Setting Down Roots

A Reflection on the First Reading for Sunday, May 12, 2024:
The Ascension of the Lord

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Acts
1.1-11

​In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the Apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “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.”

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

We are not a patient species by (fallen) nature. We hate waiting in line, always considering ways to jump the queue. There are whole YouTube channels dedicated to spoilers and leaks for movies and music. We stare at the clock repeatedly in hopes that the hours have passed during a challenging day that we just want to be over. We wish away the years to get to some imagined future good part. We rush around those who aren’t moving fast enough for us and sigh in frustration when we get caught in traffic. Being made to wait, even for a good reason, can bring out the worst in us.

But waiting is part of life. It is built into the fabric of the world. We have to wait for babies to grow in the womb, for the seasons to change, for the queue to wind around to our turn. Nothing worth waiting for happens immediately. Plants have to dig their roots down into the soil before they can push up their first bloom. We plant in one season to harvest in another. The truth of the world is that it isn’t built with a fast forward button that lets us rush through the hard work of waiting.

Even the Apostles suffered from this challenge of waiting. Before Jesus ascends to Heaven, they pelt Him with questions about the future. Jesus explained much of what was to come to them but didn’t give them an exact date for His second coming. The Kingdom of God doesn’t have a launch date like the latest movie or music release. It won’t have a targeted social media campaign with a flashy countdown and a series of increasingly obvious easter eggs. It could come tomorrow, or a thousand years from now, or some date beyond human imagination.

So what do we do? How do we stay ready for something so massive without knowing the day it’s coming, especially knowing that waiting isn’t our strong suit? Jesus gives us the answer in this reading. He doesn’t want us to just sit around and wait. He promises He will guide us through the long wait by sending us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is sent to us to guide us, teach us, and work through us. By attuning ourselves to the movement of the Holy Spirit, we are given the opportunity to make this season of waiting something fruitful. Just like a seed planted in the Fall, we can set down our roots deep over the long cold Winter and bloom as we should in the Spring. Even though we don’t know exactly when Spring will come, like that seed we lie waiting, trusting that, while we labour in the dark, some day the snow will melt, the soil will become soft again, and we will raise our heads again to the Son.

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Stéphanie Potter

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