So now what? It’s a question we often ask in the aftermath of a big life event like a wedding or retirement, or some kind of tumultuous crisis like a death of a loved one, or even the day after an exhausting holiday like Christmas or Easter. The question comes more often when we’ve been on some kind of emotional “high” for a while and when life gets back to normal and we’re back at work or school, we wonder: “So, now what?”

This is where we find the disciples as we find them struggling after the turbulent days after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Many of them had seen him alive and wondered what all of this meant. Others were just too excited to see him again and they started to dream about what would come next.

It isn’t surprising that the first question they asked him as he gathered them together was: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” In other words they want want to know: “So, now what?” Their question reflected that the truth of the cross and all that Jesus had done hadn’t quite sunk in yet. They were still caught in their past dreams of grandeur and power.  Jesus, however wasn’t about to let them stay there! Instead, he tells them what comes next: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth!” It was plain and simple – what comes next to be witnesses no matter where you might be!

“So, now what?” might be a question we have as we make our way back into our everyday lives after celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord. Could the answer Jesus gave his disciples be the same one he would give us today? Intriguing thought isn’t it! If so, we have a lot to do as we look around our neighborhoods, communities, nation, and the whole world. There still seems to be lots of place that need to hear the good news of God’s Kingdom of forgiveness and mercy!