3rd Sunday in Easter, April 19, 2015

Collect for the Day

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. 

Reflections: Through our Sunday liturgy and fellowship we encounter Christ. While we are reminded every Sunday, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the details of our everyday experience during the week. Here we pray to know the work of God outside the church walls not only in theory, but concretely in the whole of our lives, in the whole of creation. 

First Lesson: Acts 3:12-19

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." 

Reflections: Do we really know how to determine what is good or bad? We choose and act, often after much anxiety and handwringing, sometimes to discover at a later time that we have made a grave mistake. It may take years for us to come to terms with the niggling feeling that we have made the wrong choice. Mistakes have consequences, and they can be difficult to live with. But God isn’t out to trip us up, or punish us for guessing wrong. Acknowledging our ignorance our outright bad choices probably won’t erase their painful consequences, but it might help us out of the mire of regret, so we can embrace the present moment and awaken to the opportunities it affords.  

Psalm 4 Cum invocarem 

Answer me when I call, O God, defender of my cause; *
you set me free when I am hard-pressed; have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
"You mortals, how long will you dishonor my glory; * how long will you worship dumb idols and run after false gods?"
Know that the LORD does wonders for the faithful; * when I call upon the LORD, he will hear me.
Tremble, then, and do not sin; * speak to your heart in silence upon your bed.
Offer the appointed sacrifices * and put your trust in the LORD.
Many are saying, "Oh, that we might see better times!" * Lift up the light of your countenance upon us, O LORD.
You have put gladness in my heart, * more than when grain and wine and oil increase.
I lie down in peace; at once I fall asleep; * for only you, LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Reflections: We’re often so agenda-driven and results-oriented that we miss the presence of God waiting for us even right now at this moment. Happiness, we think, is conditional, dependent on outer circumstances. But happily, Christ’s peace—and the joy that flows from it—is not.  

 

Epistle: 1 John 3:1-7

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. 

Reflections: Ultimately there is one law, the law of love. But ironically, while our deepest yearning is for unconditional love, we don’t really seem to believe in it.

From a young age, we learn to compete for love; our culture confuses status with value. The reassurance we take from a healthy bank account, success, acclaim, or accomplishments ultimately proves thin. Popularity frequently masks for envy, a fact amply demonstrated every time a celebrity’s misfortune is plastered on the front of the People Magazine. How easily we feel lessened by the good luck or apparent superiority of others.

          But however fickle the world (and ourselves with it), God is constant; as God’s own children we are each infinitely precious. We are children of the same Father, born of the same Divine Love. And just perhaps the facets of the jewel in our hearts flash all the brighter because the light of all our sisters and brothers—indeed the whole creation—shines through us.  

Gospel: Luke 24:36b-48

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." 

Reflections: God does not demand blind obedience (nor does the Episcopal Church ask unthinking acquiescence to what it teaches). Faith does not come easy for all of us. Truly trusting God may come through intense struggle. But to struggle with God requires the rigor of honesty, the courage of doubt, and the risk of error. And we all know there is biblical precedent for struggling with God: Abraham’s negotiations with the three angelic visitors, Jacob’s wrestling with the angel, even Jesus’ prayers and bloody sweat.

So when Jesus stands among the disciples and offers them his peace, they really need it. They need it because of the trauma and loss they have just gone through. And they need it because his presence among them is quite simply uncanny. They have entered new territory; what they had been and what they had known no longer seem to apply. But Jesus seems undisturbed by their fear and confusion.

Christ is not threatened by our fear or confusion, either. We cannot see from the divine perspective, but God can. And the entirety of our individual stories—which we experience only incrementally, bit by excruciating bit—already rest completely in God.