‘Waiting for a revolution’ by Owen Lynch, 11 February 2024

What would you want and expect if you were promised power? Owen Lynch looks at the situation of Jesus’ first followers and the ways they were desperate for their country to be run differently and better. When Jesus overcame execution by the authorities, rose from death and promised the arrival of the Kingdom of God, what did the people closest to him expect? What would their promised power look like, and what they want to do with it? And for us, what are wanting, expecting and hoping to see God do in our lifetimes?

Transcript

We have just started a new boxset series with the working title - “A Community of Hope” and we will be exploring the book of Acts together in as much detail as we can.

In my previous talk called “Hope in Jesus” earlier in January I argued that Luke was keen to portray Jesus as a revolutionary leader who gave the majority of his nation hope.

Most of the Judean and Galilean population lived in poverty with few rights and Jesus himself was poor and grew up in a poor, rural village.

It is always risky comparing Jesus to a contemporary person, but I’ll do it anyway for the sake of communication! If you can remember Arthur Scargill, who led the miners strike in the early 1980s, you might remember that he led a popular uprising amongst the coal mining towns and villages in some of the poorest areas of the north of England, East Midlands and South Wales. He led the uprising against the pit closures that threatened to push these coal mining communities further into poverty and despair.

The strikes divided the country and the two sides were personified by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Arthur Scargill. There was a sense that Scargill was a revolutionary fighting on behalf of the poor and Thatcher was the political power threatening to make the plight of the poor worse. History shows us that Thatcher won and Scargill faded into obscurity.

Without commenting on who was right or wrong, I want to simply suggest that Jesus was also seen as a revolutionary who was fighting on behalf of the poor and marginalised against the political powers who were threatening to make the plight of the poor worse.

Like most revolutionaries, Jesus was murdered by the corrupt authorities in order to quell the revolution. But it didn’t do that, because rumours that Jesus had come back to life started to circulate just 36 hours after he was killed.

I use the word revolutionary to describe Jesus, but there is another word, a more inflammatory and provocative word to the religious authorities, that was used to describe Jesus - Messiah.

Rome’s regional governor Pontius Pilate was threatened by the political power that Jesus the revolutionary wielded, but the religious authorities were threatened by the divine power that Jesus the Messiah wielded.

When we read the two books of Luke and Acts, we need to remember that the Judeans and Galileans are living under the colonial rule of the Romans. The boot of the Roman Empire is firmly on the neck of the Judeans and Galileans and they are desperate for a revolutionary to kick the Romans out of the land and rise up as a reinvigorated kingdom.

In Acts 1:1-6 we can see how the disciples seem convinced that the resurrected Jesus will do just that:

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

After all of this, it sounds like “team Jesus” is clearly excited and expectant that they are going to rise up and overthrow the Roman Empire and restore justice and power in Judea and Galilee. They ask him:

“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

They are like - “Jesus, now you’re back, are you going to complete the revolution?? Is the Kingdom going to be handed back to us? Are we going to kick the Romans out??”

It reminds me of the enthusiasm of Jesus disciples in Luke 9:51-56:

51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them. 56 Then he and his disciples went to another village.

What were they thinking of?? They seem intoxicated with the supernatural power that Jesus seems to possess. They have witnessed Jesus using divine power to heal people with diseases and they want to use the same power to destroy a bunch of unfriendly people!!

Thank goodness Jesus rebukes them for their idiotic suggestion! But I wonder if having just witnessed the resurrected Jesus, that they are getting overexcited again?

I just want to say something about the resurrected Jesus. It is not unusual for us to imagine that when Jesus came back to life, it was like he was resuscitated.

We can all understand the process of resuscitation, someone’s heart stops, slap on the defibrillator and bang, heart restarts and the same person gains consciousness again.

According to Luke, that’s not what happened to Jesus. Jesus is dead for 36 hours and when he reappears he looks different - several of the disciples did not recognise him. He appeared so suddenly and immediately to a group of them in a room that they thought he was a ghost. He appeared to them for 40 days and ate with them and appeared to be able to transport himself from one place to another without walking! All very strange and bizarre.

