Third Sunday of Easter

Jan 14 2025

Scripture Study for

Peter’s speech today proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Messiah follows the pattern of early missionary preaching: announcement of the arrival of the age of fulfillment; summary of events in the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus; recourse to the Old Testament showing Jesus as fulfillment of the promises. Only the call to repentance is absent. It is clear from the text that Peter is speaking to a Jewish community. This should be remembered lest we understand his accusation as anti-Judaic. This speech also proclaims Jesus’ resurrection and ascension and the descent of the Spirit. Finally, it provides us with an early statement about the inner workings of the Trinity.

The author of 1 Peter speaks of the cost of salvation and the responsibilities that accompany it. He reminds the audience that calling God “father” is comparable to asking God to act as disciplinarian. This presents a picture different from that of a tender parent. It points to our obligation to live the new life in Christ with integrity. The author insists that the death and resurrection of Christ have ransomed believers from the futile manner of living they inherited from their ancestors, patterns of living into which they had been socialized. Christians must now live differently.

The disciples on the road to Emmaus are probably returning from the celebration of Passover, and they doubtless assume that the unrecognized Jesus is on the road for the same reason. Although Cleopas’ companion is not named, several clues suggest it is his wife. As Jesus shows how the scriptures point to him, the hearts of the disciples burn within them. Their religious tradition is being interpreted in an exciting new way. Finally, it is in the breaking of the bread that their eyes are opened, and they recognize him. The account underscores several important issues: glory comes by way of suffering; remembering the tradition is not enough—in new situations it must be reinterpreted; and we come to know Christ in the breaking of the bread.

Jan 08 2025

Aha!

Loss. Heaviness. Heartache. Jesus is dead. Two despondent disciples are going home. All their expectations and joys are gone. The mission is over. Their eyes are downcast. There is an ache in the pit of their stomach. Can you feel how disheartened they are? To understand the Resurrection as the first disciples did, we must first get inside their agony. And not just any death: Jesus’ death. Have you ever felt that low?

Jesus doesn’t pop in and say, “Hey, look, I’m here! There’s a happy ending!” They’re too dispirited for that. No, Jesus has mercy. He engages them in quiet conversation. Jesus is gentle. Each time he appears in the resurrection stories, he looks different somehow. They had known him before. They do not recognize him now.

They walked a long way together. Jesus gradually brought them out of their funk by recasting the story that they had been telling themselves. He gave them a fresh understanding of who the Redeemer was to be. Their hearts started to burn within them.

Then in the breaking of the bread, suddenly their eyes are opened. Aha! They see! Awakened to joy, they turn and dash back to Jerusalem to tell the apostles! (Remember, if you want to see jubilation, watch the feet.) The resurrection of Jesus is an earthquake-causing “Aha!” Death has no more power. Life is the final answer!

We may sometimes think that we are headed home. But our true homeland does not look like this one. The Word who became flesh transforms our despair into hope, our weariness into refreshment, our wanting to quit into perseverance, and our heartache into splendor. This is the meaning of the Paschal Mystery. This is the core of the Resurrection. This is the heart of the Christian story. This is the “Aha!” of Easter!

Consider/Discuss

The psalmist says, “You will show me the path to life, abounding joy in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever.” How have I been shown? When have my eyes been opened and my heart set on fire?
The “Aha!” of understanding enlivens the mind. The “Aha!” of feeling burns in the heart. The “Aha!” of seeing invigorates the imagination. Though it may not compare to the immensity of the Resurrection, have you encountered an “Aha!” moment of clarity like that?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord, sometimes we just want to go home. Life can weigh us down. The world can be discouraging. Our struggles are nothing compared to the grief from your crucifixion, but you can see that our eyes also can grow downcast. In this moment, walk with us on this road. We could use an “Aha!” moment. Reveal yourself to us! Make our hearts burn within us at your Presence. Let me delight at your right hand forever, risen Lord, for you are the joy of my life.

Jan 08 2025

Scripture Study for

Peter’s speech at the beginning of Acts explains the meaning of the coming of the Spirit, the effects of which his audience has just witnessed. Despite doing good deeds, Jesus was put to death, yet resurrected, a sure sign that he was not under God’s judgment but was, on the contrary, God’s Messiah. The citation from Psalm 16 demonstrates that this resurrection was part of a divine plan foretold long ago. This same resurrected Christ is the source of the Holy Spirit, whose coming they have witnessed. Jesus himself, his works, his death, his resurrection and exaltation, and the coming of the Spirit are all the fulfillment of God’s “set plan.”

