Have you ever asked yourself, “what just happened?” You see something, but you just can’t make sense of it. On Tuesday I was driving back from the regional Pastors’ conference in Key West. US 1 through the Florida Keys is an adventure in driving.
There was an accident ahead of me and traffic was stopped for a while. Slowly, we began to creep forward. The guy in the pickup truck in front of me started moving, maybe he was going 5 miles per hour. He kept going, even when the van in front of him stopped. Crunch!
I have witnessed accidents before, but this one seemed to be in slow motion. I almost think I would have had time to put my car in park, get out, and tell the driver of the pickup truck to pay attention. I didn’t. I just sort of sat there and asked, “what just happened?”
Yesterday was the festival of the Ascension. We will celebrate Ascension Sunday this coming weekend. I suspect that if I had been with those disciples on the mount of Ascension, I would have asked, “what just happened?” Jesus bodily departure from this earth would have left me bewildered and probably disappointed.
The interesting thing is that the Ascension didn’t have that effect on the disciples. Luke describes them as “overjoyed” as they went back to Jerusalem (Luke 24:52). They were overjoyed because Jesus had opened their minds to the Scriptures. They finally got it. They understood that God’s love survives even loss. That Christ’s presence with them was as certain because of His promise as it was because of His physical body.
I pray that as you recall the Ascension of Christ, that you can have that same joy in Christ’s abiding presence.
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