Jesus, Continued

When Luke sat down to write his sequel to the gospel story of Jesus, he began his second volume with a strange statement:  "In my former book… I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven" (Acts 1:1-2).  Began to do and teach?  Well, after he ascended into heaven, didn't Jesus stop "doing" and "teaching"?  Apparently not, according to Luke...




Jesus' death on the cross is not the end of the story.  (As my pastor likes to say, death was not the final word; there was a word that came after: Life!)  Jesus' resurrection is not the end of the story.  Neither, even, is his ascension into heaven the end of the story. Those dramatic points in the story are wildly important, no doubt.  But now, as we live Spirit-saturated life in the wake of Pentecost, the story continues.  And it's not just my story, or your story.  It's Jesus' story.

Read the gospels and you'll see what Jesus began to do and teach.  Read Luke's second book, Acts, and you'll see what Jesus continued to do and teach, among and through his earliest followers.

What about today?  When you crawl out of the bed in the morning and drag your groggy face to the mirror, what do you see?  If you're like me, it's not a very heroic-looking sight.  But the unbelievably good news is this:  Jesus wants to continue doing and teaching -- and living his life -- in and through you.  Today.  Tomorrow.  And the next day.

Lord, forgive me for my heavy, slow heart and my sadly low expectations.  The story I'm in today is your story.  What shall we do today?

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This has been the last post in Lent Journey 2011.  There are new seasons to step into, and perhaps new blogs to write.  If you've stuck with it and kept reading your way through, thank you so much for coming along so that we could journey a while together.  (And if you stopped reading:  where did you go, anyway <smile>?)  In any case:  God bless you and keep you as you continue journeying with the living, risen Christ.  

Oh--you have heard the news, haven't you?  He is risen!