The Cloud That Took Him and the Promise That Came Back

Have you ever watched someone you love walk out the door? Maybe you stood at the window. Maybe you waved until your arm got tired. And maybe, even after they were gone, you kept looking at the empty place where they used to be.

That is where Jesus's friends were standing.

A doctor named Luke had already written one whole book about Jesus, from the manger to the empty tomb. Then he took up his pen and started a second book, and he began it by telling this hilltop goodbye all over again. He wanted his readers to hear it twice, because everything that came after grew out of what happened on that hill.

For forty days after he came back from the dead, Jesus had been with his friends again. Eating breakfast. Talking on the road. Showing them the places where the nails had been, so they would know it was really him. Alive. Warm. Theirs again.

And he told them something wonderful was coming. "Wait here," he said. "Soon my own Spirit will come and live inside you. You will never be alone, not for one single day."

But first, he had something to do.

Jesus had work waiting for him in heaven. A whole house to make ready. A long table to set. A homecoming to prepare for every child he was gathering, so that not one of them would be left outside the door.

So they walked up a hill together. And while Jesus was speaking, while they were watching his dear face, something happened that no one expected.

He began to rise.

Up off the grass. Up past their reaching hands. Up into the wide blue sky. And then a cloud came, soft and bright, and folded around him like a blanket. And Jesus was gone.

The friends stood very still. Heads tipped back. Mouths open. Looking and looking at the sky.

They felt the way you feel when a door closes and nobody knows how long it will be until you see that face again. A little lonely. A little lost. Aching at the empty place where Jesus had just been.

But they were not alone on that hill.

Suddenly two men in dazzling white were standing beside them. Angels. And the angels said the kindest thing.

"Friends of Galilee, why are you standing here staring at the sky? This same Jesus, the one who was just lifted away from you, is going to come back. The very same way you watched him go."

The very same Jesus they loved, with the kind eyes and the hands that still carried the marks. Coming back.

It was more like the promise you make in a doorway when your hand is already on the handle. "Save my place. I'm coming home to you, and I won't be long."

The angels' words walked back down the hill with them. The waiting had started, and so had a promise. Soon his Spirit would pour into them, warm and near, until the goodbye felt like a held hand.

He has already come near to you.

And one day the cloud will open again, and you will see that face for yourself.