With the Easter holidays come and gone, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about Christ's resurrection and what that means for us. Today in one of my classes we were discussing the book of Luke and how the author handles the delayed return of Christ. Luke-Acts is written as a continuation of the narrative of the Old Testament, showing how Jesus and the Church fulfill the promise of God's covenant with Israel. Jesus came to bring salvation, good news for the poor and oppressed, and the promised Kingdom of God. Yet, when the author of Luke-Acts was writing, at least 30 or 40 years had passed since Jesus left the disciples. Having believed the Lord would return very soon (as in any moment), the growing church was becoming impatient and questioning the validity of Christ's promise.
It is easy to imagine their anxiety. After all, after 2,000 years do we not also question the truth in Christ's promise to return? It would seem that this would be more than enough time for the promise of the Bible to be fulfilled. And if this promise is false, can we trust the words of Scripture at all? Do we really believe that Christ will one day return? Many of us claim that we do. I do. Yet do we really live as though we believe it? And if we do not live it, do we really believe it? It seems like a house of cards. If one card is pulled out, the entire structure falls.
In Acts 1:11, two angels speak to the disciples after Jesus' ascension saying "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." The author of Luke-Acts writes the second book to tell of the miracles and works the Spirit had accomplished through the church. Christians were giving all they had to share with their fellow believers, they were healing and doing miracles, lives were being changed, the message of The Way was being taken even to officials in Rome, and their numbers were growing by leaps and bounds. The kingdom of God was being built all around them. Christ, through his Spirit, was still present among them.
Richard B. Hays, the author of one of our texts for class today, The Moral Vision of the New Testament, writes "But where the Spirit is poured out on the church, it sweeps the believers along as though in a great river of obedience, praise, and mighty works. Empowered by the Spirit, the community can dare and hope great things, seeing visions, dreaming dreams, turning the world upside down." Luke-Acts reminds us that we cannot always be looking to the future or always to the past. We must look to the present, because Christ's Spirit is here with us now. We must be seeking to see how he is at work in our lives and in our world. And we must be ready to obey in bringing good news to the poor and freeing the oppressed, building the kingdom. Perhaps it is not so much believing that Christ will one day come, but believing that Christ is present now. Those in my discussion group shared stories of testimony we heard over Easter, revealing how Christ is present in our lives. Christ is present in the testimonies of a couple obeying the call to a mission in South America. Christ is present in the testimony of a young man who came to know Him as Truth after wrestling with skepticism and doubt. Christ is present in the testimony of a woman who nearly lost a battle with anorexia, and has now been eating for ten days. Christ is present in the resurrection of creation as spring blooms, in the smile of a friend, in a song, in the peace of His assurance, in a hope fulfilled, and in the unsteady patience of waiting.
Christ is alive, present, and working in our midst. How is Christ present in your life?
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