Scripture: Acts 1:1-11
Video Link: https://youtu.be/x8IwMmDbypc
Structure:
- Introduction
- Proof of life
- Promise of Spirit
- Purpose moving forward
- Conclusion
Introduction:
Good morning everyone.
Our lives are peppered with liminal experiences. A liminal experience is a time or place of transition and change. An in-between moment, a period of waiting.
The word “liminal” comes from the Latin word “limen,” which means threshold. A liminal moment therefore is one in which we stand on the threshold of something new and different.
A liminal experience may last only a few seconds or it could last many years.
The days a caterpillar spends in a cocoon, before it becomes a butterfly;
the years it takes to go through adolescence; the minutes you spend waiting at the bus stop or the train station; these are all examples of liminal time.
Indeed, bus stops and train stations are liminal spaces, places of transition. Pregnancy is a liminal experience, an in between time, when you are waiting on the threshold of a significant life change. The seconds between when a baby is born and takes its first breath is a liminal moment.
That imperceptible time between waking and sleeping, when your mind is half half-conscious, emerging from a dream; that’s a liminal experience.
Routine, stability, normality are the opposite of liminal experiences. Life in the liminal can feel exciting, like you are on the cusp of realising a long awaited hope. But it can also feel a bit disorienting or scary, because your regular routine is unsettled and you are not sure what comes next.
Last Thursday was Ascension Day, that day in the Church calendar when we remember Jesus’ ascension to heaven. We usually celebrate Ascension the following Sunday (which is today) because hardly anyone is at church on Thursday.
According to the Bible the risen Lord Jesus appeared to his disciples for 40 days after his resurrection before being taken into heaven. The time in-between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension was a liminal period for his followers.
With this in mind we take a break from our series in First Corinthians to focus on Acts chapter 1, verses 1-11, which describes what happened during those 40 days of liminal time. From Acts 1, verse 1, we read…
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 withwater, but in a few days you will be baptized withthe Holy Spirit.” 6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 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 witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 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.”
May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.
Quite a bit happens in the liminal moments of our lives, although we are often unaware of it. There isn’t time now to cover everything Luke writes about in Acts 1, so we will focus on three of the main things that Jesus did in those 40 days of liminal time.
Firstly, Jesus presented himself to his followers, proving that he really is alive and well and risen to eternal life. Secondly, Jesus promised his followers the gift of the Holy Spirit. And thirdly, Jesus gave the apostles purpose moving forward. Let us begin with Jesus’ proof of life.
Proof of Life:
Learning things, taking in new information, is a liminal experience. Learning so it becomes second nature, involves a process of change. With any real learning there is an uncomfortable in-between moment when we are leaving what is familiar to venture into unknown territory.
Take learning to drive for example. Knowing the road code is one thing but actually getting to a place where you feel comfortable behind the wheel is another thing altogether.
If you learned to drive in a manual car, then getting the hang of synchronising the clutch and the accelerator smoothly probably took months of practice.
That practice time was a liminal experience. It may have felt uncomfortable at first, but now you change gear without thinking about it.
Or take marriage as another example. You have the wedding and become husband and wife, and its lovely and all that, but holding a marriage certificate doesn’t automatically make you a competent marriage partner.
There is a liminal period, which may last a year or two, when you are adjusting to married life. Getting used to living together. Abandoning a single person’s mindset. Sorting out roles and responsibilities. Learning to say, ‘Yes dear, you were right’, and settling into a new rhythm and routine.
Luke, the author of Acts, starts by saying: In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach.
Luke’s former book is the gospel of Luke. The significant thing here is that Luke says he wrote about all that Jesus began to do. The implication being that Jesus’ earthly ministry was only the beginning. And in fact, what Theophilus is about to read in the book of Acts is the continuation of Jesus’ deeds and words.
Jesus’ ministry on earth was followed by his ministry from heaven, exercised through the Holy Spirit by his apostles. [1] The apostles (empowered by the Spirit) function as Jesus’ hands and mouth. Of course, this all points to the fact that Jesus is not dead, he is very much alive.
Luke draws attention to Jesus’ resurrection in verse 3 where he writes that after his suffering, Jesus presented himself to his apostles 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.
As I said earlier, the initial 40 days after Jesus’ death and resurrection was a liminal time. It was an in-between moment, a period of adjustment and learning for Jesus’ followers.
The apostles had seen Jesus brutally murdered, his body dead and buried.
