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New Year Challenge

Our New Year challenge starts today, 1st January 2020, in which we will be reading a chapter per day of the book of Acts of the Apostles.  This is the follow-up to the Gospel according to Luke, and he continues the history of the Early Church.  Join us throughout this month, and learn how the Early Church continues the mission entrusted to his disciples by Jesus.

Acts 1

Luke breaks the fourth wall again by speaking directly to his desired audience, Theophilus.  He summarises what he has told so far, before continuing with his history of the Early Church.  He summarises the fact that Jesus had lived a proper human life (from his birth to his baptism, at least).  He relates his ministry, his death, and his resurrection.  He reminds Theophilus that many, many people had seen the risen Lord, and then, as he about to ascend into Heaven, he commands the disciples that should wait in Jerusalem to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The story continues with a fuller description of the Ascension of Jesus. As they see Jesus leave, the disciples ask again when he return to restore the kingdom to Israel.  Even now, having seen Jesus fully as the Son of God, listened to his teachings of love and justice to all, seen his miracles to Jew and Gentile alike – the disciples are still fixated that the Messiah was going to save Israel before the rest of the world.  The angels provide the last message – they ask the disciples, “Why are you looking up there? Jesus will come again!”

The first item on the agenda for the disciples is to replace Judas the betrayer.  According to Luke, Judas took the money from the Jewish leaders and bought a field – forever to be renamed Hakeldama, the Field of Blood – and fell headlong, bursting open and spilling his bowels, effectively describing a suicide.  We could discuss the morals of the death of Judas, we could discuss his remorse, his state of mind, his distress after the realisation that Jesus wasn’t going to be the Messiah that he had hoped for, his misunderstanding of the true nature of Jesus – but those discussions have neem had by theologians throughout the centuries since, and will continue to do so until his return.

In the upper room, 120 of the apostles came together to discuss the way forward in prayer, and the discussion came down to a list of qualifications that the new apostle would have to have.  Eventually, after much prayer and discussion, there came a decision between two people, Matthias and Joseph.  At this stage they took what would now be the most controversial act in today’s church – they drew lots!  In many Christian minds today the idea of gambling, or leaving a decision to the draw of a short straw, would seem almost blasphemous!  For the disciples, the prayer and the draw fell upon Matthias, and he became the twelfth disciple.

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