It wasn’t the first time the disciples had tried to squeeze Him for information. They’d asked a similar question before. The answer hadn’t changed in the intervening weeks. He hadn’t told them then. He wouldn’t tell them now. Couldn’t tell them. He didn’t know Himself. It wasn’t His job to know or divulge God’s plans for the end of the age or the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. No matter how badly the disciples wanted to know the answers, Jesus hadn’t come to earth with the purpose of extending special insight into the things only God could know. He told them as much the last time they asked. Only His Father knew those things. The year. The month. The day. The hour. Not the angels. Not the Son. He wasn’t here for that. Jesus’ task was not to give His disciples foreknowledge concerning the coming acts of the Father. His job was to be about His Father’s business. He’d said that, too. Been saying it nearly all His life. At least since that extended visit to the temple when he was twelve. (Matthew 24:3, 24; Mark 3-4, 32; Acts 1:7)
His parents had been in a right panic when they realized they’d traveled an entire day’s journey without Him. They’d come racing back into town, worry and fear shrouding every step. Anxiety etched deep tracks in their faces. Frantically they went from place to place desperately searching for their lost Boy. They questioned everyone. Interrogated them. Friends. Family. Street vendors. The innkeeper. They scoured the town looking for traces of Jesus. Nothing came of it. Not sightings. No signs. Not even a sandal turned up. Sick with grief and fearing the worst, Mary and Joseph weren’t in a positive frame of mind when they finally found Him. In the temple. Perfectly safe. Listening. Learning. Asking questions. Fully aware His family had left town, but consumed with doing the work of God on earth. Because that was His job. It was the reason He came. To conduct the Father’s business. (Luke 2:41-50)
Unfortunately for the disciples, God’s business on earth didn’t look exactly like they thought it would. Or should. Not for Jesus. Not for them. God’s business on earth wasn’t about divulging the day or hour, month or year when all things would finally be made new. No. Jesus’ work on earth was about teaching and preaching the gospel. It was about equipping them to do the same. Jesus knew He wouldn’t always walk the earth, physically touching and healing the sick, audibly speaking forgiveness of sins, and verbally directing His followers in the ways of God. He knew that, after His death on the cross for the sins of mankind, His miraculous resurrection from the grave, and His ascension to sit at the right hand of God the Father, there would still be a need for faithful believers on earth who would continue spreading the message of salvation among humanity. That’s why they were there. Right there. Hanging around in Jerusalem. Waiting on the fulfillment of the Father’s promise. The Holy Spirit. (Revelation 16:15; 21:5)
They would need Him. Jesus knew that. Because He knew where they were headed. When He’d called them from their fishing nets and tax booths, Jesus already knew what their futures would hold. He knew what they were called to do. He knew how their journeys would end. Although the disciples didn’t realize the extent of their mission when they chose to accept it, Jesus did. He knew the rigor of their course. He knew the tenacity it would take to complete. He spent three years training them to do it, cramming knowledge of God into every conversation. It must have come as something of a disappointment to have them more focused on the day and hour the kingdom would be restored to Israel than on the coming of the promised Holy Spirit and the looming mission at hand. It must have caused a frisson of concern that they were still so focused on knowing God’s business rather than doing God’s business on earth. The Father would do what He would do, when He chose to do it. The disciples needed to do what they had been called to do, right here, right now, today. They needed to get on with their own business. Tend their own concerns. Make sure their hearts were right. Put themselves in a position to receive the coming Holy Spirit so they could go out into the world and boldly preach the gospel. That was their business.
Jesus left that directive with the disciples there on the Mount of Olives. They were His parting words. He was going away. His earthly mission was complete. Theirs was not. It was just beginning. They were to continue what He started. Spread the gospel. Tell people about salvation. Start right there. At home. Among people you know and people who know you. Move on to Judea. Cover every hillside. Let everyone who will listen know that the Messiah has come. Forgiveness of sins is as close as a repentant prayer. Eternal life is possible. For everyone. Then go to Samaria. Tell them they haven’t been excluded. No matter who they are or how scorned they’ve been in the past, things are different now. Through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, they, too, can be saved. They can inherit eternal life. But don’t stop there. So long as your feet can walk, your voice can talk, keep going. Keep preaching. Keep teaching. In every part of the known world, let the message of salvation ring. Christ has died. For you. Christ has risen. For you. Christ will come again. For you.
