Easter 3
Devotional
Streams of Living Water
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle B
Object:
Acts 3:12-19
And the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.
-- Acts 3:16b
Peter and John have invoked the name of Jesus to restore a crippled person to health. In an age when we have become so dependent on science, we are of divided minds over such a story. On the one hand, we have been educated to believe that all events that take place in the universe have to have a rational explanation according to the physical laws of the universe. Therefore we look for a rational explanation for such an event. We almost want to explain away the miracle so that the universe will keep operating according to the laws that we have discovered. This keeps everything orderly and gives us a measure of control over our lives. On the other hand, the story evokes hope in us that there may be a power beyond our universe that we can call upon to assist us. When we are confronted by the limits of our knowledge or are confronted by an impossible situation, we want to believe that God's healing power is accessible to us. Can the name of Jesus restore us to perfect health? In our insatiable drive to be in control, we seek to find ways to invoke this healing power at our command.
If we could just learn the right religious formula, then we could be healers as well. Peter points to this temptation when the people come running up to him after the healing. "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?" (v. 12). Peter rejects this temptation and points to God as the source of healing. We do not have such power at our beck and call. It only comes by faith in Christ's name. Peter's action in healing the man becomes a means by which Peter calls us to repentance "so that your sins may be wiped out" (v. 19). We have divorced sin from our pursuit of health. Yet Peter sees the two together. Our access to the source of healing in the name of Jesus comes not through some religious formula or pious act but through a repentance of our sins.
Psalm 4
When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent.
-- Psalm 4:4
One of the reasons for continual prayer is that we live in a world that constantly disturbs us. The events that surround us as well as people's behavior become a challenge to our well-being. When we are disturbed by events, we are tempted to sin or act in a way that distances us from God and neighbor. We so easily forget that God is at the center of our lives and is the source of our well-being. When we lie down to sleep, we are putting ourselves in a vulnerable position. In sleep, all our defenses are let down. Prayer reminds us of the one true source of safety that is available to us when we sleep. Prayer also reminds us of the true source of our gladness. Continual prayer becomes a defense against that which disturbs and threatens to shame us. In the end, it is not the lies and vain words of others that we need fear. Rather, it is the loss of contact with God who is the center of our dignity.
1 John 3:1-7
Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.
-- 1 John 3:2a
There is a present and an impending tension in this passage that most Christians know in their own lives. When we observe other very admirable people who do not claim the faith, we recognize that the fact that we are Christians is not due to any moral or intellectual superiority. Faith is a gift from God. "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God" (v. 1). We can only stand in awe that God has stirred within our hearts a yearning for faith and has fed that yearning with the grace of Christ. But even as we are grateful for what God has provided us, we are equally aware that our lives have failed to meet even our own expectations of what the life of a Christian should be. John is very blunt when he says, "No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him" (v. 6).
Faith is received as a gift, but having received this gift, there is an ethical urgency to our lives. A child is born into a family in a manner that is beyond his or her choice. But growing up in the family is full of choices of whether the child's living reflects positively or negatively on the family name. Jesus "was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin" (v. 5). Yet, having been invited into God's family by the grace of God, we are engaged in an effort to live our lives in a way that reflects positively on the name of Christ that we bear. "And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure." Such purification, however, is not just an internal effort but a social effort at social righteousness. "Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous" (v. 7). As is made clear throughout the scriptures, righteousness is composed of right relationships. As 1 John 4:21 puts it, "The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also."
Luke 24:36b-48
While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering.
-- Luke 24:41a
The experience of the risen Christ brought great joy but still left room for questioning and doubt. This stands in contrast to those who claim a religious experience that has removed all doubt from their lives. Those who actually experienced the risen Christ did not have all their doubts wiped away. A life of faith includes some doubt and questioning. This is part of the growing edge of our journey of faith. Our joy is in the experience of God's presence and not in a life in which we have all the answers.
The Easter resurrection did not solve all the riddles of life for the first disciples or for us. Rather, it demonstrated the faithfulness of God who was more powerful than death. The report of Jesus eating the fish was to demonstrate that he was physically alive and not just a vision or a spirit. Our faith in the faithfulness of God cannot be just an abstraction but must be experienced in the physical realities of life. It is in eating and drinking and in working and playing that the resurrection of faith must be experienced.
The complexity of our life, filled with both doubt and wonder, is the context in which Jesus continues to meet us as the living Christ. It is as we take those questions seriously, not as a challenge to our faithfulness, but as an arena for our advance in faith, that we can be open to the joy of faith. As we join in the struggle with the issues of life that often cause people confusion, then repentance and forgiveness of sins become a message that can be heard in all nations.
