Ever consider this?
Jesus stayed around quite a while after His resurrection, before ascending to the Father. Forty days, in fact (Acts 1:3). Yet the Gospels, after devoting between one-fourth and one-third of their entire text to His final week before the cross, give only a few scanty paragraphs about the whole post-Resurrection, pre-Ascension time.
Nevertheless, it had to be important.
Hmm.
Look Again
Thinking about this prompted me to look again at those few paragraphs and see how much might be packed into them. I did it yesterday. I’m doing it again today. And yes, they are crammed with vital stuff!
I saw that this time period consisted primarily of Jesus’ encouragement of, and final instruction to, His followers–with lots of review and scripture illuminating and explaining. Of course it included the Great Commission (Mt 28:19-20 and Mk 16:15) and Christ’s instruction for the disciples to wait in Jerusalem till they were “endued with power from on high” (Lk 24:49).
But there’s more–other commands that we should take to heart and pour ourselves into obeying. And they might flit right past us if we don’t pay attention…
For today, I’m considering just one.
One thing to Do
Do you know what Christ’s first post-resurrection command to His followers was–at least the first one the Bible mentions? Only this morning, on rereading the Gospel finales, did I really notice it as a command: “Rejoice!” (Mt. 28:9).
Was this just a for-the-moment comfort word to some despondent women rushing from an empty tomb in consternation? I don’t think so. For Jesus gave the same instruction in the Beatitudes. And look how the Apostles echoed it: (Paul in Philippians 3:1 & 4:4,and 1 Thessalonians 5:16; Peter in 1 Peter 4:13; and then John, repeating the command/invitation that the heavenly multitude voiced in Revelation 19:7).
Lovely command. I think I’ll “work on” obeying it today.
🙂