Jesus' Last Words And Me

As we come to receive, is there a bit of nervousness like, beating in your spiritual heart? I mean, is there not a tinge of the unnerving unknown, especially when you know that our Lord always takes us through some paths we have never expected nor anticipated?  I’m having such a feeling, not openly and strongly so, but somewhere inside I quietly feel this sense of holy fear. Nevertheless, we press on, knowing that our Lord always does things to our good and never to our harm.  

As previously indicated, we shall be looking at only two of the last words and actions of Jesus, taken from those offered earlier. The first one we will ponder upon, deals with Jesus’ Last Words of Blessing upon His disciples. I quote what has already been given to us.

Jesus’ Last Words of Blessing – Jesus’ final words of blessing have not been made available to us. Nevertheless, we do know that there was a final blessing and it was during this most favoured, holy, special and spiritually loaded time that He left them. When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Luke 24: 50 – 51.

May our faith ever keep us, as followers and disciples of Jesus, believing and receiving, even in this present time, that what is being offered is for us now. May we also be given eyes to see ourselves in the exact light as our Lord sees us, so that our responses in this matter will be of Him and not what we think of ourselves.

On this last occasion with His disciples, in visible, human form, just before He leaves them, Jesus performs three unmistakably visible acts, which can be easily missed, but which are paramount to us in our discipleship of a Risen, Ascended and Returned in Spirit, Master. These are what marked this momentous time of blessing. The text exposes these and more to us.

The fist visible fact to be noted, comes in these words. When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany. Nothing must be taken for granted or seen as trivial, when it comes to our discipleship. We do not know where the disciples were, whether they were all together or Jesus had to gather them in from different locations, but this we do know, with certainty. Jesus is the Person who has led them as a gathering, a group, to a place of His choice. Remember, Jesus knows what He is about to do and He is working to suit. The place is crucial, for it is the Place of Blessing.

Pause! Consider what we are being shown and told. There is a Place of Blessing, where Jesus leads His followers, taking them from wherever they are, to be with Him and each other. What does this mean to us? How does this affect us?  Does not our Lord gather us up and lead us into the place of prayer? Does He not lead us out from our individual mind places – good or bad – to take us to His chosen place that we, by faith, will see Him and all whom He has led to a Place of Blessing?

The second visible fact before us reveals itself in these words. He lifted up his hands and blessed them. Just to think of Jesus lifting His hands, sends your heart beating with excitement and fear, the fear of our God. Jesus, in His chosen Place of Blessing, lifts His hands and gives His disciples a Prayer of Blessing. Many of us, when we go to Church, have pastors, preachers and shepherds who, when they bless the congregation, lift their hands in that last blessing, as they leave us. Or, as is the case in the denomination to which I belong, when the minister is dismissing a rail of people who have just received the Lord’s Supper, he or she, with uplifted hands, sends us off with a prayer of blessing, as we part.

Uplifted hands of Jesus mean very much to believers. Does He still not lift His Holy Hands to bestow upon us His Parting Prayer of Blessing? Do we, by faith receive such prayers from our Jesus?  How do we receive our Lord’s uplifted Hands?

We continue this tomorrow.