After the Benediction

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Luke 24:36-53

“Good-bye” usually means separation. Friends may say “Good-bye” when they are heading home from our house.  Our children may say “Good-Bye” when they are heading back to school after spring break.  God-byes have been said in hospitals, at funeral homes, beside graves.  They are the conclusion to phone calls.  But regardless of why or when or where, these good-byes all mean separation.  After  Jesus left His disciples and this earth, they “worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy” (Lk. 24:52)  That was a good-bye from Jesus to His people that was what it was originally intended to be:  “God be with ye.”  It was His benediction over them, and so their worship followed the benediction.  This is what His ascension makes possible still today.