Eastertide

April 13, 2021

Scripture Reading: Acts 3:12-19
When Peter saw it, 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,

Peter’s words sting as I read them, you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. I have wondered what choices I would have made had I been one of those present moving from waving palms of welcome to crying out crucify him, crucify him. Would I have run home and hidden as he trudged toward Golgotha carry the cross, or would I have followed him? Only one of his closest disciples stood at the foot of the cross. The others probably feared for their own lives, but what about Thomas, who said let us go to Jerusalem to die with him. Women were there, but women did not matter among the male-dominant religious or political leaders. Secret followers came out of the woodwork to bury him.

The more critical issue is what I am doing today to fulfill the call to go into all the world and make disciples. I find more and more, my weak witness is defensive rather than welcoming, as actions are taken in the name of God that are foreign to my faith. How do we become the One Body of Christ in the tug-of-religious war in which we now find ourselves?

Peter takes us back to God when he assures the crowd that he did not heal the man. Peter was the conduit for the healing power of God. We, too, are called to be such a conduit. That role demands a closer walk with God and a clear understanding of our purpose, vision, and actions stripped of all self-righteousness and overflowing with God’s righteousness and grace. What happened to all those followers who did not show up at the cross? Through the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the overwhelming love of God, those initially week-kneed first disciples changed the world. We can do that, too.

Prayer: God grant us the courage to rise above our defensiveness and hesitancies to do our part in establishing the Kingdom of God through love in our world today. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.