I imagine you have all heard the good news! Governor Wolf has announced that he expects to move the five counties around Philadelphia to the yellow phase in two weeks; this will allow churches to reopen; our long wait may soon be over! I don’t know about you, but I hate to wait. I’m a doer; I like to get things done. Whether it’s waiting in a traffic jam or waiting for a package to arrive, it’s hard to wait. Sometimes, waiting is particularly difficult, like when you’re stuck in a waiting room while a loved one is undergoing surgery. Right now, we’re all stuck waiting for the moment when we can begin to return to normal life; it’s really hard, isn’t it?
In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear about the apostles fulfilling the first – and perhaps most challenging – assignment that the risen Jesus had given them. At the end of the Gospel of Luke, we learn that the risen Lord has told them to wait “until you are clothed with power from on high,” whatever that means. And, as we hear in today’s first reading, that’s what they do. They return to the Upper Room, where they had celebrated the Last Supper with our Lord before he was crucified and where he had appeared to them after his resurrection – and they waited, devoting themselves with one accord to prayer, as the reading recounts. Had he asked them to charge into the Sanhedrin, or to heal the sick, or even to become martyrs for the faith, it might have been easier to do. Why would he ask them to wait? Jesus had risen from the dead. As we hear in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, Jesus had given the apostles a great commission to preach the Good News to all the world. Why not get started right away? News this good should be shared – at once! Why lose the momentum of the resurrection? Shouldn’t they begin while their enthusiasm is high? The Type A, go-getter, action-oriented disciples must have been eager to get started. You can just see Peter champing at the bit.
So why did Jesus ask them to wait? Because he had a mission for them that would take more energy than their own enthusiasm could complete. They would need the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit, the fellowship of each other’s encouragement, and the faith generated by a life of prayer. A life of zealous action without all of these would lead to exhaustion and burnout. Jesus knew that the only way to lasting faithfulness would be through a life of prayer and communion, and with the assistance of the Holy Spirit. So he began their journey of discipleship with a most unusual command. He told them to wait.
Jesus knew the disciples would need the Holy Spirit to accompany them if they were to accomplish the work of the Kingdom. The Spirit would be the encouraging, instructing, and comforting presence for them that Jesus had been during his earthly ministry. Without this constant wind in their sails, Jesus knew their voyage of ministry would soon be dead in the water.
And, Jesus also told them to wait in order to give them time to draw close to each other. There is a fellowship among those who wait together. I’m sure many of you are experiencing a new closeness with your family living under the same roof. Even in the midst of the tensions that inevitably arise due to this new 24/7 togetherness, you’re realizing that blood is thicker than water and you’re appreciating the little things that you can do together, even if it’s just sitting on the porch or going for a walk in the neighborhood. Waiting together teaches us the value of community, and our family, dysfunctional as it may sometimes be, is our first community.
Waiting can be really fruitful if it is filled with faith. After all, we are the family of God who are waiting for the return of our Lord. This is the type of waiting that Jesus called his disciples to before Pentecost. Faithful waiting is not a waste of time. No, it redeems time. If time belongs to God – and it does – we do not need to get upset or anxious by the rearrangement of time due to unforeseen circumstances. The interruptions to our work may, in fact, be our work for God. If we do not accomplish our “to do” list today, so what? Our “to do” list may not have been God’s “to do” list. Besides, God is more interested in obedience to his will, in quiet hope, in a prepared soul, than He is in accomplishments. As St. Theresa of Calcutta said so well, “God does not expect us to be successful; he expects us to be faithful.
So Jesus sent the disciples on their first mission after his ascension. He sent them to the Upper Room to wait. Not for ten minutes. Not for ten hours. But for several days; perhaps even several months. Tradition has it that Pentecost occurred ten days after the Ascension but scripture scholars today suggest that it was a Pentecost at least a year – or maybe two years – later, since the climate in Jerusalem immediately following Christ’s crucifixion would have been too explosive to allow for the apostles to openly preach about him so quickly after his death and resurrection. And remember, Jesus didn’t tell them in advance how long it would be. It sounds like us today, doesn’t it? For many days, they struggled with their urge to get started. For many days, they battled with the temptation to question whether they had heard him correctly. For these days, they had to encourage each other to keep from quitting and returning to their former lives.
And during that time, they learned to pray like they had never had to pray before. They learned to depend on each other like never before. And they learned to grow in their fledgling faith and faithful community. In the absence of the physical presence of Jesus, they learned to trust the words of Jesus. In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus, who must have been awaiting his upcoming death with a whole range of thoughts and feelings, pray for all who would become his followers. He prayed that they would have the eternal life that Jesus came to give. You’ll notice that he doesn’t ask God for this to happen at a particular time; that’s the Father’s call. In the meantime, we are all called to wait, just as the apostles did.
And as they waited, after they stopped focusing on the hours and days that elapsed, they became men and women of prayer. It was then that they became the men and women Jesus always knew they could be. They became the Church.
Just wait. It can happen to you, too. During this time of waiting for a return to normal life, I invite you to turn to prayer and to turn to one another; after all, your family is the Church in miniature. This need not be a time of idle waiting. It can be a very productive time as we pray for the Holy Spirit to enter our hearts and guide our lives. It is my prayer that, like the apostles, this time of waiting will change our lives forever as we become ever more aware of the true purpose of our lives: union with God forever in heaven. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created and you will renew the face of the earth.