In the Upper Room With The Apostles

 On the day of Pentecost, Peter said to the Jewish people,

"Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the other Apostles,

"What are we to do, my brothers?" Peter said to them,

"Repent and be baptized, every one of you,

in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins;

and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

For the promise is made to you and to your children

and to all those far off,

whomever the Lord our God will call."

He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them,

"Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." 

Those who accepted his message were baptized,

and about three thousand persons were added that day.

I think that the Church is getting a bit ahead of herself with the story of Peter speaking to the crowd on Pentecost. Although we have to take note that it was Peter who was speaking, not one of the other apostles, this shows that he was in charge, but we will discuss this in another post.  Today let's just take a look at what they were doing on the days following the crucifixion of Jesus. 

It would be a great thing to say that they were sitting in that upper room discussing how great it was going to be to see Jesus again once he walked into the room.  They were not spending time congratulating each other on how they were so very fortunate to be witnessing the savior rising from the dead. 

Let's face something that might be hard to face.  These men were a defeated bunch and they had locked themselves away because they just knew that they were next to walk the steps that Jesus walked and they were afraid.  The door was locked and they were sitting there shivering, sniveling, and feeling as sorry for themselves as a human being could.   

Can you imagine being with Jesus for three years and seeing Him do miracle after miracle, to hear the wisdom of His words right from His mouth!  I know what I would be doing if I were in that upper room!  Yes, I would be sitting there shivering, sniveling and feeling as sorry for myself as a human being could.  Don't you believe that you would do any different!  The fact is that you saw Jesus in the most awful place a person could be.  He was nailed to the cross and He was bleeding, and there were insects attacking Him and blood from a crown of thorns was seeping into His eyes and then, finally, you saw Him go the way of any other mortal, and He died.  With Him, died your hopes and prayers and you wondered how long it would take you to forget what this man had taught you and if you could find work back on the sea of Galilee.  You were marooned on an island of hopelessness. 

The Apostles were mere mortals. The gift of the Holy Spirit had not been given to them yet.  They were incapable of arising from the ashes of what appeared to be failure because remember, they had not seen the Lord yet.  I cannot blame them for even though they had been told, the defeat of death is something that they never thought that they would live to see. 

When they finally were able to see the Lord, one of them, Thomas by name, would be able to verify by touching the Holy Wounds themselves, they were like men dreaming as the Psalm says about the Israelites leaving the bondage of Egypt.  The Apostles were beginning to understand that death had been defeated and they did not have to fear it or any man any more for they were destined for Eternal Life. 

You and I are like those apostles.  We hide in our own rooms and try to make our way through life without rocking the boat we are on.  Unlike the Apostles, we know the story and how it ended.  We know that Jesus arose from the dead and He walked among the people that killed Him with a glorified body that was no longer subject to corruption.  Do not remain in your upper room locked away from the world.  The world needs to know that Jesus has risen from the dead and that because of this, death has no hold on us.  Tell everyone you meet about this, if not in words, but in they way you approach life.  Let them see the Light of the Risen Lord in your eyes and they just might ask you why you are so different today than you were yesterday. 

Our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, relatives, and friends who died before us may not have gone straight to heaven and we do them no favor if we comfort ourselves thinking that they did.  My hope and yours is that they arrived in heaven without delay, but sadly, most of us will stop in Purgatory to purge ourselves of the effects of sin.  We will be supremely happy there and would refuse the chance of going back to Earth even though we were suffering as we purged those things that are not allowed in heaven. Please, do not let your love for those who have gone before us end at the grave.  Pray for them for they cannot shorten their time without our prayers for them.  Realize too, that where they are, someday you also might be.