Acts 1:1-11; Began

Luke starts out this book with a definite transition section. He says that his first volume was about what Jesus "began" to do and teach; then he quickly moves into the promise of the Holy Spirit. From word go this is going to be a continuation story in which the baton has been passed from Jesus to the Holy Spirit.

It is that little word "began" that amazes me. More often than not I think of the life of Jesus as a complete entity, something that was not just a beginning but was a beginning and end like all of our lives. Yet that is not the impression I get here. Luke did not write saying Jesus came and went; now we all look back to him. Rather he writes that Jesus only began. There is more to the story. He launched something that is greater than just his life. He seems to say, "don't look back; that was only the first act in the play."

Jesus' story was intimately tied with the work of the Holy Spirit in the early church. One was the ongoing story of the other. Yet, the same spirit continues working in us today. What a message, that we are now the ongoing story of Jesus. We are now the next act in the play. I am more than just one person in a billion who will soon pass away. No, my life is the ongoing story of the Messiah who broke into this world in a powerful way to advance the kingdom of God. Jesus only began the play but I get to advance the same play. He began; we continue.

(Walt Whitman: O ME! OF LIFE!)
O ME! O life!... of the questions of these recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish;
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more
faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle ever
renew’d;
Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;
Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined;
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.
That you are here—that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.