Diocese of East Tennessee: Weekly Lectionary
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April 30, 2006
Third Sunday of Easter — B

Book of Common Prayer Lectionary
Acts 4:5-12
Psalm 98
1 John 1:1—2:2
Luke 24:36b-48

Revised Common Lectionary
Acts 3:12-19
Psalm 4
1 John 3:1-7
Luke 24:36b-48

Reflection and Response
Prayer Starter

Today’ s scriptures proclaim that Jesus is risen and present with us. In Acts, Peter preaches about the power of God in Jesus and calls his listeners to respond with repentance and conversion. 1 John assures us that Jesus intercedes for us, removing our sin and calling us to the obedience of love. In today’ s gospel, Jesus invites the disciples to touch his risen body and to understand the meaning of the scriptures.

First Reading: Acts 4:5-12 (BCP)
According to Luke, the arrest of Peter and John is instigated by the Sadducees (4:1-3). The Sadducees held only to the written law, rejected the oral tradition followed by the Pharisees and did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. The Pharisees taught a future general resurrection, but Peter and John proclaim resurrection as a present and life-giving reality in Jesus.

The rulers, elders and scribes make up the members of the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish court responsible for internal affairs. The appearance of the apostles before this body parallels Jesus’ examination by the Sanhedrin (Luke 22:66). As Jesus had promised, the Holy Spirit empowers the apostles to answer.

In Greek, the word "heal" (v. 9) means both "heal" in the physical sense and "save or deliver" in the spiritual sense; thus Peter uses the healing to show that Jesus brings not only physical wholeness but also spiritual deliverance.

Acts 4:5-12
On the next day,
their leaders, elders, and scribes
were assembled in Jerusalem,
with Annas the high priest,
Caiaphas, John, Alexander,
and all who were of the high-priestly class.
they brought them into their presence
and questioned them,
"By what power or by what name have you done this?"
Then Peter, filled with the holy Spirit,
answered them,
"Leaders of the people and elders:
If we are being examined today
about a good deed done to a cripple,
namely, by what means he was saved,
then all of you and all the people of Israel
should know that it was in the name of Jesus Christ
the Nazorean whom you crucified,
whom God raised from the dead;
in his name this man stands before you healed.
He is ‘ the stone rejected by you, the builders,
which has become the cornerstone.’
There is no salvation through anyone else,
nor is there any other name under heaven
given to the human race
by which we are to be saved."

First Reading: Acts 3:12-19 (RCL)
The book of the Acts of the Apostles recounts the early growth of the Christian Church. One of the major features of Acts is Luke’ s use of speeches by principal figures to provide reflection upon and analysis of events. These speeches demonstrate the basic preaching pattern of the apostolic Church to different audiences as the Church moves from the Jewish to the Gentile world.

Today’ s reading is taken from the second of these discourses, Peter’ s temple sermon. Set in the context of a healing (3:1-10), it shows that Jesus’ ministry continues in the apostles. The sermon begins with the basic proclamation about Jesus’ death and resurrection. This kernel is then fleshed out in a longer section identifying Jesus with various Old Testament figures.

Acts 3:12-19
Peter 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,

Psalm: Psalm 98 (BCP)
This psalm is closely related to Psalm 96. Its original setting may have been the enthronement festival of Yahweh, celebrated each year at the New Year’ s feast of Tabernacles. In later times the psalm was interpreted to herald the Lord’ s final coming. It presents the Lord, in faithfulness to the covenant, acting in history for the salvation of God’ s people.

Psalm 98
Sing a new song to the LORD,
who has done marvelous deeds,
Whose right hand and holy arm
have won the victory.

The LORD has made his victory known;
has revealed his triumph for the nations to see,

Has remembered faithful love toward the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth;
break into song; sing praise.

Sing praise to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and melodious song.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn
shout with joy to the King, the LORD.

Let the sea and what fills it resound,
the world and those who dwell there.

Let the rivers clap their hands,
the mountains shout with them for joy,

Before the LORD who comes,
who comes to govern the earth,
To govern the world with justice
and the peoples with fairness.

Psalm: Psalm 4 (RCL)
From the depths of his troubles, the psalmist expresses his trust in God as helper (savior). He knows that God will always help and answer his pleas, and this awareness brings peace. Because God is his savior, he can rest securely and warn others to trust in God alone.

Psalm 4
Answer when I call, my saving God.
In my troubles, you cleared a way;
show me favor; hear my prayer.

How long will you people mock my honor,
love what is worthless, chase after lies?

Know that the LORD works wonders for the faithful;
the LORD hears when I call out.

Tremble and do not sin;
upon your beds ponder in silence.

Offer fitting sacrifice
and trust in the LORD.

Many say, "May we see better times! LORD,
show us the light of your face!"

But you have given my heart more joy
than they have when grain and wine abound.

In peace I shall both lie down and sleep,
for you alone, LORD, make me secure.

Second Reading: 1 John 1:1—2:2 (BCP)
John writes to encourage his readers to live without sin. Once baptized, no Christian should be able to live in ongoing, willful sin. Although Christians must constantly struggle to free themselves from a sinfulness that infects all humanity, God’ s cleansing power is at work.

