Today's Scripture Readings
Acts 3:12-19 (NRSV)
When Peter saw the astonishment of those who had seen the lame man healed, he addressed the people, "You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.
"And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out."
Psalm 4 (BCP., p.587)
1 John 3:1-7 (NRSV)
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
Luke 24:36b-48 (NRSV)
Jesus himself stood among the disciples and their companions and said to them, "Peace be with you." They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.
Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-- that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."
Blog Reflection
The readings this weekend send a lot of messages. One could easily be persuaded that "Jesus only" is among them. The reading from Acts suggests the supercession of Judaism into Christianity with Peter's speech. One miracle preformed by Peter, the same Peter that denied Jesus three times is suddenly filled with the Holy Spirit and proclaiming the resurrection. The news of the resurrection and the coming of the Spirit on Pentecost has changed the landscape, but it is still the same God acting in various people in a variety of ways.
As Christians, we are welcomed by the Risen Christ with the words, "Peace be with you." It doesn't matter that we come as individuals who are not sure if the resurrection means the same to each of us. Maybe we remember that the Prophets said that the Son of Man would suffer and rise again. Maybe we heard Jesus tell us over and over before the Crucifixion and resurrection that these things would take place. Perhaps we did not really understand it until now. Maybe even now we do not know what it is suppose to mean. Jesus the Risen One, is most concerned that each of us knows that He imparts God's peace to us, and wishes to share a meal with us in community with each other.
How do we experience the Risen Christ in our lives?
Do Christians know and believe that through Christ every person is a child of God as is written in 1 John? Do Christians know and celebrate that being children of God through Jesus, and that it is not just for us Christians who follow Christ in "our way"?
One of the major problems we are seeing with the "religious freedom" debate is who gets to define what "religious freedom" is for whom. As soon as we can use "religious freedom" as a justification for discriminating against one group of people vs. another, it is no longer freedom for anyone. It becomes an enslavement of one group to be able to bind the freedoms of others and take them hostage. This is not the freedom that God intended through the Paschal Mystery we are celebrating. If it is, is it any wonder why Christians look like such fools as the license to discriminate bills are making their way into the law books all over the country?
The Risen Christ continues to come to us in prayer, worship and the Eucharist to wish peace on all of us. As we break bread and share the cup, the Risen Christ retells the story of His Resurrection through our own stories. He calls on us to make that story in to a real life event through our own lives and relationships. We do not have to get it right. All we are asked is to be faithful to the resurrection event around us, and Christ will continue to raise us up as witnesses Christ's redemption.
Amen.
Prayers
O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his
disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith,
that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives
and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Third Sunday of Easter. The Book of Common Prayer, p.223)
Gracious Father, we pray for thy holy Catholic Church. Fill it
with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt,
purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is
amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in
want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake
of Jesus Christ thy Son our Savior. Amen. (Prayer for the Church. The Book of Common Prayer, p.816)
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