Those waiting
The follower's of Jesus have been told to wait and that is exactly what they are doing. This waiting, as I indicated yesterday, was not passive but an active devotion to prayer.
In another fact of this waiting Luke records for us who is involved in this waiting, The waiting ones are Jesus' mother and his' brothers. On a couple of levels this is significant.
On the first level you have Luke recording that there are women in this company. Luke also indicates that Jesus' mother is in this group but to mention her and other women is significant. Because In Jesus' day it was not common for rabbis to have women followers.
The presence of women however may be a foreshadowing of the Hebrew Bible's prediction about the presence of The Holy Spirit. In Joel 2:28ff the prediction is that God will pour out His Spirit on "all flesh." But the prophet goes into more detail by listing the people or groups that God will pour out His Spirit: sons and daughters, old and young, and male and female servants.
This is remarkable promise of The New Covenant about the presence of The Holy Spirit. This spirit will be available to all. And this gathering and waiting in Jerusalem by these people foreshadows this reality of The Holy Spirit and Pentecost.
REFLECT: What a gracious God to give His Holy Spirit with such generosity.