May 24th, 2020: Adventures in Missing the Point

In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 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.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 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.”

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Do you remember, back in your school days, a teacher saying to the class, “There are no stupid questions?” That was a lie. There are plenty of stupid questions.

Take the question the disciples ask Jesus in our scripture text, for instance. “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” Let’s think about the context of this question for just a moment. Jesus has been crucified and buried . . . and then he was resurrected to life. RESURRECTED TO LIFE! And then he hangs out with his disciples for forty days after he has been RESURRECTED TO LIFE. He teaches them. He offers proof that he has been RESURRECTED TO LIFE. It might be an understatement to say, “This resurrection thing is a pretty big deal.” The world has been turned upside down. The world is forever changed.

And what’s on the mind of the disciples? The same, tired, old question.

“Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” In other words, “Now are you finally going to overthrow the Roman government?” Remember, that’s what they wanted in a Messiah. Jesus’ followers so desperately wanted Israel to return to its former glory, like in the days of King David. When I read this text, I want to grab their shoulders and shake them, “Hello!?! Jesus has been RESURRECTED TO LIFE! Like, ‘Up from the grave he arose, with a mighty conquest o’er his foes!’ And you’re still fixated on the Romans?!?”

Don’t tell me there are no stupid questions. These disciples are “Exhibit A” in “Adventures in Missing the Point.”

But before we’re too hard on these guys, I’d like to point out that 2,000 years later, we’re still pretty darn good at missing the point ourselves. The disciples wanted to return to the world as it had been “back in the glory days.” Is that so different than us?

Take, for instance, college football fans. I am a Tennessee Volunteer fan. Back in 1998 we won the national championship. THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP! Pretty exciting stuff. But since 1998, let’s just say it’s been hard to be a Tennessee Vols fan. It requires some patience. A measure of tenacity. And from time to time I’ll be on a fan page and someone will say, “When are we going to win a national championship again?” And I want to say, “Dude, let’s start with not being the laughingstock of the Southeastern Conference.” “Let’s start with pulling off two winning seasons in a row.”

Nostalgia for the past breeds contempt for the present.

Or take the guy who looks in the mirror, and decides he needs a diet and exercise routine. “How long will it take to get back to my high school weight?” he wonders. “Dude, maybe start with your 30-year-old weight.”

Nostalgia for the past breeds contempt for the present.

Or take the pastor who asks her board, “When can we gather for worship again?” (Not that I know a pastor in Clearwater Beach, Florida who would ever ask her board that question, say, just this past Wednesday.) “When can we gather for worship again?”

And then I, er, that pastor, gets into the scripture lesson a little more, and sees herself in the stupidity of the disciples asking Jesus a question about a return to glory days. As it turns out, even pastors are susceptible to “Adventures in Missing the Point.”

Nostalgia for the past breeds contempt for the present.

Back to the text.

The disciples ask Jesus a stupid question, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” With 2,000 years of retrospect, we can see that they failed to appreciate the miracle of the moment—that Jesus has been RESURRECTED TO LIFE. Their nostalgia for the past makes them miss the power of the present.

I don’t know if the resurrected Christ was prone to human emotions like anger or frustration, but he surely had every right to be angry or frustrated with the disciples’ continued “Adventure in Missing the Point.” But Jesus doesn’t tell them they’re stupid, at least in so many words. But he offers a gentle course correction: “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.” Then he continues, “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.”

The disciples were fixated on the past; Jesus sets their vision on the future. “You will receive power.”

I love this promise. The word “power” (as in “you will receive power”) is translated from the Greek word δύναμις (dunamis)—from which we get the word, “dynamite.” Jesus is telling his disciples that they will receive power—explosive power—but that the power they will receive will have nothing to do with overthrowing the Roman government and restoring Israel to its former glory. That was a backward-looking vision. “You will receive (explosive) power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” And with that explosive power, “you will be my witnesses locally, regionally, and globally.”

You see, up until that moment, the Jesus movement had been fairly contained. It started off local, then became somewhat regional during Jesus’ lifetime. Only after Jesus’ ascension did the movement go global. And, boy, did it go global! From 11 terrified guys in an upper room, to 2.3 billion Christians across the world today. When Jesus said they would receive power—dunamis—he wasn’t kidding!

But there was no way for them to see that far into the future. Instead, Jesus ascended, and they were left looking into the sky. The Holy Spirit had not yet come. The gift of power had been promised, but not yet delivered. They found themselves in between what had been, and what was yet to come.

We’re in that very same place.

We remember the glory days—back in February—when we could send our kids to school and eat in a crowded restaurant and worship together in a church building. It wasn’t that long ago. And I have to confess, I have been nostalgic for those glory days. But you remember what nostalgia does, right?

Nostalgia for the past breeds contempt for the present.

I wonder, church, if we continue to look back longingly on the way the world was before a global pandemic, if we’ll find ourselves on an “Adventure in Missing the Point.” Our question must not be, “When can we return to normal?” Rather, the question faithful people should be asking is this, “How can we glorify God in this present moment?”

The disciples couldn’t control when the Holy Spirit would come like an Amazon delivery driver with a big box of dynamite. So they did what they knew how to do. We didn’t read this part of the story, but after they quit looking up into the sky, they returned to the upper room, and they held an election—they needed a new person to take Judas’ place among the disciples. In the words of my friend, Linda Silrum, they did “the next right thing.” That’s what we’re called to do in this moment as well—the next right thing.

“The Next Right Thing” is a song from the Disney movie, Frozen 2:

I've seen dark before, but not like this
This is cold, this is empty, this is numb
The life I knew is over, the lights are out
Hello, darkness, I'm ready to succumb
I follow you around, I always have
But you've gone to a place I cannot find
This grief has a gravity, it pulls me down
But a tiny voice whispers in my mind
You are lost, hope is gone
But you must go on
And do the next right thing

So friends, let go of the past. Trust you’ll receive power to live into the future. And in the meantime, simply do the next right thing.