Luke 24:46-53
‘And now I am sending down to you what the Father has promised. Stay in the city then, until you are clothed with the power from on high.’
I don’t think I ever really noticed this sentence from today’s Gospel. Usually by this stage in Eastertide the various Bible texts have washed over and over me like the waves on the seashore. Some words stay in my mind and others wash away. But today I am struck by the disciples being asked to stay in the city until they are clothed ‘with the power from on high’. Being clothed with something is a powerful image for me and speaks of strength and protection. Did they sit together in a room discussing what this might mean? Did they go about their ordinary tasks and hope they’d recognise this power when it came?
Then he took them out as far as the outskirts of Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. Now as he blessed them he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.
Jesus’ parting gift to his disciples is a blessing. Every twist and turn of their journey has led them to this moment. Though there is all the potential for sadness in this scene, the disciples are filled with joy. This joy overflows and they go back to the Temple in Jerusalem where they praise God. Luke tells us that they were ‘continually in the Temple praising God’. The disciples are now tasked with being Christ’s loving and redemptive presence in the world.
We too have been ‘clothed from on high’ and we too are commissioned to be Christ’s resurrected presence for the world. How we do this is down to each one of us.
How can you witness to the resurrection today?