The Lord Is Risen That Is Truly The Easter Message

Easter Wednesday

Acts 3:1-10
Luke 24:13-35

Peter and John! That was some special and different. It used to be Peter and Andrew, James and John. Now it is Peter and John. It seems as if the event of the Last Supper to the Resurrection of our Lord has overtaken them and has brought them closer to fellowship with each other. By nature and temperament they were different.

Peter was a motivator, John was a mystic; Peter had his feet on the rock upon which Christ is the Cornerstone and the Head of the Church John had his head on the Savior’s chest. Peter confessed faith and love in Jesus while John was the beloved who was entrusted by the Lord to take care of His Beloved Mother and for her to be our mother also.

John would outrun Peter to the tomb; Peter would push past John and rush right in; Peter would dash on out again, his mind in a whirl; John would walk away thinking deeply over the significance of those strangely ordered grave clothes (John 20:3-4).

Peter and John though are of the same profession as fishermen and fishers of men were opposites. By nature they would get on each other’s nerves, but now they walked together. We read, “Now Peter and John went up together into the temple.” Before, they had been mutual disciples of Jesus, now they were members of a common body; before, they knew friendship, now they enjoyed fellowship.

As Peter and John made their way to the temple, they encountered a beggar who was crippled from birth at the Beautiful Gate. Peter healed the man in Jesus’ name and the man’s joyful response created quite a stir. Imagine the reaction of the orthodox Jews who had come from afternoon prayer! He is healed physically and spiritually. As scripture tells us, he was leaping with joy. It means he was a state of complete healing and great joy.

This description of the lame who will leap is found earlier in the Bible in Isaiah 35:6 in which describes that during the Jubilee year of the Lord, the lame will leap like the deer. Jesus’ first coming gave a foretaste of that future day (Matthew 12:22; Mk7:37) as did the leaping of this blind man Acts 3:8. The joy of the miracle lead them to the joy of worshipping and praising God in the temple.

One very important message is this; that the miracle of the beggar who was a cripple from birth became possible because of the peer in the name of Jesus. The command was not in Peter’s authority but in the authority of Jesus Christ. “In the Name,” means everything that Jesus is now and forever, and in context speaks especially to His authority, in His power, to be demonstrated for His glory.

They immediately acknowledge that it is not by power of their own. Peter uses the same Name as he did in Acts 2:22 (Jesus the Nazarene”) the Name that was given to Jesus by the Jews to show their scorn and derision of Him and His humble origin in Nazareth (John1:46) But Peter knew there was power in the Name of Jesus. Ps. 106:8 links God’s Name and His power saying, “Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name, that He might make His power known.” Daniel prayed “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him.” (Dan2:20)

The name and story of Jesus of Nazareth has become the major story of the day during the feast of the Passover and strange things are happening. This same Jesus was condemned by the leaders of the people to death. He died on the cross and now He is risen as heralded by some women and some of disciples.

In fact, the two disciples on their way to Emmaus were still talking about it when Christ met them along the way, though they him to be a stranger. It was at the breaking of the bread they recognized him.

The poignant words of the two disciples, as they looked back on their strange experience of Jesus’ explanation about himself on the road to Emmaus. “Did our hearts not burn within us”. and now he has vanished from their sight. perhaps these words find an echo in our own spiritual lives.

At Mass, the life of God floods our spirit, yet so often, at the time that it is happening, we later come to realize it. If truly our hearts burn within us we must open our heart and mind in thanksgiving for the marvelous deeds of the Lord from ages past and to generations yet to come.

When we feel dry and earthbound just thank the Lord, and then get on with the task in hand. Hearts that burn do not necessarily get to Heaven any quicker. For not everyone that says Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of Heaven but he that does the will of the Father.

PRAYER

Risen Lord and Saviour, draw us closer to you. Cast away our fears and shatter our doubts. Take away the veil that covers my eyes and let experience the joy of being in your glorious presence. Through the the power of your resurrection give me life. Amen.

Fr Joseph Osho