Oddly, the words didn’t start the disciples’ feet pounding the ground back to Jerusalem. Instead, they stood rooted to the spot, staring up into heaven, apparently convinced He’d quickly reappear. He didn’t. Instead, two angels appeared. They had a message. From God. A pointed one. Stop staring up into the heavens. You have things to do. Important things. Things Jesus commissioned you to do. So get moving. Time is of the essence. Jesus won’t stay gone. He’ll be back. In the interim, you need to be working. You have places to go. People to see. A gospel to spread. Stop staring up into heaven wondering when He’ll be back. That’s God’s business. You have your own business to attend. Focus on that. And they did. (Acts 1:4-11)
Feet suddenly loosened, the disciples wheeled around and headed into Jerusalem. Once there, they convened in an upper room to pray with fellow believers. Constant prayer. Unified prayer. Prayer for decisions that had to be made. Prayer that the Holy Spirit would descend on them and fill them with the strength and courage and power to go out into a world that hadn’t chosen Jesus when He walked among them and convince them to choose Him now. And God responded.
Accompanied by the sound of a mighty, raging wind, the Holy Spirit descended on the praying people in that place. In power and might, He filled them with the ability to do the work Jesus had laid out before them. They would be His disciples. They would live out His commands. They would speak out His words. They would offer themselves up to be beaten, imprisoned, and murdered for the cause of Christ. Like Jesus, they would choose to do the business God assigned them to the exclusion of all else. Their bodies. Their lives. Peter and John would be arrested and beaten. Stephen would die by stoning. Men and women would flee their homes and run for their lives as Saul and his posse hunted them down, bent on imprisonment or worse. But, in spite of harrowing escapes and horrific persecution, they would never stop preaching the gospel. It was their business. The business of God. They would need His strength to do it. (Acts 1:12-26; 2:1-4, 21, 37-41; 4:1-4; 5:17-42; 6:8-15; 7:1-60; 8:1-1-4)
One can easily imagine how simple it would have been to quit. Hide out in their homes. Flee to live in mountain caves. Deny their faith. Leave the business of spreading the gospel to Peter and John and the other apostles. The cost of publicly identifying as a true believer was steep. Socially stigmatized. Physically risky. We might even find a bit of understanding in our hearts for some who believed, yet chose to hide their light. Except there weren’t any. Not one account in Acts tells the tale of a true believer who didn’t find the cause of Christ worth the personal risk of spreading the gospel. Yes. The task was daunting. Yes. They were scared. Yes. They were tempted to run. But. They didn’t. Instead, they gathered again for prayer. A specific prayer for boldness in the face of what they knew could lie ahead. A prayer for courage to spread God’s word. A request for strength to tend their business. And God answered.
As the Holy Spirit again descended and the house shook, the people inside the house were filled with the exact things for which they had asked. Courage. Strength. Boldness. Power. When the time came for them to leave that place, they went out with God on their side, holding them up, guiding their steps. And they went boldly into the world. They didn’t sneak furtively down alleyways and arrange clandestine meetings in dimly lit basements. They didn’t hide their faith, alter their teachings, or soften the truth. No. They went out boldly to do the Father’s business. In public. Proclaiming the gospel in Jesus’ name to the ends of the earth. It was their business. (Acts 4:23-31, 12-16; 8:4-8; or just read the entire book of Acts!)
It’s our business too. It’s everyone’s business. It always has been. Those words weren’t just for the boys standing on the Mount of Olives. The command of Jesus extends to every generation of believers. Preach the gospel. Everywhere. With words. With actions. From hearts filled with holiness and lives that resonate with godliness. Preach the gospel. Everywhere. At home. At school. At work. At the gym. Conduct your life in such a way that everyone meets Jesus through you. Friends. Enemies. Strangers. Neighbors. Those with whom you agree. Those with whom you disagree. Regardless of lifestyle choices or religious affiliation, everyone who meets you should feel they’ve met Jesus, been touched by His love, been introduced to His grace. That’s your business. The most important task you have on earth. Live boldly for Jesus. Where He’s welcomed. Where He isn’t. Be a witness for Him. In your city. In your country. In your world. Are you doing it? Are you boldly standing up for right and truth and God in a world that may choose to reject you, persecute you, alienate you? Are you busy doing the business you’ve been given to do? Are you tending the Father’s business on earth? Because that’s your business. (Matthew 5:13-16; 28:19-20; I Peter 1:16; II Peter 3:11; II Timothy 4:2; Psalm 19:14)