Sarah Patton shares her prayerful reflection of the Ascension of Jesus passage.
Listening to the scripture, I visualized Jesus lifting his arms and blessing his disciples. I saw his band of followers gathered together, savoring his last words. I felt Jesus’s deep love, touched that in his final moments on earth, he spoke words of blessing to his own.
Why did he bring them to Bethany? I recalled that he came to Mary and Martha here, grieving for their dead brother Lazarus. I remembered Jesus’s own tears of grief, before miraculously raising Lazarus from the dead.
I began to pray.
Jesus,
You led them to Bethany to say good-bye.
Why Bethany?
Bethany, home to Mary, Martha and Lazarus,
A place of grief,
A place of anguished questions,
A place of comfort,
A place of resurrection,
A place of coming alive again,
A place of blessing.
Here is where you lifted your hands and blessed them,
Your final words to your own,
Leaving them full of love and awe.
Here is where you blessed them
To go forth to tell the story
To a needy, broken world
Living in their own Bethany,
Yearning for compassion,
Wrestling with questions,
Longing to come fully alive,
A new life in and with you.
Jesus, may I share the blessing.
Amen
Luke 24: 44-53 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised, so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
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 worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
For Reflection and Prayer:
Was there a word, a phrase, image, or feeling that ‘shimmered’ as you listened? Allow it to land in your heart. Stay with it. Savor it.
Reflect on what you heard. What effect does it have on you? What meaning does it hold for you? What does the Holy Spirit seem to be conveying to you? Talk it over in your prayer. Perhaps you want to draw or color your prayer or journal the conversation.
As the time of prayer comes to a close, share some moments of quiet with Jesus, simply resting safely in his presence.