For our Gospel Reading we hear another resurrection account, this week from St. Luke. In it, the Lord appears to His disciples and demonstrates to them that He has risen bodily from the dead. He then “opens their minds”<\/span><\/em> to see how all that had come to pass was the will of the Father, His plan and His promise from the beginning.<\/p>\n In our Responsorial Psalm, David speaks of a God who comes to the rescue, bestowing light and peace to those in trouble. God’s rescuing love finds its fullest expression, of course, in the coming of Jesus Christ and in our First Reading\u00a0we hear St. Peter proclaim this Good News to the crowd. Peter explains that through Christ’s saving sacrifice can be saved and in our Second Reading\u00a0St. John reflects upon this and upon our call to respond in obedience to this great love of God.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Since we are still in the Easter season, our First Readings continue to be drawn from the “Acts of the Apostles”<\/em>, the book of the New Testament which chronicles the first thirty years of Church history.<\/p>\n It is after Pentecost. Peter and John go up to the Temple in Jerusalem. As they enter, Peter heals a crippled beggar in the name of Jesus. This miracle draws a large crowd, to whom Peter preaches the Good News. In his sermon, the Prince of the Apostles makes it very clear that Jesus’\u00a0ignominious\u00a0death was\u00a0not some kind of accident, but was the plan of God, long foretold in the Hebrew scriptures.<\/p>\n Peter said to the people:<\/span>\u00a0“The God of Abraham,<\/span>\u00a0the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,<\/span>\u00a0the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus,<\/span>\u00a0whom you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence<\/span>\u00a0when he had decided to release him.<\/span>\u00a0You denied the Holy and Righteous One<\/span>\u00a0and asked that a murderer be released to you.<\/span>\u00a0The author of life you put to death,<\/span>\u00a0but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.<\/span>\u00a0Now I know, brothers,<\/span>\u00a0that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did;<\/span>\u00a0but God has thus brought to fulfillment<\/span>\u00a0what he had announced beforehand<\/span>\u00a0through the mouth of all the prophets,<\/span>\u00a0that his Christ would suffer.\u00a0<\/span>Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Questions:<\/p>\n Commentary:<\/p>\n Peter said to the people:\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Peter stands as spokesman for the Apostles, as he does many times throughout the New Testament.<\/p>\n “The God of Abraham,\u00a0the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,\u00a0the God of our fathers, …<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n This is how God described Himself to Moses in the burning bush:<\/p>\n Then he said, \u201cI am the God of your father,\u00a0the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob<\/span>.\u201d At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.<\/em> – Exodus 3:6<\/span><\/p>\n Peter is showing the continuity between his preaching and the Old Testament:<\/p>\n [Jesus said] “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them<\/span>” –<\/em> Matthew 5:17<\/span><\/p>\n The Church is a continuation of Israel.<\/p>\n “…has glorified his servant Jesus, …”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Jesus was glorified in his suffering, dying, rising and ascending into Heaven:<\/p>\n “And now, Father, glorify me<\/span> in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began… Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory<\/span>, the glory you have given me<\/span> because you loved me before the creation of the world.”<\/em> – John 15:5, 24<\/span><\/p>\n By describing the Lord as God’s\u00a0“servant”<\/span><\/em>\u00a0 Peter is showing that Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s\u00a0“Suffering Servant”<\/em> (see Isaiah 52:13-53:12<\/a>). In Isaiah’s prophecy Yahweh glorifies His Servant because the Servant has endured the rejection of the people and offered His life for their sins:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/TheRisenChrist.jpg\")
<\/p>\nReading I: Acts 3:13-15, 17-19<\/h2>\n
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