Then on the third day, God raised Jesus from the dead. Even though Jesus had predicted this would happen, it was still a lot for the disciples to process. They needed time for this new information about Jesus to sink in.
Grief is a liminal experience. It takes time to accept the fact of someone’s death. Have you ever had the experience of losing someone you love and then seeing them in the supermarket or across the street. But it’s not them, because they are gone. Your mind is still in liminal space; still catching up with the reality of what’s happened.
The apostles had no real chance to come to terms with Jesus’ death, before they had to adjust to his resurrection. Their minds were in liminal space, disoriented, standing on the threshold of something entirely new.
Learning to trust the reality of Jesus’ resurrection was like going through the grieving process in reverse. It was conceptually more difficult. Death is normal for us, it is commonplace. But Jesus’ resurrection was a first. Yes, people had been resuscitated before but not resurrected to eternal life, like Christ.
In the same way you don’t learn to drive after one lesson, so too it wasn’t enough for the apostles to see Jesus once. They needed to see the risen Christ several times doing normal things with them (like eating and talking about the kingdom of God) before they could comprehend the reality of his resurrection.
You know, by God’s grace we can believe in the resurrection of Jesus in our head, but it can take years (and much suffering) for that belief to descend into our heart. The journey from the head to the heart is a liminal experience.
The reality of Jesus’ resurrection puts us on the threshold of eternity and all the mystery that entails.
Okay, so that’s the first thing Jesus does in the 40 days of liminal time prior to his ascension; he offers proof of his own life, helping his followers to adjust to the reality of his resurrection.
The second main thing Jesus does is to promise the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit is essential to the work Jesus will do through the apostles. Without the Spirit the apostles have no power or agency, no connection with the living Christ.
Promise of Spirit:
Whenever you go to the beach you become aware of the tidal system. Most of the day the tide is on the move, either going out or coming in. There are times in the day though when the tide is slack. Around high tide and low tide the water is relatively still.
A slack tide is a liminal period for the sea. It’s a time of waiting in-between tidal changes. This liminal time, when the tide is slack, provides a kind of smoko break for sea life. It allows sediment from the seabed to settle so water clarity is restored.
One of the key characteristics of a liminal experience is having to wait.
Waiting for exam results. Waiting for a break in the traffic. Waiting to hear whether you got the job you interviewed for. Waiting to find out if you have kept the job you’ve got. Waiting for the doctor’s diagnosis. Waiting for the next Covid lockdown announcement.
Waiting can feel tense or stressful but, if we don’t overthink the unknown, times of liminal waiting also allow the dust to settle. And when the dust settles, we receive the gift of clarity and perspective.
In verse 4 we read how the risen Jesus said to his apostles, wait for the gift my Father promised, by which he meant the gift of the Holy Spirit.
There were 40 days between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension and another 10 days between his ascension and the day of Pentecost. Those 50 days (in total) were like a slack tide. They were a liminal time of waiting.
In that time of relative stillness, the sediment stirred up in the apostles’ minds by recent events was allowed to settle, giving them clarity and perspective before the tidal change brought by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Jesus wants his apostles to wait during these 50 days of liminal time, because as any good fisherman knows, you are not likely to catch much when the tide is slack. That is, until the Spirit gets the waters moving.
Unfortunately, the apostles aren’t quite getting it. They ask Jesus, “Lord, will you at this time give the Kingdom back to Israel?”
In other words, are you now going to boot the Romans out of Israel and put us in charge of our own country again? (Like when David and Solomon were king.) The disciples had confused the spiritual kingdom of God with the political kingdom of Israel.
Jesus’ response shows they were asking the wrong question. First Jesus says, “The times and occasions are set by my Father’s own authority, and it is not for you to know when they will be”. Jesus is basically saying here, ‘forget about the political situation of Israel. That’s not what is important right now’.
Jesus then goes on to show the apostles what is important. He says…
“…when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The apostles’ purpose, their mission, is to be witnesses for Jesus. They are to pass on Jesus’ teaching, tell the truth about his death and resurrection and proclaim salvation through faith in him.
The disciples had been thinking about power in a narrow political sense. They didn’t realise it at that time, but they were standing on the threshold of receiving a different kind of power, the power of the Spirit. The power to bear witness and proclaim, not the power to control or coerce.
Jesus dismantles the apostles’ nationalism telling them plainly that they will be witnesses, not just to Israel but to the ends of the earth.
