Acts 1:9-11

⁹ After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

¹⁰ They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ¹¹ “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

About a year ago, I was involved in a discussion with a member of the Bahá'í Faith. The Bahá'í Faith is incredibly interesting[1]. While I’m sure I am oversimplifying things, the religion is a belief that all the major religions of the world are correct, and simply different manifestations of God at different times[2]. The contradictions among the different faiths are problematic for the Bahá'í Faith, but they have grown adept at making the puzzle fit together somehow. Another major component of their faith is the belief that Jesus returned in the 1800’s in Iran, where he was imprisoned and eventually executed. This version of the Messiah came to tell the world that an omni-nation government and world peace was God’s plan of restoration for fallen creation.

The young man I was talking to blasted Christians for believing that Christ would return to Earth on a cloud and fix all of our problems. He felt that this doctrine is what was keeping Christians from actively pursuing world peace and a world government. In order worlds, the church needs to stop “looking into the sky” and go change the world. Despite the obvious holes in logic and tragic misunderstanding of God’s covenant, the man from the Bahá'í Faith was saying the same thing two angels told the disciples 2,000ish years ago. “Why do you stand here looking into the sky?” was the angel's way of saying the show is over, stop concerning yourselves over when Christ is returning and go do the things you were instructed to do. Remember, this is only a couple of verses after Christ tells them to be his witnesses to the very ends of the earth.

I’d like to think too that these were the same angels who asked Mary Magdalene when she saw the empty tomb “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”. Regardless, there seems to be a similar message that the angels are trying to communicate through rhetorical questions. Since the death and resurrection of Christ, we have grace through faith and not through the law as was previously the case. Without this constant need to redeem ourselves through sacrifice, it’s easy and familiar for Christians to fall into a pattern of waiting. We wait to repair our relationship with God, we wait to represent Christ to those around us, and we wait to serve him. The angels seem to be saying there is more to following Christ then waiting for death or waiting for his return. It’s about taking up our cross daily in order to do what he has called us to do. It doesn’t matter what has happened or what will happen, God does not allow us to use the past and the future as excuses for apathy, but rather encourages and equips us to use them as tools to further his kingdom.

1. Obnoxious to type though

2. For more information from a reliable source, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27%C3%AD_Faith