Reflections on Acts 1

Acts 01 (Contemporary English Version)


1. Theophilus, I first wrote to you about all that Jesus did and taught from the very first
   
2. until he was taken up to heaven. But before he was taken up, he gave orders to the apostles he had chosen with the help of the Holy Spirit.
   
3. For forty days after Jesus had suffered and died, he proved in many ways that he had been raised from death. He appeared to his apostles and spoke to them about God's kingdom.
   
4. While he was still with them, he said: Don't leave Jerusalem yet. Wait here for the Father to give you the Holy Spirit, just as I told you he has promised to do.
   
5. John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
   
6. While the apostles were still with Jesus, they asked him, "Lord, are you now going to give Israel its own king again?"
   
7. Jesus said to them, "You don't need to know the time of those events that only the Father controls.
   
8. But the Holy Spirit will come upon you and give you power. Then you will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and everywhere in the world."
   
9. After Jesus had said this and while they were watching, he was taken up into a cloud. They could not see him,
   
10. but as he went up, they kept looking up into the sky. Suddenly two men dressed in white clothes were standing there beside them.
    
11. They said, "Why are you men from Galilee standing here and looking up into the sky? Jesus has been taken to heaven. But he will come back in the same way that you have seen him go."
    
12. The Mount of Olives was about half a mile from Jerusalem. The apostles who had gone there were Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon, known as the Eager One, and Judas the son of James. After the apostles returned to the city, they went upstairs to the room where they had been staying.
    
13. (SEE 1:12)
    
14. The apostles often met together and prayed with a single purpose in mind. The women and Mary the mother of Jesus would meet with them, and so would his brothers.
    
15. One day there were about one hundred twenty of the Lord's followers meeting together, and Peter stood up to speak to them.
    
16. He said: My friends, long ago by the power of the Holy Spirit, David said something about Judas, and what he said has now happened. Judas was one of us and had worked with us, but he brought the mob to arrest Jesus.
    
17. (SEE 1:16)
    
18. Then Judas bought some land with the money he was given for doing that evil thing. He fell headfirst into the field. His body burst open, and all his insides came out.
    
19. When the people of Jerusalem found out about this, they called the place Akeldama, which in the local language means "Field of Blood."
    
20. In the book of Psalms it says, "Leave his house empty, and don't let anyone live there." It also says, "Let someone else have his job."
    
21. So we need someone else to help us tell others that Jesus has been raised from death. He must also be one of the men who was with us from the very beginning. He must have been with us from the time the Lord Jesus was baptized by John until the day he was taken to heaven.
    
22. (SEE 1:21)
    
23. Two men were suggested: One of them was Joseph Barsabbas, known as Justus, and the other was Matthias.
    
24. Then they all prayed, "Lord, you know what everyone is like! Show us the one you have chosen
    
25. to be an apostle and to serve in place of Judas, who got what he deserved."
    
26. They drew names, and Matthias was chosen to join the group of the eleven apostles.

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During the 40 days following Jesus' resurrection, He made numerous appearances among His disciples. We learn in passages such as this of the number of true followers He had. Verse 15 of this chapter refers to 120 followers who were gathered in Jerusalem praying for the gift of the Holy Spirit. 1Corinthians 15:6 refers to as many as 500 to whom Christ appeared following His resurrection who we presume to also be followers. All of His post-resurrection appearances seem to be to believers. While we might think it expedient that Jesus validate His true identity to those who crucified Him and the general populous by means of a post-resurrection appearance, that was not His way. We are inclined to think that faith comes from seeing and that such visual evidence would bolster the number of Jesus' followers. But those who do not wish to believe are not convinced by evidence, regardless of its magnitude. Jesus provided ample visual evidence of His identity during His days of earthly ministry and they chose to crucify Him inspite of this evidence.

Jesus' instructions to His disciples in this last earthly session with them was comprised of three things: (1) The promised gift of the Holy Spirit would be given them in "not many days from now," (2) they were to remain in Jerusalem, in prayer, as they awaited this gift, and (3) following the receipt of the Holy Spirit, they were to be His witnesses throughout all the earth. In this last discourse with Jesus the disciples wanted to return to an earlier topic they had discussed with Him, namely the coming of Jesus' kingdom. They asked Him on this occasion, "Lord, at this time are You restoring the kingdom to Israel?" In response to this question Jesus gave them His "commission." Our concern as Jesus' followers is not about God's timetables but about furthering His kingdom. And when we speak of furthering Christ's kingdom, we should note that the motivation and intent behind the furthering of His kingdom is the opposite of the motive and intent of furthering the kingdom of an earthly king. The earthly king is concerned with the increase of his own powers and wealth. Christ, on the other hand, is concerned about increasing the number of those who are benefitted by His kingdom.

The final verses of the chapter concern the selection of a disciple to replace Judas, the traitor. We wonder what this was about, particularly since the one selected is not mentioned again in scripture. But verse 22 seems to provide the purpose for this action which was to add another eye witness to the group of Jesus' resurrection. It is true that Jesus appeared to this group of 120 people and to others, but it seemed important that the group of Apostles number 12 and that they all be eye witnesses to the resurrection. We should keep in mind that this action comes on the heals of Jesus commission to them to be His witnesses throughout the world and also that the resurrection is the very foundation of our faith in Jesus as the Messiah.