Collect

Almighty Father, in your great mercy you gladdened the disciples with the sight of the risen Lord: give us such knowledge of his presence with us, that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life and serve you continually in righteousness and truth;  through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen

 

A reading from The Acts of The Apostles   (3. 12-19):

When Peter saw it, 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.’

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

 

Psalm 4 :

1. Answer me when I call, O God of my right! You gave me room when I was in distress. Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.

2. How long, you people, shall my honour suffer shame? How long will you love vain words, and seek after lies?

3. But know that the Lord has set apart the faithful for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him.

4. When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent.

5. Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord.

6. There are many who say, ‘O that we might see some good! Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!’

7. You have put gladness in my heart more than when their grain and wine abound.

8. I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be:

world without end.

Amen

 

A reading from The First Letter of 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. 

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

 

Listen to the Gospel of Christ according to St Luke  (24. 36b-48):

Glory to you, O Lord

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 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.’

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

​

Reflection - DK

‘The New Yorker’ magazine’s charismatic Editor in Chief Harold Ross, who died in post in the early 1950s, was said to have asserted more than once that only two people were recognizable to everyone in the English-speaking world: Harry Houdini and Sherlock Holmes!  He was well-known for penning the margin comment “Who he?” on writers’ copy submissions.  Perhaps lectioneers could have done with a bit of Rossian guidance when it came to the fourth word in this morning’s reading from Acts: “What it?”  Acts 3 including verse 12 and onward is listed four times in Year B’s lectionary, with various beginnings and ending points.  Yet in only three of those is the verse describing “it” included and in just a single one is the back story to the “it” made clear - in the New Testament reading for Evening Prayer on 1st January (The Naming of Jesus).  So, let’s get this one out of the way first.

The scene follows some while after Pentecost when the Holy Spirit and gift of tongues had come down, so now we’re jumping a little ahead of our own Church Year’s schedule.  The Pentecost event itself is described in Acts chapter 2, which concludes with a conversion baptism of thousands and then an account of “wonders and signs” done by the apostles with “awe” coming upon everyone.  As chapter 3 begins, we’re with Peter and John on their own, rather than all twelve of the apostles (they’re back to twelve again following Mathias’s appointment to replace the by now dead Judas). These two apostles arrive at the temple and at the same time a man “lame from birth” is brought in by people to beg, as had clearly been a long-standing local custom.  He asks the apostles for alms, at which Peter says he has no money but can give something in the name of Jesus.  He commands the disabled man to get up and walk - which he does.  In fact, he leaps around, extolling God.  Others at the temple who’ve obviously known him for years are amazed.  The particular sentence we need in today’s extract is verse 11: “While he clung to to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s portico, utterly astonished.”   So in fact that’s the “it,” the people’s astonishment.

We assume that signs and wonders done beforehand by the apostles and mentioned in the preceding chapter 2 had mostly involved healing, though it’s not spelt out.  We read that the observers had been deeply impressed.  However, apart from Peter’s earlier declaration concerning apostolic sobriety and prophetic fulfilment back at the time of the Pentecostal event, we gain little sense of the apostles’ own responses to general public amazement at their continuing exploits between then and now.  But now, in chapter 3, we do.  Peter not only tells observers that they shouldn’t be surprised at the miracle but, importantly, he denies that the lame man’s healing has been driven by his (Peter’s) own power “or piety.”  Instead, it has come through the name of the sacrificed “Author of Life,” Jesus.  And he goes on to tell them all that repentance for wrongdoing can heal all and put them right with God again.

Ordinary human reactions to astonishing events and the saintly or divine responses to those reactions seem to be themes in today’s readings.  Luke’s Gospel passage is set immediately after his account of Jesus’ recognition by Cleopas and his friend in the village of Emmaus.  Those two have returned to Jerusalem, reporting back to the apostles and other disciples what had happened to them only a few miles away.  Then Jesus is suddenly and unexpectedly amongst them all.

Between different Gospel accounts there appear to be eleven post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus up to and including His Ascension.  This occasion in Luke can be taken to coincide with the first of two similar appearances described in John’s Gospel, chapter 20.  In John it’s the one that happens a week before the famous exchange with Thomas.  John’s version of this earlier encounter with the disciples that doesn’t include Thomas, describes Jesus appearing in the locked room, greeting the disciples with a blessing of peace, showing His hands and side (though it doesn’t categorically describe wounds) and breathing on them to confer the Holy Spirit and granting them power to forgive sins.  If there’s fear among the disciples in John’s narrative, it’s fear of the religious authorities and is the reason the door’s been locked in the first place.

Luke’s account of what we must assume is the same event begins with the peaceful blessing, but describes the disciples being terrified of what they fear is a “ghost.”  Jesus shows them his hands and feet to reassure them that He’s not any old spook.  He even invites them to touch him, though we’re not told they take up the offer.  Jesus then goes on to explain the fulfilment of prophecy.  However, the thing he does that really seems to reassure them and leads to true recognition is in the sharing of food – in this case of some fish.  Others have pointed out that the old saying “seeing is believing” doesn’t always work out and it looks as though it fails to calm the disciples here, whereas the familiar act of eating together does so.  We find examples of this in Jesus’ other post-Resurrection appearances, first, of course, with the breaking of bread in Emmaus.  That is what reveals the Lord to the two travellers rather than the earlier religious exchanges in which they’ve engaged.  All that clever stuff only seems to become truly meaningful for them in retrospect, and in the context of the devastatingly simple and non-intellectual act that they instinctively comprehend.  Another example comes in John’s Gospel, chapter 21.  The risen Jesus appears on the shore of Lake Galilee, encouraging the group of disciples with Peter, all of them out in a boat, to change fishing tactics after a disappointing start.  They don’t recognise him at first, but a huge catch follows, and realisation dawns. The haul of fish is dragged ashore where a charcoal stove has been set up and they share breakfast with the risen Jesus, now in the full knowledge of their companion’s identity.

Whatever else we might learn, perhaps we can also take this from the stories.  Ignoring a need to share ourselves and everyday aspects of ordinary humanity with God and with each other could well prevent us from recognising the truly miraculous when and if it ever comes our way.

 

Post-Communion Prayer

Living God, your Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread:  open the eyes of our faith, that we may see him in all his redeeming work; who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Amen