Acts 3: 12-19
Psalm 4
1 John 3: 1-7
Luke 24: 36b-48
In the portion of the Book of Acts which precedes our first reading this morning, Peter and John had been on their way to the temple for the hour of prayer at three o’clock when they saw a man lame from birth being carried in. People would carry this man in and put him near the place called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask people for money in order to survive.
The text tells us that this man asks Peter and John for alms. Peter looks intently at the man and asks the man to look at him. They make eye contact. The man looks at Peter expecting to receive money. Peter says he has no money to give the man, but he says his gift to the man is to say to him, “In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” Peter then takes the man by the hand, and the text says that, as he stands up, “his feet and ankles [are] made strong.” The man enters the temple with Peter and John “walking and leaping and praising God.”
For years, people have known this man who lies by the Beautiful Gate and begs for a living. Now they see him leaping into the air and praising God. They think Peter is a miracle worker. In our passage for today, Peter is making clear that this healing is the work of God. A wise person once said that one of the wonderful things about being Christians is that, when good things happen, we know whom to thank. Peter is emphasizing this point.
Our reading from the First Letter of John reminds us that we are all children of God.
Today’s gospel comes just after the risen Jesus has appeared to two of his followers on the road to Emmaus. At first, the two disciples don’t realize that the stranger walking with them is Jesus. But, when he joins them for supper, they recognize him in the breaking of the bread. These two disciples have rushed back to Jerusalem to tell the apostles that the Lord is risen. When they enter the room where the apostles are gathered, the apostles and their companions are jumping for joy and shouting, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Adding to the joy, the two disciples tell what happened on the road and how they recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
Then, once again, Jesus appears. “Peace be with you, “ he says. But they are terrified, They think he is a ghost. He points out his hands and his feet to make it clear that it is he and that he is truly alive. He invites them to touch him. They are afraid.. He looks different.They are still having a hard time believing it, but joy is beginning to bubble up. Then he asks a question—a simple, homey, human question. A question that probably made them smile. “Do you have anything to eat?” He is actually hungry. Dead people don’t have much of an appetite. Asking for something to eat is a sure sign of being alive. It finally sinks in. He is alive! They give him a piece of broiled fish and he eats it with gusto.
Then he teaches them that everything that has happened is fulfilling the scriptures. He has died and risen again. They and we are to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations. In other words, we are called to share the good news of transformation and newness of life with everyone.
He is alive. He is risen and we are his body. Each of us has met the risen Christ or we wouldn’t be here now. Some of us have had our own agonizing night in the garden of our own Gethsemane wrestling with a decision whether to be our true self or not, to do the difficult right thing or the easy wrong thing. Some of us have walked in the pre-dawn darkness to the tomb where our dreams lie dead and buried only to find our risen Lord leading us in a totally new and unimagined life-giving and transforming direction. Some of us have walked down that road thinking that all is lost. There was real hope for creating a world that is based on compassion and makes sense, and now all is lost. And then he comes and shows us the way to hope and life and meaning.
In one way or another, we all know that he is alive, and that we are alive in him. Every time we share the meal he has given us, he becomes known to us in the breaking of the bread. Our hearts are warmed by his presence and his teaching and his love and wisdom.
All through the Great Fifty Days of Easter, until the Feast of Pentecost, we will be experiencing these encounters with the risen Lord. We will get to know him better and better, and we will be more and more empowered to share his healing, loving, and transforming presence with others.
Risen Lord, be known to us in the breaking of the bread.
Amen.
Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons |
Grace Episcopal Church (Sheldon, VT) 