So when the disciples excitedly ask the resurrected Jesus if he is going to finish the job, they have one thing in mind - the defeat of the Romans and the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel.

They want to be involved, they have already tasted having some of Jesus’ supernatural power and what did they do with it? They wanted to call fire down on the Samaritan village that did not welcome Jesus!!

I bet the conversation amongst them was something like - "do you think we will get to call fire down on the Roman army in Jerusalem?” “Maybe we will be able to get revenge on the Roman soldiers that nailed Jesus to the cross?” “Who’s going to call fire down on Pontius Pilate?

I bet they were asking for that sort of power!! It’s a group of men! We like nothing more than power!! Power to be the heroes! Power to put things right!!

I bet they were like, “Jesus, when can we have power like we had before, are we going to get the same power you gave us when you sent us out Jesus?”

And Jesus was like - you want some power??!! Yes you’re going to get power, you’re going to get it!!

Acts 1:7-8

7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my [ambassadors] witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

"So stay put in Jerusalem, that power will be yours!”

They must have been as high as kites! They and Jesus are going

to get to kick the Romans out of Jerusalem and they are going to restore the Kingdom of Israel. Jesus will be King and they will be his court of advisers.

The disciples have got form for this. Remember when the disciples - James and John asked Jesus if they could be his deputies when he was made King of Israel? They wanted a piece of the action, they wanted some power!

That dream died with his death, but now Jesus is resurrected with super powers, the dream is alive again.

Jesus will become king and they will be his deputies!! Maybe they expected to be regional governors, maybe ambassadors of this restored Kingdom of Israel in places like Judea, Samaria, Antioch, Athens and Rome - that would be a nice gig! It looks like they were looking forward to their reward for being loyal followers of Jesus!

But then something happened that they were not expecting!

Acts 1:9

9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

Can you imagine how dumbfounded they must have felt? They were just about to crown Jesus King of Israel and complete the revolution and he disappears before their very eyes!!!

Acts 1:10-11

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.’

They must have been stunned!! This wasn’t working out as they had imagined!

They thought Jesus was going to complete the revolution and install himself and them as the new rulers of Israel. Instead, he disappears before their very eyes! And the way Luke describes it, they are staring at the sky expecting him to come back, and as if to confirm that what looks like two angels appear and tell them he will come back, in the same way he has just left!

They must have been shocked and stunned, so they returned the short distance to the house where they were staying in Jerusalem just as Jesus told them to and waited.

They didn’t know what they were waiting for, other than what Jesus called an immersion in the Holy Spirit. But how could they have known what that meant? They had no prior experience to be able to comprehend what would happen to them.

So in the meantime they start to organise themselves so that they are ready to govern when Jesus returns.

In verse 15, Luke includes this interesting fact:

15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)

In Jewish law, 120 people was the minimum number of men required to form a community with it’s own council. It was like a parish council. You’ve got 120 men in your village? Great, you can form a parish council with.....you guessed it - 12 parish councillors!!

In Jewish culture 12 is symbolic of perfect government. There were 12 tribes of Israel, 12 disciples, In Matthew 26, Jesus said he had the power to call 12 legions of angels.

Today the Israeli government - the Knesset has 12 standing committees to govern the country, and it has 120 MPs, actually called MKs.

So the disciples prepare for government by replacing Judas who has died and by forming a council of 12 to govern this community of 120 men who are waiting for Jesus to return and restore the Kingdom of Israel.

They are doing their best!!!

They are ready for government! They are ready for Jesus to return and make it happen! But as we will see, what actually happens is the complete opposite!

They get power alright, but it’s not power over people, it’s power for people.

Let’s take a moment to ponder that.

Are you waiting for a revolution in your own life?

Are you waiting for Jesus to meet your expectations? What are you hoping that Jesus will do in your lifetime?

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