NOTES for Act 1:1-26
Today's reading tells us about the event that preceded Pentecost: the Ascension (vv. 4-12). At first glance it seems more sad than joyful, since it is about the disciples' parting from the Teacher, which of course did not inspire them at all. It would seem that everything Jesus had promised had taken place: He had risen from the dead, as He had foretold, and the apostles had barely begun to get used to communion with Him in this new condition of His. After all, forty days of constant meetings with the Risen One is no small length of time, especially given the spiritual intensity of those forty days (vv. 1-3). And now He suddenly leaves again - where? why?
The apostles' first thought was, of course, of the Kingdom: had the day finally come when the Kingdom would become an unmistakable reality for everyone, powerfully invading the world and obvious to each person? For now, as it appeared to them, there really was nothing left to wait for; everything that had to happen had happened, especially since the Teacher Himself had spoken only of His resurrection, connecting the triumph of the Kingdom precisely with it. It is no surprise that the apostles ask Jesus about the Kingdom: perhaps now, at last, the time has come (v. 6)? Perhaps the Teacher is leaving so that He may soon return as the triumphant King of the messianic Kingdom? And does He command them to return to Jerusalem (v. 7) so that they may prepare a solemn welcome for Him there?
It is no surprise that, even after Jesus disappeared in the shining cloud of God's glory (v. 9), the apostles still kept standing in the same place, perhaps expecting that the Teacher would soon appear again. Only the words of God's messengers, who confirmed Jesus' own instruction about the need to go to Jerusalem, made them move from the spot (vv. 10-12). The triumph of the Kingdom, which had seemed so near, certain, and comprehensible only recently, again became strange, incomprehensible, and, it already seemed, not even so near. All that remained was to return to Jerusalem, as the Teacher had commanded, and wait for what had been promised.