“Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)… “
Acts 1:12-15

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AUGUST 27, 2024

Yesterday, we saw that Jesus’ followers were once again waiting and praying together in the upper room of a house outside Jerusalem. Thanks to paintings and other traditions, we probably imagine this to be the eleven remaining disciples. But in fact, Acts includes “the women and Mary” (who had been with the disciples all along), Jesus’ brothers, and about a hundred other men and women.

That’s a more crowded meeting than we typically imagine.

These are the men and women who have stayed. Even after Jesus was killed, even after He was resurrected, even after He continued to do and teach the things that got Him killed in the first place, in the same city that chose to arrest and kill Him. (Don’t you wonder what the Roman officials and temple leaders are making of all this??). Then after all that, these men and women stayed even after He suddenly up and left.

These 120 disciples are on the wrong side of the violent Roman empire, on the wrong side of the temple and synagogue leaders. They are not Christians yet but Jews, who believe the Messiah has come…and gone…and come again…and gone again.

This was not a safe position to hold, or a safe place to hold the position. Certainly they can make almost no sense out of what is happening, or what they are supposed to do. And yet Jesus’ said that the Spirit would come to them, that they were to wait.

And so, this big small group of men and women wait.

Questions for reflection and discussion:

  • How do you imagine this infant church at this point in the story?
  • Have you ever waited for God during a time of such complete disorientation? How has that story turned out?

 

Church Reading Plan: Lamentations 4; Psalm 35