Our reading in Acts is written by San Lucas who continues the story after his Gospel. Jesus spent precious last moments with his disciples advising and teaching them until the moment of His Ascension. Remember that Jesus had told the disciples that he was going to leave them to prepare a place for them in His Father’s house. This was covered in our gospel reading of 2 weeks ago (John 14 1-4).
The disciples surely would have felt sad when Jesus left so they prayed to God, probably for consolation, and then obeyed Jesus and went into Jerusalem to await the promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I would think that their time of prayer was probably one of the first prayer meetings in the early Christian church.
In
the letter of San Pablo to the Ephesians, he told them that he thanked God that
they had put their faith in Jesus Christ and also that their genuineness and
fruit of their faith was proof of their love for each other and all fellow
believers.
In
our gospel reading Jesus prayed to God and asked for glory for Himself so that
He could give glory to God. It was necessary for me to renew the meaning of the
word ‘glory’ and I found the following: Adoration, praise, the beauty and bliss
of heaven, thanksgiving, worship, blessing, gratitude, homage, and veneration.
Jesus had suffered badly but the glory of the resurrection was given to Him. He was now to receive the glory of ascension to heaven and more glory would follow with the Holy Spirit descending on the disciples and establishing the Christian church. As San Pablo said to the Ephesians; “the church is Christ’s body, the completion of Him who completes all things everywhere”.
Jesus
then prayed for his disciples and all those who believed in Him. This prayer is
also for us. I feel the depth of Jesus Christ’s love and compassion on those
disciples and also to us.
Let
us pray that we renew our faith and experience the Holy Spirit upon us when we
celebrate the festival of Pentecost next Sunday. Let us give glory to God for
Jesus Christ’s example of his profound love and compassion to us when we make
mistakes and deny Him. Let us give honour and praise to all the apostles and
saints who have given their lives for the Christian faith. Amen.
Author: Gwen Hamilton-Warner
Author: Gwen Hamilton-Warner
This Kingdom
Singer: Ingrid Rosario
Web: http://www.ingridrosario.com/
