Book of Common Prayer
Here comes the sequel!
1 Dear Theophilus,
The previous book which I wrote was about everything Jesus began to do and teach. 2 I took the story as far as the day when he was taken up, once he had given instructions through the holy spirit to his chosen apostles.
3 He showed himself to them alive, after his suffering, by many proofs. He was seen by them for forty days, during which he spoke about God’s kingdom. 4 As they were having a meal together, he told them not to go away from Jerusalem, but to wait, as he put it, “for the father’s promise, which I was telling you about earlier. 5 John baptized with water, you see; but in a few days from now you will be baptized with the holy spirit.”
When, what and how?
6 So when the apostles came together, they put this question to Jesus.
“Master,” they said, “is this the time when you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 “It’s not your business to know about times and dates,” he replied. “The father has placed all that under his own direct authority. 8 What will happen, though, is that you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you. Then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the very ends of the earth.”
Ascension!
9 As Jesus said this, he was lifted up while they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 They were gazing into heaven as he disappeared. Then, lo and behold, two men appeared, dressed in white, standing beside them.
11 “Galileans,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you saw him go into heaven.”
12 Then they went back to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, which is close to Jerusalem, about the distance you could travel on a sabbath. 13 They then entered the city (“they” here means Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the zealot, and Judas the son of James) and went to the upstairs room where they were staying. 14 They all gave themselves single-heartedly to prayer, with the women, including Mary, Jesus’ mother, and his brothers.
The death of God’s son
45 From noon until mid-afternoon there was darkness over the whole land. 46 About the middle of the afternoon Jesus shouted out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani!”—which means, “My God, my God, why did you abandon me?”
47 Some of the people who were standing there heard it and said, “This fellow’s calling Elijah!”
48 One of them ran at once and got a sponge. He filled it with vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave him a drink.
49 The others said, “Wait a bit. Let’s see if Elijah is going to come and rescue him!”
50 But Jesus shouted out loudly one more time, and then breathed his last gasp.
51 At that instant the Temple curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks were split, 52 and the tombs burst open. Many bodies of the sleeping holy ones were raised. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection, and went into the holy city, where they appeared to many people.
54 When the centurion and the others with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that happened, they were scared out of their wits.
“He really was God’s son!” they said.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.