Paul spoke plainly. And those who had known only of John the Baptist’sbaptism of repentance came to know of and accept baptism in the Lord Jesus Christ. And when Paul “laid hands” upon them they received and felt the power of the Holy Spirit rushing into them.
Jesus also spoke plainly in a way that the disciples finally came to believe in him completely. And it felt like the moment had come. And yet, Jesus noted that more trouble was still yet to come which they did not understand. And Jesus put it in the form of a disturbing question —
“Do you believe now?”
They wanted to. They thought they did. But the cross and death and resurrection had not yet come, and they could never really guess or figure that out. Yes, even though we celebrated Ascension yesterday, we are being dragged back through the Gospel before Jesus’ death.
It is like a puzzle with pieces scattered all over the place, and we keep putting the puzzle of the past, the present, and the future together to get the whole picture.
Since we are the readers of the scriptures going back thousands of years — from the Old Testament to the New — we can handle this.
But the bigger question is do we really understand its implication for us and for our personal and our communal faith?
We, too, are being led and filled, and invited to more and more in the name of the Christ!
