Commentary on Acts 1:6-14

Every now and then a church decides to go on a retreat together to a favorite lodge or conference center. Some churches may even have a space of their own for such things. The agendas might be quite different. Maybe there’s a need for the church to incorporate new members and build community among themselves. Others might want to plan for the coming year, or focus on a mission project. Whatever the reason, retreats are times to assess the impact that something new is having or will be having on their lives together. 

On retreat is where we find Jesus’s followers at the end of this passage from Acts. They’ve been instructed to go from the Mount of Olives back to Jerusalem and retire to “an upstairs room.” It is quite possible that this is where they celebrated the Last Supper. This is where we find them “united in their devotion to prayer” (verse 14). They certainly have a lot to pray about! For one thing, there is a crisis in leadership. Judas’s violent death (verses 18–19) needs to be addressed and someone elected to fill his position. 

The larger issue here is that what they’ve experienced through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus has shattered conventional categories of discernment available to them. The “something new” that impacts them is no less than an inbreaking of a new age on earth. They wonder: “How are we to live in this new age? How will we help others to understand and participate in it?” 

At this point in the narrative, the only thing they are sure of is that they have received divine instruction to wait, and as we all know, waiting can be hard spiritual work. Specifically, what they are waiting for is a promise to be fulfilled. Before he mysteriously departed from them, Jesus had said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” Power to do what? “Be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 

As they waited, they may well have remembered another ascension and transition of leadership. What about the time when Elijah was taken up into heaven (2 Kings 2:1–14) and his mantle fell at the feet of his disciple Elisha? Elisha might have been concerned with what they are wondering now. Elisha had prayed that a “double portion” of Elijah’s spirit would be granted to him. Indeed, when he saw Elijah ascend, the Spirit did come and animated Elisha’s ministry. Now, since they had witnessed the ascension of their Lord, the disciples wonder: 

• What will happen when we pick up the mantle of ministry that Jesus left to us? 
• Will the power that came to Jesus come to us as well? 
• Will we be ready to receive it? 

To create space for this power, they are going to have to let go of some cherished notions. For example, consider this exchange: The disciples had asked, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” (verse 6). To be fair, these disciples are trying to come to grips with life at the dawn of this new age. What will it look like? How will God’s reign be organized? What will be our place in it? Will it look anything like the restoration of the Davidic throne? 

First, they are told in no uncertain terms, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority” (verse 7). In other words, “This is not your concern.” Then, to imagine the future, they are going to have to let go of the images of kings and kingships from historical memory. They must not expect that the Resurrection includes restoration of some golden age from the past. A glorified Jesus will not return to finally drive out the Romans, divest the religious authorities of their power, or overthrow the rich and powerful. This will not be the content of their witness! Giving them a place of privilege in a new and improved monarchy is not going to prepare them for ministry in this new age; nostalgia is not going to transform them into the witnesses they must become. 

What they can expect is that the power they will receive is not some version of the power that an ancient king of Israel had. Rather, it will be a power that will animate a movement out of their hiding place and into the world. It will be a dynamic movement that extends and expands what God did through Jesus’s ministry and will be doing through the risen Lord. How and when that power will come, they do not know. They only know to wait with faith and trust.  

Churches (at least the ones I have been a part of) often do not have special services that focus on Ascension Day, leaving us to wonder what it means to the life of faith. Ascension means that Jesus’s time on earth, including the appearances of his resurrected form, have concluded. What’s left in the wake of his departure are promises: (1) the promise of his return—its time, place, and manner are retained in the mind of God; and (2) the promise that the same Holy Spirit that descended on Jesus at his baptism (Luke 3:22) will descend on them in like manner and equip them for ministry in Jesus’s name. 

Worship on this day is prayerful preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The disciples faithfully waited with anticipation for this promise to be fulfilled. What about us? Do we really expect God’s Spirit to come? Or are we too comfortable living in the fading shadows of a past golden age? Let the Spirit come into your midst, let it open your eyes to the future where new shapes of ministry will appear, and let it empower you to embrace what is to come.