I like what John Stott says about these verses: The Kingdom of God is… spread by witnesses, not by soldiers, through a gospel of peace, not a declaration of war and by the work of the Spirit, not by… political intrigue or violence. [2]
Witnesses, not soldiers. The word for witness in Greek is martys, from which we get martyr. To be a witness for Jesus in the first and second centuries was to be a martyr, someone who suffered for their faith. The fact the apostles were ready to die for their witness concerning Jesus, shows their witness is true.
Purpose moving forward:
Although liminal experiences are necessary in helping us to make transitions in life, it’s not good to become stuck in a liminal experience. We need to find our purpose moving forward.
The butterfly can’t fly unless it emerges from the cocoon. Eventually you have to deliver the baby and when the baby is born it needs to take its first breath. At some point we must leave adolescence behind and accept the responsibilities of adulthood. You can’t live in a bus stop or at the train station. And if we don’t find a way to let go of our grief, well, we get stuck in the past.
The apostles needed to witness the miracle of Jesus’ ascension, so they didn’t get stuck in their liminal experience. For 40 days since his resurrection, the risen Jesus had been appearing and disappearing. If Jesus just disappeared one day without explanation, the apostles would be left in confusion, stuck in liminal time, not able to cross the threshold and move forward with purpose.
After proving his resurrection and promising the Spirit, Jesus was taken up to heaven as the apostles watched him and a cloud hid him from their sight.
In the Old Testament the presence of the Lord guided the Israelites through the wilderness in a pillar of cloud by day [3] and when Jesus met with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration a bright cloud enveloped them. [4]
Now, at his ascension, Jesus is taken into a cloud. It was no ordinary cloud that hid Jesus as he ascended. It was a supernatural cloud, a sign of God’s presence.
Jesus’ ascension was a miracle of God, just as the resurrection was a miracle. And because the ascension was a miracle, we don’t need to try and find a materialistic explanation for it. We don’t need to think of heaven as some place up in the sky or in space. Better to think of heaven like another dimension, hidden from our eyes. And the cloud is like a curtain into heaven.
For the early Christians, Jesus’ ascension was very important. For them the ascension went hand in hand with the resurrection. The disciples would suffer much as witnesses for Christ. The memory of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension was an anchor for their faith; something real and tangible they could hold onto when all else was against them.
Jesus’ ascension means he sits at the right hand of God in heaven, interceding for us with the Father. We do not need to fear, for our best friend (Jesus) is the Lord of the universe.
Verses 10 and 11 of Acts 1 tell us how the disciples were still staring up into the sky (apparently stuck in a liminal moment) when two men dressed in white suddenly appeared beside them and said…
“Galileans, why are you standing there looking up at the sky? This Jesus, who was taken away from you into heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven.”
The men dressed in white were probably angels, heavenly messengers sent to help the disciples move forward with purpose. Angels announced the birth of Jesus. Angels announced his resurrection too. Now there are angels again at Jesus’ ascension.
There are two points of application here: Firstly, the apostles were not to become so focused on heaven that they were no earthly use. By the same token they still needed to keep the end in sight. They were not to become so busy ‘witnessing’ that they forgot why they were doing it.
Like the apostles we need to find our purpose moving forward. We do this by looking outward in compassion to a hurting world and forward in hope to the return of Jesus who makes all things new.
Conclusion:
Acts 1 describes the liminal experience of Jesus’ apostles in-between the Lord’s resurrection and ascension. What liminal experiences are you going through? What life transitions are you navigating? What thresholds do you stand on the edge of?
Don’t rush it. It takes as long as it takes. Wait for the Spirit. But don’t get stuck in your liminal experience either. When the Spirit comes, move forward with him. Next Sunday is Pentecost.
Let us pray…
Eternal God, help us to wait for you. May the risen Jesus be real for us and may we find our purpose moving forward by your Spirit. Amen.
Questions for discussion or reflection:
- What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
- Can you think of some liminal experiences from your own life? What happened? How did you feel? How did you make your way through?
- Why are liminal experiences necessary?
- Why did the risen Jesus appear to his disciples repeatedly over a period of 40 days?
- Why did Jesus tell his disciples to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit?
- Why did Jesus ascend to heaven? What difference did Jesus’ ascension make for the disciples? What difference does Jesus’ ascension make for you?
- Why is it important not to get stuck in a liminal experience? How might we know when we are stuck? How can we move on?
[1] Refer John Stott’s (BST) commentary on Acts, page 34.
[2] John Stott’s commentary on Acts, page 42
[3] Exodus 13:21
[4] Matthew 17:5
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