December 1 - The Ascension

Read: Acts 1:6-11

While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. (Luke 24:51 ESV)

And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. (Acts 1:9 ESV)

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. (Mark 16:19 ESV)

After years of traveling together, teaching, healing, preaching, and working. Jesus was gone. He left. Even death had not kept him from them, his disciples. Impossibly, he had returned to spend another month with them. But as the month drew to an end he encouraged and blessed them one more time, and was then taken away into the heavens. He ascended.

A lot of belief systems talk about an ascension. They talk about the possibility of you or I making our mark on this life in such a way as to gain unfathomable understanding. That through doing so we would ascend. Ascension in these religions is about the power of a person to overcome their limitations. It is a self-serving action devoid of a larger interpersonal purpose.

Jesus ascension was real. He was there, and then he was pulled away into Heaven. People saw it, they talked about it, they believed it, they wrote about it. It happened. It was a true historical event that actually took place.

Jesus didn't ascend under his power, but by the power of the God the Father. He was called away to again be in the presence of God. He went ahead to prepare an eternal home for his followers. And I believe that one day, just as he ascended, he will descend again to gather his people to himself. Jesus ascended not for personal gain, but for providential purpose. Just as he gave himself in life, and in death, he even now he gives of himself in eternity.

November 30 - Cram Session

He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:3 ESV)

Having been part of university life for nearly half of my life there are certain aspects of collegiate culture that are almost second nature to me. Cramming is something that I hear about all the time, it's not usually called that anymore, it's usually referred to as an "all-nighter" these days, but they mean the same. Both are when someone stays up all night before a big test to spend time studying.

Jesus allowed his disciples one final cram session. It was a 40 day all-nighter. One last shot for them to learn and latch on to the principles and passion that would be needed to steer the burgeoning Christian movement.

The resurrection changed things for them. It invited revelation and understanding surrounding the three previous years the eleven had spent in community with Jesus. It have context for all that Jesus had talked about. And it pushed them out the door toward their final lifelong test.

Jesus had one more season to train, teach, and mentor. He took a little over a month to do it. They learned from the master himself. The test was coming!