Rooted in Jesus
Elaine Poproski Download: Audio
Scripture: Luke 24:36b – 49
While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” Read more…
Looking to Sunday
by Elaine Poproski
Many Christians are familiar with Jesus’ final words to His disciples from Matthew 28 in which He sent His disciples into the whole world to make disciples, baptize them, and teach them. But I wonder if we Christians don’t sometimes forget that Jesus’ disciples aren’t sent alone or in our own power. Before Jesus’ disciples are sent, they are rooted in Jesus Himself. That’s the theme of our upcoming sermons and worship services.
This Sunday we’re going to read from the very end of Luke’s Gospel, where we witness Jesus sharing a final meal with His disciples while helping them understand how everything they’d experienced in His life, death, and resurrection was already laid out in the Scriptures. We’ll read Jesus’ promise of “power from on high” as well as His instruction that they wait right where they are until that power has been received. We know, on this side of the story, that the power Jesus was talking about is the Holy Spirit – the presence of God Himself.
As I’ve been reflecting on this story, one of the things that keeps striking me is the waiting. First, the disciples waited as Jesus taught them, traveled with them, lived with them for three years. Then they waited after He was buried. Then they waited after Jesus returned to the Father. All this waiting was important. It rooted them in Jesus. They were rooted in His teaching, in the experience of His death and resurrection, in His place in God’s great work of redemption and reconciliation of all creation with Himself and each other. Roots like this take time to grow as they burrow deep into the soil, where their growth may go unnoticed, but without which anything that shows above ground will be weak and likely won’t survive.
Waiting isn’t wasted time. It’s growing time. It’s time God uses to shape us, prune us, and empower us. On Sunday we’re going to step into this waiting time, we’re going to talk about what it means for us to be rooted in Jesus. We’re going to be invited to consider the strength and the depth of that rootedness and what we need for our roots to grow stronger and deeper in our own waiting. As you prepare for Sunday, perhaps spend some time reflecting on your own rootedness. How deeply connected to Jesus are you? In what ways is God trying to grow your Jesus-likeness these days? In what ways are you disconnected from Jesus?