"Can I please, Mommy? Just this once? Let me open my birthday present today. I’ll never ask this favor again. Pretty please?!"

Fran was always like that at birthday time. She just could not wait for the day to arrive. She wanted to open her presents as soon as she saw them, birthday or not. Fran’s mother was prepared for this annual tug of war. "No, Fran," she said. "How many times do I have to tell you. You’ve got to wait until your birthday. Lots of things in life are like that. You just have to learn to wait."

In the passage from Luke’s Gospel, Jesus also counseled waiting. It was the evening of the day of his resurrection from the dead. It was the first Easter evening. Jesus appeared to his disciples in Jerusalem. He helped them to understand their Hebrew Scriptures. He helped them t…