***
Acts 2: 14, 22-33
On the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up with the Eleven,
raised his voice, and proclaimed:
“You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem.
Let this be known to you, and listen to my words.
“You who are children of Israel, hear these words.
Jesus the Nazorean was a man commended to you by God
with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs,
which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.
This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God,
you killed, using lawless men to crucify him.
But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death,
because it was impossible for him to be held by it.
For David says of him:
I saw the Lord ever before me,
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted;
my flesh, too, will dwell in hope,
because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world,
nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.
My brothers, one can confidently say to you
about the patriarch David that he died and was buried,
and his tomb is in our midst to this day.
But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him
that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne,
he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,
that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld
nor did his flesh see corruption.
God raised this Jesus;
of this we are all witnesses.
Exalted at the right hand of God,
he poured forth the promise of the Holy Spirit
that he received from the Father, as you both see and hear.”
The Word of the Lord.
***
***
When we grieve, it feels like the lights have been turned off inside. Our world becomes hyper-focused on the person we’ve lost.
***
Such was the case of the disciples on Good Friday. Jesus was everything to them – their best friend; their leader; their Lord.
Then poof! He was gone in an instant. Understandably terrified, the disciples rush into hiding, fearing for their own lives.
***
But in our first reading, Peter’s preaching to the very crowds who wanted to put Jesus to death.
“This man,” he says, “you killed…But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it.”
This sudden change in Peter’s attitude becomes one of the first arguments for the truth of the resurrection.
The same Peter who once cowered in fear is now risking his life to share the Good News. Death does not win – it cannot – and he’ll risk his life to prove it.
All of the grief he felt on Good Friday has been transformed into Easter joy because he’s seen and touched the Risen Christ.
There’s no other logical reason for the change in his behavior.
***
While we cannot see and touch the Risen Lord like Peter did, we can have that same Easter joy.
As Jesus says to Doubting Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen me and have believed.”
Their mourning shall be turned into dancing.
***
