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Rev. Charles Hoffacker Today is the Wednesday in Easter Week. The first reading at the Eucharist, Acts 3:1-10, recounts how shortly after Jesus rose from the dead, Peter and John heal a lame man at the Jerusalem temple and publicly declare that Jesus is back. The bystanders are amazed by what is happening.
The authorities quickly arrive and arrest the two disciples on the charge of announcing the resurrection of the crucified criminal Jesus of Nazareth. Peter and John did this both by preaching and by healing a handicapped beggar in his name. They experience pushback. These disciples end up in big trouble for making the world more like God’s kingdom. When we act as they did, when we do something for the love of Jesus that makes lame people leap and heartbroken folk rejoice, then our intervention, whether fruitful or not, is likely to produce pushback from the powers that be or their front men. Don’t be surprised when this happens. Expect it. Above all, don’t let pushback slow you down or turn you around. Remember something Jesus said shortly before his death and resurrection, something he must have said with a smile: “Take courage; I have conquered the world.”
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Rev. Mary McCue Today is Monday in Easter Week. We have just experienced sacred liturgies
commemorating “the lows and the highs” of Jesus Christ’s life on earth, his death and his resurrection. Now, the legacy of Jesus will start to emerge, as stories are told and, eventually, written down in the Gospels. It is a time of emerging faith. It is the beginning of Christianity. We heard, in the first reading at the Easter Vigil, the story of Genesis – how God created the world from a formless void veiled in darkness, how light appeared, to rule over the day and the night. How vegetation was created. And “God saw that it was good.” These two creation stories are, of course, thousands of years apart in time. Even so, they are guideposts for us. They show us that God is working powerfully among us and with us, and creates great things for us – the Earth. The sky. The plants and fruits. His Son. Easter is a time of new beginnings. Let us use this time to begin again ourselves, to re-discover our faith, to rejoice in all that God has done for us. Above all, let us rejoice in our Savior, who we have just mourned for and suffered with and triumphed with this past weekend. Let us never lose sight of the light – the light of Jesus. Thanks be to God. |
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April 2021
authorsThe Rev. Charles Hoffacker is a retired priest of the Diocese of Washington |
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