Eastertide #37

Why do you stand gazing up toward heaven?

(Acts 1:11)

What’s wrong with “gazing up toward heaven”? That sounds like a good spiritual thing to do. Maybe even more so today when our eyes have been captured by screens. During our shelter in place we have watched a ton of television most of which is spiritually numbing. Why not look toward heaven?

Well, because even though Jesus has ascended, we are left with earthly work to do: “You will receive power,” Jesus tells his bewildered disciples before he ascends, “when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses …to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Even though Jesus ascends, his mission on earth continues “to the ends of the earth.” Fortunately for us, the disciples reset their gaze from heaven to earth. It is the earthly work of bearing witness to God’s salvation in Jesus Christ. They will need “power from on high” for this earthly mission—they/we will need Pentecost.