What’s Next? – May 16, 2021
Psalm 27, Acts 1:12-26
May 16, 2021
I always tell you that we know more than the characters in these stories knew. Well, that is certainly true of this first chapter of Acts! How could these disciples have known, how could they have possibly imagined, what was about to happen in these days leading up to Pentecost? How could they have known “What’s next?”
This is different than Good Friday. On Good Friday, the “What’s next” consisted of “How could this have happened?” “How do we go on without Jesus?” “Will we be arrested next?” At that time, it was a feeling of devastation, and fear. This was now a feeling of anticipation! Something was going to happen. They were told something was going to happen! They were told to wait for it! But they didn’t know, “What’s next.”
We use that expression, don’t we? “What’s next?” We sometimes use it to express frustration. Maybe a whole bunch of things seem to be going wrong all at the same time, and we think “what’s next?” “What else can go wrong?” Does that happen to you? It does to me!
Or maybe we just aren’t sure what’s around the corner for us. The future is uncertain. We know something is possibly on the horizon, but we aren’t sure exactly when it will happen, or what it’ll look like when it does. The unknowns of life can be hard for us, can’t they?
The pandemic has been like that. We lamented along with the psalmist two weeks ago, saying, “How long, O Lord?” Well, I think it’s now not only “How Long?” but “What’s next?” What’s the future going to look like? When things get “back to normal,” what will “normal” look like?
Things certainly won’t be exactly like they were before in a lot of ways. Now we have internet worship, Zoom, and “touch free”… everything. How about QR codes? How many of us use them now, but never even knew what they were before? I was thinking, maybe we could have QR codes that you could scan on Sunday morning, and it would bring up the order of worship!
How many of us are doing things like that on our phones that we never dreamed we would do? (Hold up your phones!) You have way more computer power in your hand, right now, than the astronauts had when they landed on the moon! It’s not even comparable! In fact, you probably have more computer power on your wrist than they had, and I’m not even referring to smart watches. Though they would also dwarf the computer power of Apollo! It’s amazing! We’ve learned to use so much of that resource. And what’s that all going to look like moving forward? What’s next?
So, back to the disciples… They had seen so much! They had heard so much – so much that had left a lot of what they believed in the dust. And yet a lot of what they believed had also been solidified and deepened, in ways they couldn’t have imagined. They had seen Jesus calm the sea, feed the 5,000, walk on water, heal the sick and the lame, raise the dead, and even challenge the power and authority of their religious leaders! And they had now seen him come back from the dead! What could possibly be next?
I think there was a feeling of great anticipation among the disciples. And not the anticipation that you know Christmas is coming. Because that’s a known quantity, and you just feel the excitement that it’s getting close. This was the anticipation that something was coming, but they didn’t know what it was!
Sometimes that’s not comfortable. Sometimes we’re afraid something’s going to change! And some things have already changed. And we’re afraid they’re not going to change back to what they were before. Maybe that’s uncomfortable for you. What will “normal” look like when things get back to normal?
In all that anticipation, in all that feeling of “what’s next,” in all that unknown, the disciples did what? They devoted themselves to prayer. That’s a good move! You’re concerned about what might be happening, then it’s a good idea to stay in touch with the one who’s doing it all, right? And sometimes we wish God would show us what’s next, but we don’t spend enough time talking to him about it.
Then, the disciples did do something. They did take some action. And this is the strange part of the story. “Peter stood up among the brethren. And the company of people was about 120!” There was a pretty big group of believers already! I never realized that before. And he spoke to them about the need to replace Judas. And this is one of the most bizarre scenes in this whole story.
They choose these two men – Joseph and Matthias. And they cast lots. Now, I’m not quite sure what that meant. I looked at a number of translations, and they pretty much all used the word “lots,” though one version said, they “drew lots.” But it’s pretty clear here that they didn’t “take a vote” about these two men. That would have seemed a little more legitimate to me, or at least more dignified! (Or more Presbyterian!) No, I think what happened here is something akin to the soldiers at the crucifixion casting lots for Jesus’ robe. It’s almost like they flipped a coin between these two men! And then, the lot falls to Matthias, and we never hear anything about Matthias again – ever! It’s plain here that this was not what God had in mind. (Fast forward to the story of Paul, and you’ll see what he did have in mind!) And yet Luke thought it was important to tell us about it.
Years ago, a pastor of mine said that we can sometimes “get ahead of God.” And I think that’s true. In our desire to know “what’s next,” we can get impatient, can’t we? Sarah wasn’t able to have the child God promised. And she wasn’t able to wait for God, either! So she sent her handmaid Hagar in to be with Abraham. And they “begat” (“begot?”) Ishmael. But that clearly wasn’t what God had in mind either.
These disciples were in Jerusalem, “waiting for the promise.” And the Bible often speaks about being “patient and waiting for the Lord.” But sometimes that’s not easy, is it?
The Psalmist wrote:
I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 He drew me up from the desolate pit,[a]
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord. (Psalm 40:1-3)
In our first scripture today, the psalmist ended with these words:Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
yea, wait for the Lord! (Psalm 27:14)
“Waiting patiently for the Lord” is not easy, is it? We’ve been “waiting” for a year now in this pandemic – more patient at times, less at other times. And at times we have been more inclined to lament, “How long, O Lord?” “What’s next?”
It can be hard to be patient. And patience is a foreign idea in our fast-paced world! I think people in our world are growing more and more impatient all the time! If you’re not sure of that, try not turning right turn on red sometime!
We as God’s people are called to be in a different mindset. We are given a different perspective on life, a perspective that comes from God’s point of view of things. We can’t say where all this is going yet with masks and distancing and all that. Things seem to be changing every day. But we can give some thought to the idea of “waiting for the Lord.”
I invite you to do so. I invite you to practice “waiting for the Lord.” And it does take practice! Take time and sit quietly. Pray – without saying anything. Concentrate on God’s presence, seek to hear his voice, to feel his touch, to know of his Spirit, to find his peace. Make that a practice. As you do so, think of these disciples praying, waiting, anticipating. And yet not knowing “what’s next,” not knowing what God was about to do!
Prayer
Eternal God, we know you hold the future, but we don’t always know what the future holds. Help us to have patience, to wait upon you. Help us to be in tune with your spirit, to know your heart, and to follow where you lead us. For we pray in our Savior’s name, Amen.