So Im pretty confident that no one has made this connection…but tonight on the porch I was listening to Taylor Swift’s song “Back to December” and I was reminded that last week was Pentecost Ascension Sunday. Stick with me.
Apparently the song is about a girl who broke up with her boyfriend in December and now realizes how much she misses him but only after he has left her and its too late to go back. “It turns out freedom ain’t nothing but missing you. Wishing I’d realized what I had when you were mine. I’d go back to December, turn around and make it all right.
I go back to December all the time.”
Starting to see the connection? 🙂
So I was thinking how the disciples must have felt 2,000 years ago on Pentecost Ascension Sunday. They had been following Jesus for 3 years. Listening to His teaching. Eating, laughing, crying, praying, fasting. And listening some more. But yet still they didn’t comprehend the entirety of His message. In the last few days He even gave them hints that He would be leaving them soon. But they didn’t listen.
Then came the crucifixion. Then the resurrection. Still they didn’t understand. Peter most notably. So in Matthew 28:16 Jesus told them, “Meet me in Galilee.” Why Galilee? It was a 7 day walk. Why? Because it all started there. Its where Jesus called them to follow Him 3 years earlier. Its where everything made sense. Everything was simple. Everything was right. Now 50 days after leaving for Galilee they were back in Jerusalem. They still don’t fully understand whats happening. Even as they watch Him ascend.
Ive always wondered what they must have thought that night after watching their Messiah, Savior, Lord, Rabbi, and friend ascend until He was hidden behind a cloud. And thats where Taylor Swift comes in. “”It turns out freedom ain’t nothing but missing you. Wishing I’d realized what I had when you were mine. I’d go back to December, turn around and make it all right. I go back to December all the time.”
Ever find yourself in that place? Wanting to go back to when it made sense? Back to when it was simple? Back to December? And maybe then you could make it all right? Ive been there a lot lately it seems.
Well, the good news of the Gospel is that it does make sense. It is simple. And He has made it all right. Even though our perfect union with God was fractured by our sin, He reached down to reconcile us back to Him through His son. Its precisely why Jesus came, died, and ascended that now makes it all right.
Thanks Taylor for the strange connection. Yes and Amen to the application.
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