Acts 1:6-14

Acts 1:6-14 (NRSV): 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 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.” 9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 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.”
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. 13 When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of[a] James. 14 All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.

You've probably heard Acts 1:8 before. It's a verse that's been used a lot recently, especially in Missional Theology circles. Especially around Pentecost, it's a verse that reminds us of our call to be witnesses, that we should go out and preach the gospel. Certainly that's an important part of this passage, but I think we can easily miss a larger part of what's happening here. For Luke, this is an incredible moment, a defining moment that will forever change history. This is the "second volume" of Luke's work on Jesus and the Apostles, and he starts with this story purposefully to emphasize that one chapter of God's story has ended and a new one has begun. And to find out how it's changed, we have to go back to the beginning.

If you talk to Old Testament scholars and ask them what the most important verse or chapter is in the Old Testament, they'll probably tell you ... that it's impossible to choose. But if you press them more, you will find that many scholars point to Genesis 12. The beginning of Genesis 12 says this:

12 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

This, scholars would argue, sets the stage for everything else that happens in the Old Testament, and that all of Israel's history and existence is defined by these three verses. It is in this passage that God promises Abraham two things: that he will be given land and that he will be the father of a great nation, God's nation. It is through Israel that God will work through the world. Anyone that Israel blesses will be blessed by God, and anyone Israel curses will be cursed.

If you follow the story of the Old Testament, almost every major event in the Old Testament hinges around this passage. In the story of Genesis, the question needing to be resolved is how Abraham will have children when Sarah is barren, and this promise weighs so heavily on Abraham that he sleeps with his servant in order to try to fulfill the promise. But once Sarah has Isaac, the story shifts to the second part of the promise: the promise of land and a great nation. This becomes the basis for the struggles, the triumphs, and defeats that Israel goes through for the rest of the Old Testament. The struggle for Canaan, the establishment of Israel with the judges, the desire for a King, and the loss of not only their kingdom but their land; all of these existential crises find their basis in Genesis 12. Part of the reason the exile is so devastating to the Israelites is not simply because their Kingdom was overthrown, but also because it seemed to indicate a broken promise from God. They were promised land and a kingdom, and either God failed to upload the promise, or the Israelites failed. Based on the prophets, the answer to that problem is the latter.

OK, well, that's all well and good, but what does that have to do with Acts? Let's go back to the beginning of the Gospels. We find Israel in a state of waiting and anticipation. The Jews are once again in a state of captivity under the Roman government. They've been given some autonomy, but their leadership in many places is corrupt and ultimately they are forced to serve Caesar. There are a number of different groups forming. Some are simply waiting for God to intervene and overthrow the Roman government and re-establish the Kingdom of Israel. Others believe that God is calling them to overthrow the government themselves and have even tried revolting (the most catastrophic revolt taking places in the late 60s AD, resulting in the destruction of the Temple). Still others believe that Israel has lost its piety and needs to cleanse itself spiritually so that God can cleanse the land. And for each of these factions, leaders had risen, claimed to be the one who would lead Israel out of its present captivity, and ultimately failed to do so.

Then comes Jesus, the most unlikely of leaders from a small, unknown, seedy town in Galilee. He begins preaching that God's Kingdom is near, that now is the time to repent, but he doesn't seem to embrace any of the existing factions, yet all the factions in one way or another seem to think his message applies to them. Ultimately, he ends up with the same fate as the other supposed-Messiahs. But then we have his miraculous resurrection, which is where Luke leaves us at the end of volume 1.

So now we come back to Acts. Jesus has returned, he is about ascend back to God, yet his disciples have one last question. Now, if you know the Gospels well, you know that the disciples are .... well, they're not the sharpest tools in the shed. They typically don't get what Jesus is all about, and sometimes they laughably get it wrong. And once again, after spending at least a year with Jesus (and perhaps even 3 depending on your timeline), they still don't get. They are Jesus if now is the time that Jesus will restore the Kingdom of Israel. And we'll find that they don't completely get it until Pentecost. But for now, Jesus helps them out again. And he harkens back to Genesis 12:

He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 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.”

Think back to Genesis 12: why did God promise Abraham children and land? What purpose was that for? Because God wanted to reach the entire world. You see, the Israelites assumed that God's blessing was just for them. They assumed that they were the sole recipients of God's gifts and they were meant for them alone. But all along, even back to Genesis 12, the point is that God planned to use Israel to bless the rest of the world. We come back to Acts, and Jesus not only reaffirms that call but heightens. Not just you as a nation, but you as individuals will be my witnesses. You will carry the testimony. You will be the blessing. And it won't stop just for Jerusalem and Judea, it will be for Samaria (your worst enemy) and your oppressors, and those who you haven't even met yet or even know about. You are the blessing and the witness of the greatness of God's glory.

How often, when we come to church, do we see ourselves as being a blessing to others? Do we feel that what we do in the sanctuary, in the fellowship hall, and on the church grounds is not just an act of worship but an act of witnessing? I think many times when we go to church, we assume that what's there is happening just for us or is meant to be meaningful just to the people in building. Sure, we do our mission trips and local outings, but those can often feel disconnected. They don't feel like a natural outflow of what happens in our service. Yet Jesus seems to indicate that our vocation is that of witness. We are meant to be proclaimers of the Gospel, God's blessing in the world, yet how common is it for us to view ourselves and our church that way?

I fear that our churches have increasingly become closed social clubs. Dying social clubs at that. When we think about our numbers, it's commonly in terms of recruitment: how do we recruit people to be a part of our community? Our activities are commonly designed to keep people entertained: what will make people be interested in coming to church? And our worship services are often about disconnecting from the world around us than trying to connect with the community that needs to know about God's redemption. We talk more about relevance than redemption. Jesus is calling us out of our preconceived notions about what it means to be God's people and is calling us to act like his works actually made a difference. Jesus is calling us to be the blessing that God's people were always meant to be.

We have been called to be God's witnesses, to testify about the good works that have been done and to proclaim and point to the works that God is doing. So as you go out today, be God's blessing. Be God's witness in a world that is strangled by darkness, despair, and pain. Be the voice that calls out that God has made a way and that the suffering and evil in this world do not have the final say. "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem (your home), in all Judea (your land) and Samaria (your neighbors whether good or bad), and to the ends of the earth (beyond what we can possibly imagine)."