0330 WAITING FOR POWER . . .?

WAITING FOR POWER

The book of Acts is an historical account, as are the Gospels. But Acts sort of picks up where the Gospels end, with the Commission and the Ascension of Jesus. It then continues the history of the early church for the next several years, mostly following the ministry of Peter, and then of Paul. Notice that it begins with mention of “the first book” and of Theophilus. If that sounds familiar to you, it is because the book is a continuation of the gospel of Luke, and he opens his Gospel account writing to the same audience. 

Luke actually appears in the book in a subtle way, when he sometimes refers to “we” instead of “they” or “he.” So he is still the historian, doing a careful account of the work of God, but this time he is one of the eyewitnesses himself. And though he does not identify himself by name, scholars are confident that he is the author of both books. 

So, you may ask, why are Luke’s two books not placed back-to-back? Why is John placed between Luke and Acts in the order of the Bible books? The short answer is that Luke is one of the synoptics, and John was written later and is a different approach to the story of Jesus. So Luke is included with Matthew and Mark, and John is placed after the synoptics. Then chronologically comes Acts. There you go.

The next question you might be asking is why it is called Acts. That word is not really in the book. And these are not written as in acts of a play or something. You might say that the one-syllable title is a short way of saying that the book contains the “Actions of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles.” you might say it. But you don’t need to. Because I just said it myself. And there it is.

Today in chapter one we find Jesus saying that the twelve (and other witnesses) were not to leave Jerusalem, “but to wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me. . . . You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” A few verses later, He says “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses . . ..” And then Jesus leaves. And the disciples stay. And they meet. And they wait. They don’t witness. They wait. They don’t preach. They wait for power. What would that power look like? How would they know if it had come? Would it be gradual or sudden? Jesus didn’t say. He just said to wait. Wait until. 

And so, they waited. This is amazing to me, but they all waited for ten long days. Imagine. Ten days! After a few hours, I’d be thinking, is that a tingling sensation in the back of my head? Is this the power? After a day or two, I’d be getting antsy, certainly wondering how I would know. But ten days! That’s a long time to be patient and wait for something you can’t predict. Especially for 120 people to all remain and wait together.

So, what did they do while they waited? Play some video games? Watch some TV? Play some card games? Luke doesn’t mention any of those actions. But he does say that they were devoting themselves to prayer, with one accord. (And notice that Jesus’ brothers are back. Now they are believers, too!) 

After some days (days!) of praying, Peter called a business meeting. Because, you know, it was church, after all. He had been reflecting on Scripture and remembered the phrase “let another take his office.” Remember, the Holy Spirit had not yet descended on Peter and the others. So we don’t yet have the assurance that this was a Spirit-directed idea of Peter’s. Maybe God intended for the Scriptures to be fulfilled later, by Paul. We’ll never know. But Peter’s proposal led to two men being brought forward who met the criteria. And then, of course, everyone voted for their favorite and the one with the most votes was counted as one of the twelve. No? They didn’t vote? No. They prayed and cast lots. Threw dice. Drew straws. Played rock paper scissors. It doesn’t say what kind they used, but they gave God two options: A or B. No third option of “neither one! Wait for Paul!” Again I say we’ll never know. But this drawing lots was a common practice, and Proverbs tells us that every decision, even of lots, is controlled by the Lord. So Matthias was added to the twelve.

Then they went back to waiting. And waiting. And praying. Would their prayers bring about the Spirit sooner? Could they hasten the Lord’s timing? If not, then why pray at all? That’s what is mysterious and essential about prayer. Sometimes prayer makes God do things in response. And sometimes prayer is how we get our hearts ready for what God is about to do.

As it turns out, it was the latter. Chapter two opens with “when the day of pentecost had arrived.” Other translations say when it had fully come. God wasn’t going to send the Spirit two days before Pentecost, or even just a few hours ahead of time. Wait until the fullness of time. And then . . . 

As my Mom said to me about being ready to marry, “You’ll know when you know.” Yeah. She was right. There was no doubting if the moment had arrived! The power that Jesus promised came!

But that’s in chapter two.