CLOUDED VISION

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There is an ancient apochryphal story about Jesus' arrival at the Pearly Gates following the Ascension. The angel host was gathered to welcome God's Son and celebrate his return home after his incredible sojourn on earth. Everyone had questions and wanted to hear his story - born of a virgin, raised in humble circumstances, years teaching, preaching, healing. Eventually, there was that gruesome torture and murder, but finally the conquest of humanity's most feared enemy - death. All to share the good news of a loving God who wants nothing but the best for creation. Now the Christ is HOME, and everyone is exultant.

Someone asks, "Lord, now that you are no longer physically on earth, who will continue to share the good news?"

Christ responds, "There are 11 who were especially close to me, and I have given them the responsibility of getting the word out."

"O Lord, these 11 must be incredible people - the best and the brightest that creation has to offer!"

"Well, actually no," the Lord responds. "These are average folks with ordinary abilities. Not the "best and the brightest" by any means."

"But Lord, if these are only average people with ordinary ability, how can you be sure that they will get the job done?"

"Well, to be honest," the Lord answers, "I can't be sure."

"You cannot be sure, Lord? Well, what if they fail to do the job? What is your backup plan?"

Quietly Christ answers, "I have no backup plan."

I wonder if the 11 standing there on the Mount of Olives overlooking the Holy City had any idea that there was no "backup plan." I suspect that they were not thinking much period. After all, these past three years had been quite a ride. They had seen the teaching, preaching and healing. They themselves had been in danger of the torture and murder. They had been witnesses of their Lord's conquest of death. These past 40 days of close communion may well have given them the idea that things would resume where they had left off prior to the crucifixion. But such was not to be.

During the Passover seder prior to the Lord's arrest and trial, Jesus had said he would be moving on, but in that new scheme of things, they would be sustained by God's Holy Spirit. Now they have heard the same thing again - instructions to wait in Jerusalem and, "you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now" (Acts 1:5b).

A hard instruction to hear, I think. Wait! Do you like to wait? I HATE to wait - I do not go to restaurants on Friday evenings because I hate to wait; I do not go to the grocery store during busy times because of the lines at the checkout counters - I hate to wait; I stay away from the Mall as Christmas approaches because I hate to wait. Considering the personalities of those friends who surrounded Jesus, I doubt that they liked to wait any more than I.

But then I read my Bible and find story after story involving waiting. Think about Abraham and Sarah waiting for many years before Isaac came along, or the 40 year "wait" for the Jews in the wilderness following the Exodus, or Job waiting for an answer. Psalm 27:14 - "Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!" Now this instruction to the disciples. Waiting is sometimes a spiritual discipline. "There are times when the hardest thing in the world is to do nothing, yet there are times when that is the only thing to do. There are some things we can work for; there are other things we can only wait for."⁽¹⁾

Did they understand? As usual, not really. Thus the question, "Lord, is this the time you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" In other words, "Lord, what now? OK, things are going to be different - HOW different? What now?"

I have a cyber-friend by the name of Rob Elder; he ministers to the good people of First Presbyterian Church in Salem, Oregon. I have never met him face-to-face, but I have enjoyed his postings on PresbyNet. The other day he recalled being dropped off by his parents for his freshman year at college. He wrote, "Just days before I had gotten myself all packed up, ready to head for school, and asked my brother if he thought I looked like a college man. No,' he said, you look like a freshman.' There I stood a couple of days later in my ridiculous freshman beanie [some of you are old enough to remember those] at my new school, in a new city, in a new state, where I knew hardly anyone. I waved at my parents and they waved back at me. I continued watching as they disappeared into the distance, over the hill, off into a cloud of mystery as it were, their day-to-day lives now officially separated from mine. An old chapter of my life was now behind me, a new one was opening. Bright as my future was going to be, it didn't feel all that bright at that moment. And all the previous conversations about my future, about the work that lay ahead of me, all the dinner table speculations about the universe of possibilities that waited over the horizon seemed pretty small compensation just then for the certainties of the life of a child and teenager in a loving home that I had known before."⁽²⁾

Do you remember being scared that way? All of us have those moments when we are not only curious about the future, but we wonder if there will even be a future. What now? Now that we are all grown up, what now? I have graduated from high school or college; what now? I am married; what now? I am hired! what now?" Or the question of the 90's, I have been "down-sized;" what now?

Back to the disciples' "What now?" question. "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" Lord, we miss the good old days, will you bring them back? Politicians have won elections for years by promising to do just that, but the promise is always broken, for what was can never be again, life moves forward even when we look backward.

Did you notice Jesus' response? He did not answer the "restore the kingdom" question; instead he answered the deeper "What now?" Jesus made this promise: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes..." He shifted the emphasis from the restoration of the past to the transformation of the present.

The waiting will soon be over, the coming with power of the Holy Spirit is just around the corner. Why? Work to do. "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Jerusalem is "home" - the comfortable and known and familiar. "Judea and Samaria" - those places of our life where we are not quite so comfortable and Jesus' reception here is mixed (perhaps "ethnic" ministries within the Hispanic, Asian, or other communities; or among the homeless, the prisons, or with those recovering from addictions). "[T]he ends of the earth" - the edges of our lives, those places that would stretch us spiritually because we are not normally involved there. It is likely something we would find distasteful or off-putting. But, likely, according to Matthew 25, the place we would find Christ to begin with.

All right, Jesus. Tell us just a bit more. We have some questions. Jesus? Jesus? "As they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight." Hmm. No doubt the disciples could have questioned their Master for hours, just as they had done during their three remarkable years together. But not this time. It always seems to work that way, doesn't it? "At the very moment we want Jesus to be most vivid, something obscures him."⁽³⁾

Strange as it may seem, I take comfort in that. The life of faith does not lend itself to easy answers, despite what some of our friends at the extremes of the religious right and left might want us to believe. Our task of witnessing is unquestioned, but the where, when, and how are not always so obvious. We go about our work with clouded vision, with things not always as clear as we might like...just as the disciples did after Christ's ascension.

What a group! Standing there. Staring into space. Paralyzed like deer mesmerized by oncoming headlights. These 11 were the A-team. It was to them that the Lord entrusted his mission. There was no backup plan. But, as Will Rogers once said, "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just stand there."

YO!!! "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." He'll be back! Meanwhile, you have his work to do. As the poet has it,

He has no hands but our hands
To do his work today;
He has no feet but our feet
To lead folks in his way;
He has no voice but our voice
To tell them how he died;
He has no help but our help
To lead them to his side.⁽⁴⁾

If you had a second-class ticket you also could remain seated...until there was a problem. In case of a problem, second-class ticket holders would have to get off until the problem was resolved. You could stand off to the side and watch as other people worked. You did not have to get your hands dirty. But second-class ticket holders were not allowed to stay on board. When the stagecoach was unstuck you would get back on and take your seat.

If you had a third-class ticket, you would definitely have to get off if there was a problem. Why? Because it was your responsibility to help solve the problem. You had to get out and push or help lift to fix a broken wheel or whatever was needed because you only had a third-class ticket.⁽⁵⁾

I tell you that to tell you this: Men and Women, boys and girls, of St. Paul Presbyterian Church, 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...and you are now proud owners of third-class tickets for the journey between now and then!!! Even with clouded vision, let's get to work.

Amen!

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