A WORD FOR TODAY, May 29, 2025
Peggy Hoppes
We pray you have been blessed by this daily devotion. If you received it from a friend, you can see other devotions and studies by visiting our website at www.awordfortoday.org.
Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, May 29, 2025
“For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you and the love which you have toward all the saints, don’t cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, authority, power, dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:15-23, WEB
Bob Hope was an incredible man. He was known the world over for his humor, talent, and kind heart. He was a centenarian and served many generations who laughed at his jokes, movies, and television shows. His greatest contribution was his live performances with the U.S.O. for military troops. He gave so much for the joy of others, and he will always be remembered. I have always wondered what it would have been like to know him personally. Unfortunately, this would have been impossible because he was one man trapped in time and space. We knew him, loved him, and considered him a friend, but there was no way Bob Hope could ever have known each of us personally.
Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to be a friend of Jesus? To travel with Him, hear Him preach and teach, and see His miracles? It must have been a joy just to be with Jesus. He met many people during His three years of ministry, but His circle of friends was much smaller. Throughout His ministry Jesus revealed to the disciples the will and purpose of God, that He came to die, and that they would be witnesses of His grace for the world. Despite being God in flesh, Jesus could never know every person personally, just as Bob Hope could never know everyone, because Jesus was flesh, He was just as limited in time and space as you and I. God had a plan, and Jesus gave them a promise: He would know each of us intimately, but something had to happen first.
Jesus had stayed with the disciples forty days after His resurrection, then the day Jesus came when He had to leave. We celebrate that moment today, which is known as the Day of Ascension, and it always falls on the Thursday before the Seventh Sunday of Easter. Pentecost is in ten days, and on that day everything will change for the disciples, and for us, forever.
Luke gives us two different versions of what happened when Jesus ascended into heaven. In the Gospel, Luke tells us that they worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. In Acts, Luke tells us that when Jesus rose into heaven, they stood there staring into the sky. While they were looking up, “two men stood by them in white clothing, who also said, ‘You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky, will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky.’” In one story, the disciples worshipped Jesus and went joyfully to wait for His promise. In the second story, they stood gaping at what they had seen, unmoving perhaps because they are unsure of what they should do next. Some might call this a contradiction, but it is the reality of our faith in Christ. We joyfully worship and wait, but we also wonder and worry. We know Christ and His promises, but we aren’t sure of what it means.
You might think that after three years and the forty days the disciples would fully understood what Jesus taught and what God intended for them. Yet, as Jesus was about to leave, they still asked, “Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus reminded them that it is not for them to know the times or seasons which the Father has set. This is why the disciples always looked at the mission of the church as urgent. The coming of Christ was, to them, an imminent event. There was no time to wait. Yet, Jesus told them before He ascended to wait for a gift He would send. I imagine the disciples wished He would stay.
So, why did Jesus have to go? The Church would never have grown if Jesus had stayed. He could not have touched the hearts of people in the four corners of the world as a man of flesh, even with His resurrected body. Jesus ascended into heaven so that He could send the promised One, the Holy Spirit. Though Jesus is not here in flesh, He is here in a much better way, a way by which we all can know Him. The Ascension was a sad moment for the disciples, they grieved the loss of their friend and teacher, but it was a reason for joy for the Church because it assured that we can have a personal relationship with our Lord Jesus.
Jesus told the disciples to stay in Jerusalem until they received the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus did teach them everything they needed to know, but they also needed the Spirit to accomplish the work. The Spirit would remind them of His teaching and more. The Spirit would give them the gifts, authority, and power to continue sharing the Kingdom of God with the world. So, they stayed in Jerusalem as they waited. The gift would come at Pentecost.
When Jesus was raised to the right hand of God, it left little room to question the very nature of this man they had known. Jesus was God in flesh, worthy of their worship and praise. They must have also struggled, though, knowing that He left them alone, seemingly abandoning them with nothing but a promise of a helper to come. He sent them into the world to share the Kingdom of God but would no longer be there to pick them up after they fell. It was up to them to do the work they were called to do. It was no wonder that they stared into the heavens as He was raised. It would have been easy to stay right there at that spot and continue looking toward heaven for Jesus’ return.
Would we know Jesus if He hadn’t ascended into heaven? Perhaps that’s not an appropriate question, but the reality is that even His disciples did not truly understand who He was until they received the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. If Jesus had continued to walk on earth, as He did during His ministry and for those forty days after, He would not have been able to touch nearly as many people. Even if He lived forever on earth, His impact would have been minimal since He could not possibly reach every human being born. Even with modern technology like the radio, television and Internet, Jesus might get lost among the names that are more familiar. Without His Spirit, we would never truly know Him.
Ascension Day might seem like the end of something (Jesus’ time on earth,) but it was really a new beginning. Jesus did not intend for them to stand around and wallow in the past. There are times in our own lives that we can understand why the disciples would stare after Jesus. It is easy to gape at the clouds and hope for His return, but they were called to live in that day, to worship Him by doing the work He prepared them to do. On this Ascension Day we are also encouraged to move forward, to go out in faith and do all that He has called us to do. We don’t always understand the timing, or truly understand our purpose, but Jesus has promised to be with us and to provide us with everything we need. Christian faith means waiting urgently. We are not to be passive as we wait. We are to actively share the gifts of God with others. Like the disciples, it may seem like Jesus seemingly abandoned us, but He really does have a plan and He is always faithful to His promises. Jesus is where He needs to be, at the right hand of God so we can be one body in Him, filled with His Spirit, doing His work together from now until the day when He comes again.
We long for the day for God’s promises to be ultimately fulfilled; we are anxious for the day when all the faithful will join in the heavenly worship for eternity. There is no time to spare, but we’ve waited for two thousand years. We are reminded by the lives of the disciples that we are not to be passive as we wait. God has given us gifts to share His love, grace, and forgiveness with the world so that all will believe. Though we’ve waited for two thousand years, our mission is as immediate as it was in the days of those first disciples. Now is the time. Today is the day. Amen, Come Lord Jesus.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org