I’ve grown used to long goodbyes. They were a tradition in my wife’s family. I quickly learned that simply moving toward the door did not mean anyone was leaving anytime soon. The first few times I stood there with my hand on the doorknob for another ten to twenty minutes while hugs, kisses, and final exhortations like “Drive safe!” and “Call us!” and “Come back soon!” and other expressions of love were repeated over and over.
As I preach through the last chapters of Acts this year, I find it sweet that Paul’s long goodbye to an Ephesian envoy sent to him in Miletus, found in Acts 20:13-38, falls on Ascension Sunday when we are remembering how Jesus said goodbye to His disciples. It’s also Mother’s Day, so I will unabashedly state that it seems to me that mothers are often the primary agents in long goodbyes, though Paul and the Christians around him prolong the moment as much as any parent ever did.
I also recall saying goodbye to our own children when leaving them with a babysitter or, rarely, with friends from church while we attended a retreat or other denomination event. Beth would write long “Care and Feeding” manuals with instructions both the care givers and for our daughters. Likewise, both Paul and Jesus left instructions when they said goodbye to ancient Christians. Those instructions were calls to mission and calls to properly relate to and care for each other, just as parents might wish for children.
And despite the goodbyes, we are not left alone, as we will remember next week in celebrating Pentecost. As Christians, despite the physical absence of our Lord, we are neither alone nor without guidance. And goodbye is not forever, when we say it to fellow Christians as Paul did there in Miletus.