Easter 3
Devotional
Water From the Well
Lectionary Devotional For Cycle A
Object:
So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.
-- Acts 2:41
Acts recorded this as the report of the first converts to Christianity in response to the preaching of Peter following the Pentecost experience. The Spirit of God had found a channel to the world through the preaching of these disciples. Throughout scripture, the Spirit of God was a power that enabled a person or group to accomplish far more than they would have thought possible. The Spirit had been released, and those once fearful apostles were ready to take on the world. Peter's sermon not only had drawn upon ancient texts to demonstrate continuity with the earlier revelation of God but also had revealed the new thing that God was doing in Jesus Christ. "God has made him both Lord and messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified." If people repented, or shifted their focus from living in response to their human desires to living their life in response to the will of God, and if they were baptized in Christ's name, they would be forgiven of their sins and would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The church is called to carry this message of Christ to the world, advancing the purpose of God to reconcile the world to himself. Receiving the Spirit is their first step in that direction. The overwhelming response of 3,000 converts on the first day set the tone of Acts for the growth of the church. For contemporary Christians, many of whom are participating in churches that are not growing, it is an intimidating story. What are we missing that we cannot get that type of response from the community around us? A central message of Acts was that a critical element in such growth was the presence of the Holy Spirit. In other stories of the early church, it was clear that this growth did not always come smoothly. Even in Jesus' own ministry, there were times of growth and times of falling away. It may be, however, that the churches need to reexamine the manner in which they can open themselves to the power of the Spirit working among them.
-- Acts 2:41
Acts recorded this as the report of the first converts to Christianity in response to the preaching of Peter following the Pentecost experience. The Spirit of God had found a channel to the world through the preaching of these disciples. Throughout scripture, the Spirit of God was a power that enabled a person or group to accomplish far more than they would have thought possible. The Spirit had been released, and those once fearful apostles were ready to take on the world. Peter's sermon not only had drawn upon ancient texts to demonstrate continuity with the earlier revelation of God but also had revealed the new thing that God was doing in Jesus Christ. "God has made him both Lord and messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified." If people repented, or shifted their focus from living in response to their human desires to living their life in response to the will of God, and if they were baptized in Christ's name, they would be forgiven of their sins and would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The church is called to carry this message of Christ to the world, advancing the purpose of God to reconcile the world to himself. Receiving the Spirit is their first step in that direction. The overwhelming response of 3,000 converts on the first day set the tone of Acts for the growth of the church. For contemporary Christians, many of whom are participating in churches that are not growing, it is an intimidating story. What are we missing that we cannot get that type of response from the community around us? A central message of Acts was that a critical element in such growth was the presence of the Holy Spirit. In other stories of the early church, it was clear that this growth did not always come smoothly. Even in Jesus' own ministry, there were times of growth and times of falling away. It may be, however, that the churches need to reexamine the manner in which they can open themselves to the power of the Spirit working among them.
