the temple.  His life ends in Jerusalem.  Risen, he meets the disciples in Jerusalem.  After he ascends it is in the temple in Jerusalem that the followers of Jesus are “…continually in the temple blessing God” (v. 53).

            When Jesus leads his followers out of Jerusalem it is as the one who is the fulfilment of Moses and the prophets.  As Moses blessed the people of Israel so Jesus blesses his disciples.  As Jesus blesses them he withdraws from sight and is carried up into heaven. 

            Luke may also be drawing a parallel between Jesus’ blessing and withdrawal with Romulus.  Legend has it that this first ruler of Rome was a son of Mars.  It is said that Romulus was conceived by rape and an eclipse of the sun followed.  Then at the end of his life he was giving a speech to his soldiers and darkness descended and when it lifted he was nowhere to be seen.  Can it be coincidence that Luke announces Jesus’ birth as the Son of God and, at his crucifixion darkness descends followed by his ascension?  Could it be that Jesus not only fulfils the law, the prophets, and the psalms, but he surpasses Romulus or any subsequent Caesar as Son of God, ruler of a kingdom that has no end (David L. Balch in Eerdmans Commentary).  

            Jesus’ withdrawal to heaven evokes a response of worship and obedience.  They return to Jerusalem ‘with great joy’.  As Anna never left the temple (2:37) so the followers of Jesus continually stayed in the temple blessing God.  Theirs was a waiting game of worship…waiting for the gift of power.

            What does the waiting game have to do with those of us who follow Jesus today?  The good news of a suffering-rising Christ who calls us to turn from sin and experience forgiveness is still our message.  Are we caught up in worship of the ascended Jesus?  Are we joyful worshippers waiting for the power to be witnesses to what we have seen and heard?  Or are we more comfortable with being activists? 

            When Jesus says to us, “You are witnesses,” what is the first thing we do?  Do we call a meeting, organise a program, set the dates, and put the resources into place to get on with it?  Or do we begin with the waiting game…the worship of God in anticipation of his gift?  Our witness is impotent without the power of the Holy Spirit.

            How could they be joyful as they returned to Jerusalem when Jesus had withdrawn?  Would they not have felt sad that Jesus was gone?  How can we be joyful waiting worshippers when we experience Jesus’ absence?  How can we worship and bless God until we receive the power to do his work?

            I’ve been moved by the correspondence of Mother Teresa in Calcutta who worked with the poor and dying.  Here letters were published after her death.  They reveal that her work began with intense experiences of God but, for fifty years of her ministry, she felt God absent, that Jesus had withdrawn himself from her.  Her darkness was concealed by a joyful exterior and yet inwardly she felt a desperate thirst for the presence of Jesus.  She wrote a letter to Jesus expressing her anguish:  “In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss – of God not wanting me – of God not being God – of God not really existing (Jesus, please forgive my blasphemies – I have been told to write everything).  That darkness that surrounds me on all sides – I can’t lift my soul to God – no light or inspiration enters my soul.  I speak of love for souls – of tender love for God – words pass through my lips – and I long with a deep longing to believe in them.  What do I labour for?  If there be no God – there can be no soul.  If there is no soul then Jesus – You also are not true.  Heaven, what emptiness – not a single thought of Heaven enters my mind – for there is no hope.

            In my heart there is no faith – no love – no trust – there is so much pain – the pain of longing, the pain of not being wanted.”  She goes on to write, “If my separation from You – brings others to You and in their love and company You find joy and pleasure – why Jesus, I am willing with all my heart to suffer all that I suffer – not only now – but for all eternity – if that was possible.”  She concludes her letter, “I am ready to wait for You for all eternity” (Editor and Commentator, Brian Kolodiejchuk)“Mother Teresa:  Come be my light”pp. 194-195).  She records her desire to accept her suffering with joy.  Those around her never knew of her inner pain and said of her, “In season and out of season she was joyful” (188).

            Worshipping the ascended Christ with joy is to wait for his gift of power.  It may be that this joy will be experienced as agonising suffering.  Will we wait until we’ve received the power?