A group of the disciples went fishing. The others, we presume, found themselves back in some kind of routine. Jesus had to make a personal appearance again, and then the full force of Pentecost had to be felt, before those first believers got the hint they had something the world needed to hear!
That was 2000 years ago. What are we as believers doing this week in the days following our celebration of Resurrection Sunday? Have we jumped back into our favorite pastimes? Have we found the comfortable routine that keeps life simple and predictable? Did the annual remembrance of the suffering, the death, and the victory of Our Lord Jesus Christ simply roll on by without causing so much as a hick-up in the way we practice our discipleship?
I would encourage you to visit persecution.com, the web site for Voice of the Martyrs. Think about what celebrating Resurrection Sunday means to believers that live under hostile governments. Consider the impact of having to live a secret faith in a land where Christians are regulalry harassed, persecuted, imprisoned, and killed. What will these days following Resurrection Sunday mean to these people?
May I make a few suggestions about how to spend these fifty days between Resurrection Sunday and Pentecost? During Lent we gave up something. During these coming days add something to your life.
1. Commit yourself to a greater attention to hearing God's voice in your time of prayer, in your reading of his word, and in the lives of the people you meet each day.
2. Give more of yourself to others through the time you spend listening to them and through offering the gift of presence.
3. Open your life to another person. Allow them to invest themselves in you making your own life richer through their experiences and wisdom.
4. Add a resolve to be a force for change in your community that would open doors for the Person of God to be seen in clearer ways.
5. Add a new friendship to your circle of acquaintances.
6. Add a positive note of gratitude in your speech and actions that will point others to the God who has given you so much.
7. Add a personal responsibility to share the message of Resurrection Sunday as God opens the opportunity to you.
We could all just go fishing or back to other jobs or some comfortable routine. I don't think that is what Christ intended. The Christ Event should leave us changed, radically changed. How can you go back to the old ways when you have met God?
