Ready Player Two

Luke 24:44–53

Phrases that spoke to me today:
• raising his hands, he blessed them
• as he blessed them he parted from them
• they worshiped him
• returned to Jerusalem with great joy

Applying the Word to My Life:
I never really got into playing video games as a kid. I played some of the first games on an old Atari, but we didn't get the newer systems. Then, when I went to play games like Mortal Kombat with friends, they would just destroy me. I was so far behind it didn't seem like there was any reason to try. That intimidation meant I missed out on time with my friends.

We can get some of that same feeling when we see an elite athlete or a seasoned professional doing what they do best. We can look and think there is no point — we could never get this good. There is a little bit of that in today's reading.

Jesus leads them out as far as Bethany. He raises His hands. He blesses them. And then, Luke tells us, as he blessed them he parted from them and was carried up to heaven. They worship Him. They return to Jerusalem with great joy.

Most of us would not be returning to Jerusalem with great joy. We would be returning with grief. The friend we had walked with for three years, watched die, watched come back, finally just left — and we are supposed to be full of joy? There is an instinct to meet most of the goings in our life with grief. The friend who moves away. The season that ends. The plan that does not become what we hoped. The disciples on the road back from Bethany are operating at a level of trust that seems out of reach.

It is easy to look at them — at the joy and the worship and the hands lifted — and conclude that there is no point in trying. They are too far ahead.

But Luke is not showing us a level we cannot reach. Luke is showing us where weeks of formation land a person.

The professional gymnast fell when they were starting, the NFL running back dropped the ball when he was playing flag football, the professional speaker stumbled over their words in their second-grade book report. We all start as beginners.

The same holds for the Apostles. We need to remember where they started. These men did not arrive at Bethany ready to receive His going as gift. Not long before this scene they were terrified, hiding in a locked room, not yet sure He had risen. They have walked with Him on the Emmaus road. They have eaten breakfast on the beach. They have sat in the upper room while He patiently explained His going to them, again and again. The joy at Bethany is not a personality trait. It is the fruit of formation.

This is what the whole week has been doing for us, too. It is better for you that I go. The rooms prepared. Remaining in His love through the going. Releasing the people we love into His hands. The High Priest who has gone through and stays. The freedom of wanting what God wants more than what you want. Day by day, the going has been interpreted for us — the way it was interpreted for them.

And the gift Luke gives us at the end is the picture of what that formation produces. Not abstract trust. A specific scene. He raises His hands. He blesses them. He goes. And the going happens during the blessing — as he blessed them he parted from them. He is leaving them in the act of blessing them. The blessing and the going are the same gesture. The last image they have of their friend on this earth is His hands raised over them.

That is why they walk home in joy. They have not been left empty. They have been left blessed. The hands that were raised over them as He went are still raised over them as they walk. He did not stop.

And He still has not stopped. The hands raised at Bethany are still raised — over them, over you, over the people you love. The blessing did not end when His feet left the ground. It is still being given.

You may not feel great joy yet. That is fine. The disciples did not, weeks before this scene. What matters is the formation. Stay in the room. Walk the road. Eat the breakfast. Joy is what is left when trust is whole.

Ultimately the choice is ours: when you see the result of formation, will you be intimidated or inspired?

My Response for Today:
Today I will name one going I have been grieving — and ask whether His hands are still raised over it.