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 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."

Acts 3:12-19 (Our first lesson for Sunday April 22)

     It didn't take long for a crowd to gather. Outside the gate to the Temple, a disabled man asked Peter and John for money. Instead, he is healed in the name of Jesus. Who knows what drew those onlookers. Curiosity? Power, which might be available to them as well? Novelty? The plain fact that other people were interested?
     But notice this: by itself, the healing miracle is just a curiosity, at best, or a source of misplaced adulation of Peter and John, at worst. Its meaning, its power to serve God's purposes, comes from the preaching of Peter. Peter is ready to "tell the story". He's ready to tell the story of Jesus' death and reusrrection, without pulling any punches, but without vindictiveness. He is ready to join the story of Jesus to the story of his hearers. He shows them how the resurrection of Jesus is the big climax of the story that starts with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Peter is finally able to see this and say it.
     We are all called to be apostles. How do we equip ourselves to do what Peter did, to tell the story of Jesus, in a way that connects his story to the stories of the people we encounter, and invites them to become part of the story? How might we do our job of apostleship better?  

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.

1 John 3:1-7 (Our second lesson for Sunday April 22) (with thanks to Mr. Scott Parnell, our esteemed director of youth ministries, who wrote our reflection).

Most of us can’t wait to grow up. With the exception of Peter Pan, almost every child and teenager I talk to cannot wait to grow up. The reasons vary, but it usually falls on the ability to get to do something that they can’t currently do. For the littlest ones, it can be riding a big kid bike, staying up late, or watching a PG-13 movie. For middle and high school students, it is about the responsibility to do things without adult supervision, spurred on by the ability to drive. None of us want to be a child until perhaps we get older and long for the days when the greatest struggle was what you had for your after school snack.

Perhaps, though, this is what St. John is calling us back to. I watch kids and their carefree, unassuming approach to life. They see God in all people and genuinely care for them, not out of requirement, but out of love. I am reminded of Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount (c.f. Matthew 5): “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Adoption as a child by God is an invitation to see the world through God’s eyes. We receive God’s grace: wickedness is put to flight, sin is washed away, innocence is restored to the fallen, and joy is brought to those who mourn. Kids don’t always do what they’re supposed to do, but they always inherit the values of their parents.

Knowing the craziness of all that life throws at us, this invitation to receive God’s adoption and once again become a child is irresistible.

“Create in me a clean heart, Lord God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Ps. 51:11)

     While the disciples were telling how they had seen Jesus risen form the dead, Jesus himself stood among them 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 it 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. 

Luke 24:36-48 (Our gospel reading for Sunday April 22)

     Luke's first point in this gospel story can be summed up in three words: ghosts don't eat. As in the story of Thomas last week, the concern here is to establish the identity of the risen Jesus. And once again the emphasis is on his body. The risen Jesus is not an astral projection, or a disembodied spirit. The risen Jesus is someone you can touch, someone who eats broiled fish. Ghosts don't eat.
     This was important to Luke's readers. Many religions regarded the human body as something inferior, even evil, to be discarded at death. The Jewish outlook, and the resurrection stories, are very different. It is the whole Jesus that is resurrected. Certainly, his body is more than just a physical body (he can get through locked doors), but it is still his body (he has scars on his hands and feet). We recall the words of the Apostles' Creed: we believe in the resurrection of the body. This biblical view of resurrection can be quite challenging. I like to rest in the faith that God will save and resurrect everything that makes me me, just as He raised Jesus. Bishop N.T. Wright writes about this in a very compelling, and pastoral way in his books Surprised by Hope and Simply Christian.
     What does the resurrection of Jesus say about our hope? Is it just an interesting fact about the master, or is he somehow blazing a trail we are to follow? What do you think?