Jesus is our advocate, the one who speaks for us and promises continuing forgiveness. The same word for advocate, parakletos, is used of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John (John 14:16).

Verse 2 stresses God’ s impartiality and generous provision of forgiveness for all people. In the early Church, believers tended to concentrate on developing the new identity of their communities, focusing on the differences between "the world" and the fellowship of those in the faith. Here John reminds believers that "the whole world" (v. 2) benefits from Jesus’ work.

1 John 1:1—2:2
We declare to you what was from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes,
what we have looked at and touched with our hands,
concerning the word of life–
this life was revealed,
and we have seen it and testify to it,
and declare to you the eternal life
that was with the Father and was revealed to us–
we declare to you what we have seen and heard
so that you also may have fellowship with us;
and truly our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son Jesus Christ.
We are writing these things
so that our joy may be complete.
This is the message we have heard from him
and proclaim to you,
that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with him
while we are walking in darkness,
we lie and do not do what is true;
but if we walk in the light
as he himself is in the light,
we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins,
he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar,
and his word is not in us.
My little children, I am writing these things to you
so that you may not sin.
But if anyone does sin,
we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous;
and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins,
and not for ours only
but also for the sins of the whole world.

Second Reading: 1 John 3:1-7 (RCL)
Today’ s reading takes up the theme of Christians and sin, in the context of their adoption as "children of God" (v. 1). This special relationship to God was formerly extended to Israel as a people and especially to the king as Israel’ s representative. In Hebrew idiom, "to be the child of" meant to exhibit the characteristics of one’ s father. Christians are truly God’ s children now, yet they are still in the process of growing into resemblance to God by imitating Christ in their behavior.

1 John 3:1-7
See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.
Yet so 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 shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
Everyone who has this hope based on him
makes himself pure, as he is pure.
Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness,
for sin is lawlessness.
You know that he was revealed to take away sins,
and in him there is no sin.
No one who remains in him sins;
no one who sins has seen him or known him.
Children, let no one deceive you.
The person who acts in righteousness is righteous,
just as he is righteous.

Gospel: Luke 24:36b-48
By showing the marks of the crucifixion, the risen Christ identifies himself as the earthly Jesus. He shows himself to be "really real," not a vision or a ghost. The account displays the Hebrew understanding of the person as particular and embodied, in contrast to the Greek sense of the person as merely the "soul."

As in the Emmaus story, the disciples recognize Jesus in the context of a meal and in the exposition of the scriptures. The Hebrew scriptures are divided into three parts: the law, the prophets and the writings (the first book being the Psalms).

To the earlier statement that the scriptures told of the suffering and resurrection of the Messiah (24:25-27) is added that the scriptures also point toward the mission "to all nations" (v. 47). The accomplishment of Jesus’ mission to Israel means the beginning of his followers’ mission to the Gentiles.

Luke 24:36b-48
Jesus stood in their midst and said to them,
"Peace be with you."
But they were startled and terrified
and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
Then he said to them,
"Why are you troubled?
And why do questions arise in your hearts?
Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Touch me and see,
because a ghost does not have flesh and bones
as you can see I have."
And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed,
he asked them,
"Have you anything here to eat?"
They gave him a piece of baked fish;
he took it and ate it in front of them.
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
and in the prophets and 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 would suffer
and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,
would be preached in his name to all the nations,
beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.

Reflection and Response
They still don’ t get it, even after the stone was rolled away, the cloths folded, the corpse vanished, the angel appeared and various testimonies given. Even then they think he’ s a ghost. Their reaction is panic and fright.

And Jesus reaches out to them, exactly where they are. No scolding. No abstract theology. Jesus communicates on the only plane that will work. They might be spooked if he touched them. So he invites them to touch him. Drawing them out further, he asks for something to eat.

Nothing could better confirm Jesus’ identity and cement his bond with his friends than the sharing of fish. That is, after all, how it all began: an interruption when they were casting their nets, an invitation to a totally different kind of fishing. He who had no need of nourishment satisfies their hunger, that unspoken yearning which lurked beneath their fear, the quavering hope that he might be real.

This time, they get it. In Acts, Peter speaks to the people in a tone that echoes Jesus’ voice: no condemnation, only words of peace and forgiveness. He has full confidence that their turning to God will wipe out their sins. Like his master, he does not burden them with heavy dogmas or abstract philosophy. He reaches out to them with the same enthusiasm that Christ once reached toward him. Peter and John have the same tough-minded attitude toward sin that Jesus had. They do not deny it, nor do they allow it to overwhelm them. They place it under God’ s mercy.

Peter and John had seen human evil in its worst form. They had witnessed the cruel betrayal and violent murder of God. Yet Peter believed that through the Messiah’ s suffering, God’ s promise of life would come to fulfillment. And John saw Jesus as an intercessor, an offering for our sins. When we get depressed about evil in the world, or become guilty about our own sin, they inspire us to take the next step, beyond the muck and into new life.

Quietly consider:
When has a meal been an important part of a relationship for me?
What does the meal in today’ s gospel suggest about the eucharist?

Prayer Starter
Open my mind, Lord, that I may understand your truth.
Open my eyes, Lord, that I may see you among us...

 

 

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The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee
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