Month: April 2023

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Acts 3: 11-26

As the crippled man who had been cured clung to Peter and John,
all the people hurried in amazement toward them
in the portico called “Solomon’s Portico.”
When Peter saw this, he addressed the people,
“You children of Israel, why are you amazed at this,
and why do you look so intently at us
as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety?
The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus
whom you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence,
when he had decided to release him.
You denied the Holy and Righteous One
and asked that a murderer be released to you.
The author of life you put to death,
but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.
And by faith in his name,
this man, whom you see and know, his name has made strong,
and the faith that comes through it
has given him this perfect health,
in the presence of all of you.
Now I know, brothers and sisters,
that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did;
but God has thus brought to fulfillment
what he had announced beforehand
through the mouth of all the prophets,
that his Christ would suffer.
Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away,
and that the Lord may grant you times of refreshment
and send you the Christ already appointed for you, Jesus,
whom heaven must receive until the times of universal restoration
of which God spoke through the mouth
of his holy prophets from of old.
For Moses said:

A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you
from among your own kin;
to him you shall listen in all that he may say to you.
Everyone who does not listen to that prophet
will be cut off from the people.    

“Moreover, all the prophets who spoke,
from Samuel and those afterwards, also announced these days.
You are the children of the prophets
and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors
when he said to Abraham,
In your offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
For you first, God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you
by turning each of you from your evil ways.”

The Word of the Lord.

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Our first reading contains parts of Saint Peter’s second sermon after Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Within it, we find several key elements of early Christian preaching, which should still be linchpins to our faith-sharing today.

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The early Christians always stressed the horror of the crucifixion. It was a torturous, inhumane way to die. And the Jews, in partnership with the Romans, allowed it to happen to the Lord of Life.

Peter goes as far as to shame those present who shouted, “Crucify him!” on Good Friday.

He wants to shock the crowds into understanding the power of sin – and the extent to which God respects our freedom.

But if they repent, then their sins will be wiped away immediately.

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Repentance has a triple-effect on the Christian life.

It changes our past – God wipes away our sin.

It changes our present – we alter our behavior.

It changes our future – Christ leads us to eternal life.

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Finally, Peter focuses on the power of the resurrection. In being raised to life, Jesus reveals his indestructible power. Death no longer has any hold over him.

And if Christ has been raised from the dead, then we shall be raised, too. As Saint Paul says, “Neither death nor life, nor present things, nor future things, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.”

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On Ash Wednesday, a cross of ash was traced onto our forehead. The minister reminded us what Peter told those first Christians:

“Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

What might that look like for me – turning closer to the Lord – today?

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Image credits: (1) Saint Peter Preaching in Jerusalem, by Charles Poerson (2) Saint Peter, by Peter Paul Rubens (3) Eric Echols

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Gospel: Luke 24: 13-35

That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus’ disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them, 
“What are you discussing as you walk along?”
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?”
And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”
They said to him, 
“The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning 
and did not find his Body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see.”
And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?”
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, “Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”
So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.
Then they said to each other,
“Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the Eleven and those with them who were saying,
“The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way
and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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“The Road to Emmaus” is one of the final stories in Luke’s Gospel, which teaches us a beautiful lesson about life with – or without – Christ.

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It begins with two of Jesus’ disciples leaving Jerusalem, walking westward towards Emmaus. 

When the Lord appears to them, they mistake him for a stranger. They share with him what they know and have seen – that the Lord was crucified on Friday, women visited his tomb on Sunday, they proclaimed it was empty, and other disciples have said the same.

But these two still don’t understand why the tomb was empty; they haven’t made the leap of faith from Good Friday to Easter Sunday.

They’re leaving Jerusalem – and their faith – behind.

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Their journey away from Jerusalem towards Emmaus represents a soul without Christ.

Just as these two are walking westward into the sunset, into the night, so a soul without Christ is deprived of light; when faced with death, it becomes dim, restless, without hope.

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After the Lord reveals himself to them in the breaking of the bread – a likely reference to the Eucharist, their eyes are opened.

Immediately, they change directions and rush back to Jerusalem.

Such is a soul filled with Christian faith. It’s alive, bright, desperate to share the good news of the empty tomb with others.

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As we enter into this blessed Easter season, may the Holy Spirit fill our hearts with that same faith which allows us to discovery why the tomb was empty.

Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead. Alleluia!

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Image credits: (1) Emmaus Road, The Missional Network (2) Road to Emmaus, by Daniel Bonnell (3) Road to Emmaus, Fine Art America

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Gospel: John 20: 11-18

Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping.
And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb
and saw two angels in white sitting there,
one at the head and one at the feet
where the Body of Jesus had been.
And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them, “They have taken my Lord,
and I don’t know where they laid him.”
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there,
but did not know it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?”
She thought it was the gardener and said to him,
“Sir, if you carried him away,
tell me where you laid him,
and I will take him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” 
which means Teacher.
Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me,
for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
But go to my brothers and tell them,
‘I am going to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.’”
Mary went and announced to the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord,”
and then reported what he had told her.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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I admire Mary Magdalene so much in this Gospel passage. Her soul is on fire with love; she’s obsessed with finding Jesus.

When she reaches the empty tomb, she’s overwhelmed with anxiety: “They have taken away my Lord! Where did they lay him? Where could he be? Give him to me!” she says frantically, as if Jesus belongs totally to her.

Even when she sees the angels inside the tomb, she tells them, “They’ve taken away my Lord!”

I’d imagine her eyes were so flooded with tears that she mistaked them for human beings.

Then when Jesus appears to her, she thinks he’s a gardener. “Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.”

Mary’s desperate. She’s on a mission. She’ll do anything to find Jesus, even if it’s just caring for his body once laid in a tomb.

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Mary shows us what it’s like when love of God takes possession of a soul – Jesus is everything.

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How much of that passion for Jesus do we share with her? How many of our thoughts, words, and actions, or how much of our time, is taken up by Jesus?

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May Mary intercede for us, that we would encounter in our own way the same person she did – Jesus raised from the dead.

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Image credits: (1) Mary Magdalene, by Jonathan Weber (2) Rembrandt, Mary Magdalene (3) JW.org