Luke 24:50-53

Posted by DJL on Apr 20, 2013 in Daily Bread | 3 comments

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

I love that the last few verses of Luke’s Gospel are filled with blessing.

Jesus takes his disciples out of the city and blesses them. As he blesses them, he departs. Which is interesting. You’d think that Jesus would finish blessing them and then depart. But Luke says that, “while he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.” Almost as if he just couldn’t stop blessing them. Or that his blessing doesn’t end with his presence, but continues. Or that his blessing of them and all disciples never ends.

Whatever the case, they worship him – another form of blessing, when you think about it – and then return to Jerusalem. And what do they do once they get there? They go to the Temple and bless God.

An ending with this much blessing can’t be a coincidence. I think it’s Luke’s way of describing the Christian life. We saw earlier how Luke’s sharing of the Emmaus story might be his way of making a promise to his community that they, too, will be encountered by the Risen Lord in and through the word and meal of Christian worship. And now, I think, he’s making another promise – that the Christian life is one of overflowing blessing.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean blessing in the sense that it’s often used today – unending material wealth or youthful looks or fancy cars or big houses or your best life now. No. I mean that the Christian life is one of ongoing blessing as a verb, not merely a noun. We are called to bless each other. We are called to receive each other’s blessings – care, benediction, comfort, help, and more. We are called to care for each other and be cared for. We are called amid all of this to receive God’s blessings of life, challenge, strife, hope, and more. And we are called to bless God in return.

Blessing isn’t static. Nor can it be reduced to material prosperity. Blessing, I think, is a way of being in the world, an active and intentional willingness to remind each other and be reminded that we dwell in the presence of the God who came amongst us not to relieve us of all burdens but to bear them with us.

Blessing, in this sense, is intimately related to community, to being joined to those around us in whatever circumstances we find each other. Whenever we do that – whenever we draw together in mutual care, consolation, and courage – we receive and share the blessings of God.

Prayer: Dear God, blessed be you for creating, sustaining, and redeeming all things, including us. Bless us that we may be a blessing to others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.