Don’t Just Stand There — Get To Work!

20 May

When they had gathered together they asked him,
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons
that the Father has established by his own authority.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.”
When he had said this, as they were looking on,
he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,
suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.
They said, “Men of Galilee,
why are you standing there looking at the sky?
This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven
will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”  (Acts 1:6-11)

Today is the Feast of the Ascension.

It is a marvelous feast that reminds us that we have a job to do.

That’s right.

We have a job to do.

Jesus took His disciples up a mountain and said goodbye to them.  Before He did so, however, He commissioned them to continue His mission, to go out into the world and tell the Good News.

After He ascended, two men dressed in white, in effect, told them, “Don’t just stand there.  Get to work!”

They meant it.

Jesus meant it.

Jesus means it.

The message was not just for the disciples back then.  It is for today’s disciples as well:  you and me.

We have been commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ to go out into the world and tell the Good News.  We have the Holy Spirit on our side, giving us the grace and courage to do so as well as a host of spiritual gifts to make our job easier.

All we have to do is get out and get the job done!

FAITH ACTION:  What have you been putting off in regard to living the faith?  Make a concerted effort — today — to proclaim the Good News by word and deed.