We made it! We finished the gospel of Luke! This Sunday we will hear about the final scene, Luke 24:36-53.
One of the major motifs in the book of Luke is the idea of ‘journeying’. Travelling to and from Jerusalem, the time on the road, the time it takes in walking somewhere, even Luke includes the distance towns are from each other, and the lessons you learn on the road. I noticed this theme particularly through the journey of the travellers on the Road to Emmaus. Essentially, it was their journey from disbelief to belief in the presence of the Risen Lord. We, as a church, have been on a journey over the past 2 years through this gospel. I hope it has enriched you. That as we have walked through the birth of Christ, through his teachings, through his miracles, through his death, resurrection, and now ascension, I pray we have come to see him more clearly.
In our Young Adult LTG we have read Philippians for the past 2 weeks, and again, it struck us that Christianity is a journey as cliche as it sounds. That the journey of sanctification is life-long, just like baby Ezra is growing rapidly at the moment, when we first believe we undergo rapid sanctification, growing and changing quickly. Then we get to our teenage years when we are angsty and start to wrestle with our faith, then we are middle aged and life stabilises but presents deeper challenges to our faith. But what is the end goal for all of these growth pains?
Paul sees that the end goal is to attain to the power of Christ’ resurrection from the dead. He writes in Philippians 3:7-11 of his desire to seek Christ, to know him in his suffering as means to attaining to this goal. But he follows with, v12 “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
I see the humility in Paul to admit, yes, that he has the goal to be like Christ, but even he had not obtained it completely. He presses on in the journey that God has laid before him. Which means to say, even when we are 80 years olds, God will have more of Christ to reveal to us than about his resurrection power.
As we finish this series in Luke as a Church, God has more for us to grow together toward the goal of Christ. So let’s buckle up and see what the Risen Lord has for us next!
Ashleigh
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