~~~ Acts of the Apostles 18:1-8 ~~~ Psalm 98 ~~~ John 16:16-20 ~~~
While this is traditionally known as Ascension Thursday,
in most areas this feast has been moved to the following Sunday.
On Sunday I will write about the Ascension of Our Lord.
When Paul was rejected and opposed he
...shook out his garments...
Shaken and emptied...Paul was symbolically removing these comments and feelings.
Leaving them behind...freeing himself from their negative energy.
Those who reject God are in effect shaking him off their hearts.
We are fooling ourselves if we believe that we can keep God out of our lives.
It is more difficult to keep God out of our heart
than to love his presence within.
Paul goes on to tell these non-believers
that he is no longer responsible for their attitude.
It is their choice to believe or to not believe.
He does not stay and try to give them more convincing arguments...
more reasons to believe.
Paul has another incentive to preach to the Gentiles.
The Jews are more resistant...
The Gentiles are hungry for this refreshing message of love.
Their hearts are emptied of resistance.
They are excited by the words Paul is preaching to them.
They are hopeful that this Jesus person also came to save them.
Paul tells these potential believers that he is without blame.
He came in good will and they rejected him.
They assume guilt for their own actions.
To shake something off of your person requires some effort on your part.
Shaking requires forceful action.
Paul knew he could not carry this rejection forward.
He knew he needed to move on proclaiming what he knew was true.
Paul did not intend to return to this group.
Sometimes in our life we let an opportunity pass us by
only later to realize what we missed.
In the Acts of the Apostles we see so many, many people hungry
for the words Paul and the others were delivering.
The Easter Blessing for today is to allow the Spirit to guide our hearts
to recognize when the Lord is trying to get our attention.
For who knows if we will get another chance to hear his message later.
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