We made it Wooo – HOOO!! 🙂 Happy Easter my brothers and sisters! It’s a little quirky this morning writing about scripture from the Acts of the Apostles on Easter Sunday… Oh, Well, retrospect doesn’t have to be linear. 🙂 Our first scripture this glorious morning IS from Acts 10:34, 37-43, an oration of Peter at the conversion of Cornelius. Cornelius and subsequently his household are not Jewish by faith but ‘DO’ worship the One True God and give alms to the Jewish temple. It feels like the time may be a couple of months after the Ascension. Saul has been converted to Paul, Pentecost has happened and all of the apostles are ‘pleasantly’ scattered to the four winds ministering and evangelizing.
Through his speaking, Peter is creating a condensed timeline, a focus of events for the further evangelization of Cornelius and all. “You know what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth, with the Holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”
Cornelius was easy, Peter saw his conversion in a dream. The rest of the house, while possibly excited, may have been wondering about this new belief, and the person of that belief. Peter gives them an oral resume’. “We are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.”
We of the twenty-first century know all too well how it feels to have our trust broken, our innocence taken advantage of. In Cornelius’ days and house, the whole house believed as the master did. There was no resume, no reason given, just do it. So, Peter laying any groundwork at all is a gift, and also a testimony to how he’ll evangelize. Peter wants people to believe because it’s The Truth, not because of the messenger. Lead by example, Profound Faith.
Now comes the pay-off, “That everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.” AMEN.
Our second reading, 1Cor 5:6-8, while short and obvious, holds a very dear and precious truth, “Brothers and sisters: Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough? Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough!” **My friends, we constantly, have a never-ending supply of personal renewal through Christ Jesus. With GOD, every day is the first day of the rest of your life.!!
My ignorance of Jewish customs is sometimes my undoing. I always wondered why it was Mary Magdalene, not Simon Peter or James or John, who was the first person at the tomb in the morning. Was it customary for women to oil the body and prepare it for burial. We know that the placing in the tomb was done hastily, so, not completely. Simon Peter and John obviously met up somewhere during the night and Mary knew where. “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” “So, Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there but did not go in.” **ALL of them are lovingly amazed. “When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there. Then the other disciple also went in, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture, that he had to rise from the dead.” ***So much gladness, so much disbelief, kind of like winning the Lottery, you just can’t believe it. Jesus’ Resurrection is a mountain top moment for all of humanity! The Apostles, the women who ministered to them, and eventually everyone had to believe. Even the unbelievers can’t explain it. **Oh, wouldn’t be nice if we could allow ourselves more mountain tops? How about a resurrection: maybe a family relationship, or a friendship? I pray for all families with estranged children; we need a resurrection of our own this Easter. Shalom, Joy -Joy- Joy. May you all enjoy God’s Love and Joy this week… Mark “G” & Mrs. “G”
