The Cork Flies Off!

The pressure is building. The believers had been meeting and praying and hoping and waiting in Jerusalem for that Promise. This bottling up of anticipation and prayer had been going on for weeks. (Acts 2:1-13) 

And now it is the great feast day (Pentecost). Jerusalem is full of devout seekers from "every nation under heaven". The stage is set. And the cork flies off!

Hurricane noise suddenly fills the house. The Holy Spirit spreads like wildfire. The believers begin shouting out strange languages, And a bewildered assorted crowd gathers. They are actually hearing God's great works proclaimed in their native tongue! How are these uneducated Galileans able to speak so? Hmm...

Then we delight to see the newly emboldened Peter stand up. He raises his voice above the din, and begins the first proclamation of the Good News. Further reading reveals that the church is being birthed as 3,000 souls are added the to bodyl 

Wow, who is going to forget that service? You gotta love God's thrilling ways! He is so out of our neat, controlled, orderly boxes. We love You, Lord.

Drawing Straws?

They might have all been thinking, "He's gone. Jesus is really gone. What in the world do we do?" (Acts 1:9-26)  It seems that Peter went to the scripture to find out more about God's plan. And they all went to prayer and waiting - like Jesus had said.

Soon Peter is emboldened to stand up in front of the 120 devout praying folks and proclaim that all that had happened with Jesus and Judas was just as the scripture had foretold. (Really that betrayal must have been a terrible blow.) So Peter says that another must take Judas' place. (Psalm 109:8) 

In short, it was time to move on. So the folks came up with the names of two men who had been through it all. But how to choose? Well, they prayed and "they they drew straws. Matthias won and was counted in with the eleven apostles." (The Message)

How's that for faith! I love it.

The Grace to Wait

It was His last command. His parting instruction. It was paramount: "Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised..." (Acts 1:1-6)

Jesus, Himself, had already learned to wait. We probably would have thought He was ready when He got to His full stature. In fact it sounded like He had the wisdom at 12: "All who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers". (Luke 2:47)  

But He did not begin at 12 or 18 or 21. He was 30 years old. Years of suffering and oppression had gone by for His people. But Jesus had waited. He waited until the Father said it was time. ("I have come down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." John 6:30).

We so need to learn to wait. We run ahead. We run around. We get a good idea and go with it. But is it from our Lord? 

Lord give us the grace to wait - to wait upon You. Then we will be in the right place to receive Your promises as the first disciples were: "but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

The Only Way

How easy it is to fall back into old ways - our comfortable habits! After the life-changing death and resurrection of their friend Jesus, the disciples were waiting. The group had only seen Him twice, and finally Peter says, "I am going fishing."

So six of them climb into a boat with Peter, anticipating getting something done. Being productive. Doing what they knew. Enough of this waiting around. 

But "that night they caught nothing". And as dawn is breaking upon their tired, bleary eyes, a stranger calls out on the beach to try the other side of the boat. So O.K. they toss that net out one more time. Whoa - 153 fish suddenly flop in. It is so full and heavy that they can't haul it into the boat.

Suddenly John recognizes the beach stranger as the love of his life, and tells Peter, "It is the Lord". Peter jumps in and swims break-neck to his Friend. 

Assembling on the beach they realize that life has changed, after all. Their old independent ways will not work. Being with Jesus, following Jesus, doing what Jesus says is now what really matters. He has already explained that can happen through the gift of the Spirit. It is now the worthwhile way. The only way.

They are indeed forever changed. And I am forever changed. Thank you Jesus.

Replying to Jesus

Have you ever been as low as Thomas? It had been a horrific weekend for the friends. The Hope for them and their whole country had been ripped apart - murdered. There was no where else to go. So Thomas had left. (John 20:24-31)

And now these guys were actually saying their Jesus had shown up - alive. But he knew better. He was not going to be duped again. No matter who it was. He replied: "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."

Whew. And does it not blow you mind that Jesus graciously obliged and came again - just for him (and us)? As He reached out His scarred hands and pierced side, He urged Thomas and us all to believe. But then Jesus went even farther and spoke to you and me: "Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."

"My Lord and my God!" was Thomas' reply. Let it be ours also.

Peace Be With You

My, were they scared! The weekend had been unthinkable. Out the of blue, Friday night the attack had come. Thankfully they had all escaped - but the One. And this Jesus, their strong invincible leader, had been arrested, beaten, mocked, scourged, humiliated, and killed. (John 20:19-22)

What to think! Some women even said His body that they had put in the tomb was now missing. But on this Sunday evening "when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews", something happened. Everything changed!

"Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, 'Peace be with you."' What a surprise! They must have thought it too good to be true, because He showed them all His hands and His side. "The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord."

But to make sure they heard it clearly, He says it again, "Peace be to you". John goes on to say Jesus breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit". 

In the presence of Jesus there is peace. We will receive it when we are open to it.

Lord, help us to stay in Your presence and peace today.

When He Calls My Name

I love the Resurrection Story! You can just revel in the power of a Christ who conquered death one Sunday morning.

But in the John account, love steals the show. (John 20:1-18)  And because Mary (thinking Jesus is lost) is so grieved and crying, the first recorded words of the Resurrected Christ are, "Woman, why are you weeping?" Tender words. Compassionate words. Love.

I would have said, "Look at Me. I've conquered sin and death and there is no reason to cry." 

But Jesus. Jesus comes beside her, where she is and says, "Why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Then He listens to her ( "Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, 'Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.")  and makes everything clear in a word. He calls her name: "Mary."

That one word, most precious to her, draws her gaze to Him. And the light of recognition floods her. He had only called her name. 

O Lord, let us hear you calling us today. May we recognize and run to You - like Mary did. 

"But He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To Him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out." John 10:2-3