“Lord is this the time when you will restore the Kingdom to Israel?”

The Bible has had more than one editor take sissors to it which is why Codex Sinaiticus is so valuable. Those edits make it a hard for us to understand why the disciples ask the question above. There is a pattern in the Old Testament: God blesses Israel, over time they turn their backs on God, He punishs them and they become a conquered nation, then he sends a great judge/prophet/hero to free them from tyranny and lead them back to God. The disciples are aware of this cycle, they believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Messiah was supposed to be another of these prophet hero's only greater.

It is 40 days after Jesus came back from the dead. Jesus conquered death! Surely now he will also conquer the Romans and like the hero Kings of old, free Israel. At this point I can't help recalling the Spanish Inquisition Clip from Monty Python (available on Youtube). It begins in a mansion in 19th Century Yorkshire, a foreman says to the Mill owner “thar’s trouble up them mill”. Then suddenly from nowhere in bursts the red suited cardinals “nobody expects the Spanish inquisition”.

God is the God of surprises. Jesus was dead. And suddenly 3 days later, there he is in the upper room, alive! “Nobody expects the risen Jesus”. But those of us who have seen the Monty Python sketch know the middle part of sketch and how it continues. The inquisitors, very keen to get their threatening lines perfect, keep starting all over again, and re-bursting in. Well after the 2nd, the 3rd, the 4th time they burst in shouting, “nobody expects the spanish inquisition”, everybody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

So it is with God. Jesus is risen from the dead - it’s shocking, yet almost immediately the disciples try to fit it into their old understanding. Jesus appears in the upper room “nobody expects the risen Jesus”. Jesus appears on the road to Emmaus, “nobody expects the risen jesus.” Jesus appears by the lake of Galilee, “Nobody expects the risen Jesus”. It’s a bit like the Spanish inquisition sketch: actually we are beginning to expect it by now.

But then at the end of the Monty Python sketch comes the real shock - much quieter, but less expected. A man in a bowler hat, walks up to the Yorkshire mill owner, “Hello, you don’t know me but I’m from the BBC - would you mind being in a sketch where you open a door.” In the book of Acts - the Ascension happens, they were not expecting him to disappear quietly into the clouds. Just when we think we get God, He surprises us again. But Paul's road to Damascus event reminds us, stay alert, Jesus is still capable of showing up when we need Him most and when we expect Him least.