order or invitation...

After Easter...  for all the disciples and the baptised people of today...  the situation
is now quite difficult. On the one hand it's clear: the Prophet of Nazareth, Jesus,
seen by many as the Messiah, has died - on the Cross! On the other hand there is still admiration, remembrance, disillusion, hope - and now the rumour, the message or the conviction: he is risen, risen from the death, he is for some: "The Risen Lord".
Luke has a clever method in his proclamation: He let Jesus come up
1. As the one who gives peace, forgiveness, mission...
2. As the one who explains, giving help for understanding...
3. As the one who shows his wounds, he is touchable, he is eating, he is real...
The Risen Lord is now doing the same what Gabriel has done!
a) a wonderful greeting as encouragement
b) a declaration. Gabriel: You will get a child!  Jesus: I'm alive!
c) but the declaration is now understood not as an order but as an inquiry,
    as a question waiting for an answer.
After Easter...  the Word of God, the life of Jesus (his message, his death, his resurrection)
it means the power of God, became an invitation for an agreement.
In the old time: God's Word was powerful creative... 
in the new time: God's Word became an Invitation too...  "pls bring your Yes"
Therefore Acts 3.19:  It's time to change your attitude; You are invited, it's time to accept.
or 1 John 2.5
If you are ready to listen to the Word of God, to take the Word of God as basic of your existence and actions, than the Love of God will blossom effectively in you....