...acts of the apostles...

Today, dear friends, we begin a new study as the basis of our daily, prayerful reflections. The Acts of the Apostles was written by Luke, the author of the Gospel of Luke. Luke travelled with Paul on many of his missionary journeys. Luke was a physician who never met Jesus, but who wrote a beautiful Gospel and a second letter detailing the beginnings of the church. 

We want to look not only at what Luke wrote, but also how he wrote his letter. Luke writes beautifully. The language and style of Luke suggests a work of literature, not just historical facts. He is writing to an educated audience as one who is recording sacred history! He believed he was recording events that were the fulfillment of prophesies. Luke knew that what he was writing was part of the ongoing story of the work of God. Luke didn’t set out to write two distinct and separate books, the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. No, Luke wrote a second act to His Gospel. He wanted to write a Gospel, and then to write how the Gospel spread over the Mediteranean world from Jerusalem to Rome. Luke writes at the beginning of Acts that his first volume, the Gospel of Luke, dealt with “all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning!”  But now Luke has decided to do his own personal investigation of “all that Jesus continued to do and teach” through the church! In this way, the two volumes cover the beginning of the gospel, the establishment of salvation in the ministry of Jesus, and the proclamation of salvation by the early church. Acts was written to answer the question: “How did the church carry on what Jesus said and did?”

In Acts, Luke wishes to show how the Gospel was meant for the Gentiles as well as for the Jews. Luke thought always of both the Gentiles and the Jews. He specifically addresses himself to “Theophilus”, who was already a Christian, and who can be regarded as typical of Luke’s readers. Luke’s explicit purpose was to confirm Theophilus’ faith by providing him with an orderly account of the things which he had learned in the course of his Christian instruction. Luke wished to give Theophilus an account of the beginnings of Christianity based on what had been handed down “by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers” Luke 1:1-4.

If the Gospel gave the facts about the ministry of Jesus, Acts demonstrated how the preaching of Jesus as the Christ corroborated and confirmed the facts recorded in the Gospel. Luke dearly believed that when the good news was preached, the Spirit made the Word effective and brought the hearers into the experience of salvation.

Today, then, let us begin with the Prologue of Luke and with the story of the Ascension of Jesus:

“1In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2 until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 After his suffering He presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over the course of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. ‘This’, he said, ‘is what you have heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ 7 He replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ 9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven’” Acts 1:1-11.

This is a brief study of all that Luke wishes to say in Acts. Acts, according to Luke, relates what Jesus continued to do and teach through His witnesses. 

“Theophilus was probably already a Christian, and Luke wrote his book to help him and others like him to have a reliable account of the beginnings of Christianity. The Ascension of Jesus provided evidence that Jesus was alive (1:3) and it was the time when Jesus gave his marching orders to the apostles. The twelve disciples whom Jesus chose and sent out to act as missionaries and witnesses became the apostles, people who were with Jesus during his ministry and were specifically chosen to be witnesses to his resurrection. Judas was replaced by Matthias, and apostles also referred to Barnabas and Paul. The other huge point is the reference to the Holy Spirit as the source of guidance for Jesus in choosing the apostles. It was Jesus who gave instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen (1:2). Luke also explains here that Jesus gave instructions during the period between His death and ascension by appearing to His apostle on several occasions. 

I am touched by the obedience of the apostles, especially after the story of the ascension is completed with the account of how the disciples obeyed Jesus and returned to Jerusalem to await the promised Spirit in an attitude of prayer. It reveals to us, does it not, that obedience to the Word of God, to Jesus Himself, is reflected in an outpouring of the Spirit through prayer. That is so important for Luke to portray in Acts that it demands repeating for us all: Obedience to the Word of God, to Jesus Himself, is reflected in an outpouring of the Spirit through prayer. If the Holy Spirit is the divine gift which empowers and guides the church, the corresponding human attitude towards God is prayer.

So pray we must. Our relationship with God is dependent on prayer! The Holy Spirit comes to us as the divine gift which empowers and guides the world and the church, and so the corresponding human attitude towards God is to pray. Today, then, Luke gives us and the world our “marching orders”: PRAY!

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.