Forty is a significant number in scriptures. Moses went to the mountain to seek the face of God for forty days in prayer and fasting. The people of Israel were in the wilderness for forty years in preparation for their entry into the Promised Land. Jesus went into the desert and fasted for forty days just like Elijah fasted for forty days as He journeyed in the wilderness to the mountain of God. So, for forty days after His Resurrection Jesus appeared time after time to His disciples to assure them, first that He had truly risen from the dead and second, to prepare them for the task of carrying on His work that He began during His public ministry.
Jesus’ departure and ascension into heaven was both an end and a beginning for His disciples—the end of Jesus’ physical presence with them, but the beginning of His presence with them in a new way. Jesus promised that He would be with them always to the end of time. Now, as the glorified and risen Savior ascended to heaven, Jesus promised to give them the power of his Holy Spirit, which we will see “fulfilled” next Sunday on the Feast of Pentecost. When Jesus physically departed from the apostles, they were not left alone or powerless. He assured them of his presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ last words to his apostles were, “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…”
Those were Jesus’ last earthly words to us as well because that is the mission to which we, too, are called. There’s an old saying, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” The main thing in our case is to wake up everyday and remember our mission—proclaim the good news to the entire world by the kind of life we lead. We all have been given this task to share—to proclaim the good news. We have not been left alone in this task, for the risen Lord works in and through us by the power of His Holy Spirit. The message today is clear: Jesus wants us to finish what He began. He came to the disciples, taught them, and worked with them. He then died on the cross and rose from the dead. But, before He ascended into heaven, He gave them, and us, the commission to convert the world. We need to know that our task to obey His call to make disciples of all nations is something that we can do. We can do it where we are, with those we meet, with those we work with, with those we go to school with, etc. We need to be a witness for Jesus in our lives and, when necessary, talk about Him, too.