Acts 1:9-11 (NIVUK)
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’
I’m not surprised that when Jesus ascended that the disciples were left behind gawping. Had they even got used to the idea that he was alive again – how could they have come to terms with that so quickly – and here he is leaving them! I’m not at all surprised that the angels needed to chivvy them on with a ‘don’t just stand there, get on with it…’ Jesus had left them, as he has left us, with a task to do, to carry on sharing the good news of God with others. I know I sometimes need to be reminded that I have a job to do.
Jesus, I’m looking forward to seeing you one day when you return, but in the meantime I know I have a job to do and there isn’t time to hang around…
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