Peter reminds his audience of persecuted Christians that their permanent home is with God in Christ. They are sojourners who must not put their hope or faith in this world, but in Christ alone. Only in this way can they receive their eternal inheritance, which has been “bought” for them by Christ’s blood. Christ came so that those who believe in him might draw closer to God. By believing in the gospel, these new Christians (many of whom, as Gentiles, had not known the God of Israel) have come to believe in the God who brought it about. It is this God, and not the world or its many gods, in whom Christians are called to hope and have faith.

One of the chief obstacles to accepting that Jesus was the Christ was his crucifixion. Jews especially would find such an apparently failed Messiah incredible. As Jesus reveals through his opening of the Scriptures that the Messiah was indeed “supposed” to “suffer these things,” his listeners shed their despondency, realize that Jesus could have been the Messiah, and now find his resurrection credible. This lesson comes home to the disciples when they see Jesus “breaking the bread,” recalling to them the night he told his apostles that his body and blood were being given up for them. In light of the scriptures and his own words, the death of Jesus is seen not as an “accident” but ordained as a gift.

Dec 16 2024

Profile of an Easter People

Each reading today calls us to live out our faith in the risen Lord in a particular way. Acts calls us to be courageous witnesses to Christ the Lord. The apostles have been hauled into court before the high priest and the other religious leaders of the Sanhedrin, the supreme religious council in Jerusalem. Peter argues that the Sanhedrin’s command to cease teaching about Jesus must yield to a higher call to witness in the Spirit whom the living God has given to them. In that same spirit, Pope Paul VI reminded us that the modern person listens more willingly to witnesses more than to teachers, and if he or she listens to teachers it is because they are witnesses.

Revelation affirms that the proper response to Easter is to give glory and praise to the Lamb and to God who sits on the throne. Augustine told us that we are an Easter people and alleluia is our song. Each Sunday we gather as worshipers. Worship of the Lamb leads to witness, which then leads to worship.

The final encounter in John’s Gospel is between Jesus and Peter. Jesus comes to Peter asking, “Do you love me?” then “Feed my lambs.” The witness of the Lord and worshiper of the Lamb is also to be a lover of the Lord’s little ones. All three of these activities flow from our baptism. All three are to be done not as solo activities but as part of the body of Christ.

Consider/Discuss

Do you see your call to be a disciple as including the call to witness, worship, and watch out for the lowly and the least?
How does your faith community help you to live out your calling?

Responding to the Word

Strengthen us, Jesus, to witness with conviction to our faith in you as Lord and Savior. May the Holy Spirit lead us to praise and honor the Father through you all our days, and find clear expression in caring for your people by working for justice and peace for all.

Dec 16 2024

Scripture Study for

The court scene depicted in the first reading describes apostles who are courageous witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus and heralds of this wondrous event to the world. They have been so successful that the high priest is concerned that the temper of the people may have changed and the ruling body might be blamed for Jesus’ death. Peter then launches into a sermon consisting of the fundamental apostolic proclamation. God has reversed the plans of those who put Jesus to death, raising him from the dead and exalting him in a place of honor at God’s own right hand.

The vision that John describes reveals the heavenly throne room, where angels, living creatures, and elders surround the throne of God. The living creatures are reminiscent of the figures that stood guard at the entrance of temples. Twenty-four elders join the four living creatures and the angels in praise. Although the focus is the investiture of the Lamb, the message behind the vision is more specifically theological than Christological. God, not the Lamb, is seated on the throne. Worship of and devotion to Christ must be understood in terms of his relationship with God. To this all cry out, Amen!

Even Jesus’ intimate companions did not recognize the risen Lord. Here recognition comes through his actions, not through his words. Only after the disciples pulled in the multitude of fish did they know it was he. Jesus’ exchange with Peter has many links with Peter’s earlier denial of him. Sobered by that denial, Peter does not now declare that he is capable of being more faithful than the others. Three times Peter denied; three times he is called upon to declare his love. When he does, he is commissioned to assume the role of shepherd in the place of Jesus. He is now a shepherd who can show compassion to those who have failed. As shepherd, he will suffer a fate similar to that which Jesus suffered.