And the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.
-- Acts 3:16b
Peter and John have invoked the name of Jesus to restore a crippled person to health. In an age when we have become so dependent on science, we are of divided minds over such a story. On the one hand, we have been educated to believe that all events that take place in the universe have to have a rational explanation according to the physical laws of the universe. Therefore we look for a rational explanation for such an event. We almost want to explain away the miracle so that the universe will keep operating according to the laws that we have discovered. This keeps everything orderly and gives us a measure of control over our lives. On the other hand, the story evokes hope in us that there may be a power beyond our universe that we can call upon to assist us. When we are confronted by the limits of our knowledge or are confronted by an impossible situation, we want to believe that God's healing power is accessible to us. Can the name of Jesus restore us to perfect health? In our insatiable drive to be in control, we seek to find ways to invoke this healing power at our command.
If we could just learn the right religious formula, then we could be healers as well. Peter points to this temptation when the people come running up to him after the healing. "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?" (v. 12). Peter rejects this temptation and points to God as the source of healing. We do not have such power at our beck and call. It only comes by faith in Christ's name. Peter's action in healing the man becomes a means by which Peter calls us to repentance "so that your sins may be wiped out" (v. 19). We have divorced sin from our pursuit of health. Yet Peter sees the two together. Our access to the source of healing in the name of Jesus comes not through some religious formula or pious act but through a repentance of our sins.
Psalm 4
When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent.
-- Psalm 4:4
One of the reasons for continual prayer is that we live in a world that constantly disturbs us. The events that surround us as well as people's behavior become a challenge to our well-being. When we are disturbed by events, we are tempted to sin or act in a way that distances us from God and neighbor. We so easily forget that God is at the center of our lives and is the source of our well-being. When we lie down to sleep, we are putting ourselves in a vulnerable position. In sleep, all our defenses are let down. Prayer reminds us of the one true source of safety that is available to us when we sleep. Prayer also reminds us of the true source of our gladness. Continual prayer becomes a defense against that which disturbs and threatens to shame us. In the end, it is not the lies and vain words of others that we need fear. Rather, it is the loss of contact with God who is the center of our dignity.
1 John 3:1-7
Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.
-- 1 John 3:2a
There is a present and an impending tension in this passage that most Christians know in their own lives. When we observe other very admirable people who do not claim the faith, we recognize that the fact that we are Christians is not due to any moral or intellectual superiority. Faith is a gift from God. "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God" (v. 1). We can only stand in awe that God has stirred within our hearts a yearning for faith and has fed that yearning with the grace of Christ. But even as we are grateful for what God has provided us, we are equally aware that our lives have failed to meet even our own expectations of what the life of a Christian should be. John is very blunt when he says, "No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him" (v. 6).
Faith is received as a gift, but having received this gift, there is an ethical urgency to our lives. A child is born into a family in a manner that is beyond his or her choice. But growing up in the family is full of choices of whether the child's living reflects positively or negatively on the family name. Jesus "was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin" (v. 5). Yet, having been invited into God's family by the grace of God, we are engaged in an effort to live our lives in a way that reflects positively on the name of Christ that we bear. "And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure." Such purification, however, is not just an internal effort but a social effort at social righteousness. "Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous" (v. 7). As is made clear throughout the scriptures, righteousness is composed of right relationships. As 1 John 4:21 puts it, "The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also."
Luke 24:36b-48
While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering.
-- Luke 24:41a
The experience of the risen Christ brought great joy but still left room for questioning and doubt. This stands in contrast to those who claim a religious experience that has removed all doubt from their lives. Those who actually experienced the risen Christ did not have all their doubts wiped away. A life of faith includes some doubt and questioning. This is part of the growing edge of our journey of faith. Our joy is in the experience of God's presence and not in a life in which we have all the answers.
The Easter resurrection did not solve all the riddles of life for the first disciples or for us. Rather, it demonstrated the faithfulness of God who was more powerful than death. The report of Jesus eating the fish was to demonstrate that he was physically alive and not just a vision or a spirit. Our faith in the faithfulness of God cannot be just an abstraction but must be experienced in the physical realities of life. It is in eating and drinking and in working and playing that the resurrection of faith must be experienced.
The complexity of our life, filled with both doubt and wonder, is the context in which Jesus continues to meet us as the living Christ. It is as we take those questions seriously, not as a challenge to our faithfulness, but as an arena for our advance in faith, that we can be open to the joy of faith. As we join in the struggle with the issues of life that often cause people confusion, then repentance and forgiveness of sins become a message that can be heard in all nations.
