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3rd SUNDAY
OF EASTER
Worship on this Sunday includes proclamation and response, mystery, transformed living,
and sacraments. As such the texts could with some careful reading and reflection be woven
together in a way that is natural and engaging, or could simply be shared as individual
proclamation texts.
Acts 2:14a, 36-41-A Response to the Word
For those familiar with the ancient four-fold pattern of worship, a response of some
kind is anticipated once the proclamation is given. The pulpit leads to the Table for a
eucharistia or to the altar for the offering of our lives and resources as an act of
commitment. That’s where we are this Sunday in Acts: we are listening to a response
to the proclamation, “What should we do?” Peter’s answer reflects the early
Christian emphasis on three movements in saving faith-repentance, baptism, and the gift of
the Holy Spirit. Luke has the calculator out and does the arithmetic to this early
response to the word-“so those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day
about three thousand persons were added” (verse 41).
Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19
Psalm 116 is a descriptive narration of God’s
interventions and salvation on behalf of the psalmist and thus, much
of this psalm is a response; it is a psalm of thanksgiving. The
psalmist—whatever had happened to him/her—experienced a mighty
deliverance and thus, went to the Temple to offer God a sacrifice of
thanksgiving.
1 Peter 1:17-23-Peas in a Pod
We’re in the middle of an exhortation to holy living. Since we have a living hope
of salvation through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the writer says, and in fact a hope
predicted by the ancient Hebrew seers, we must focus on that hope with such intensity that
it impacts the way we live. The instruction then recalls the Christian “before”
/ “after” narrative stressing atonement and redemption. Since that is the script
for all of those who are claimed by God, Christians have a shared history and since
we’ve all come from the same Source we thus hold a mutual, common love for each
other. We are all after all, before God and through Christ-peas in a pod.
Luke 24:13-35-Hearts Strangely Warmed
Perhaps the most intimate of the post-resurrection narratives, Luke 24 takes us on a
journey with two “of them” as they go from Jerusalem to Emmaus. The story is
magnificent and sublime, luminous and insightful. A third person, a Stranger whose
identity is deliberately kept from the two, joins them in the journey. (This will
undoubtedly recall the hymn, He comes to us as one unknown.) As the conversation ensues we
hear Jesus playing the part of an uniformed bloke with not a clue about the tragic weekend
events. Astonished at such ignorance, the two travelers educate Jesus to what he’s
missed only to be astonished again by how skillfully the Stranger instructs them about the
meaning of the weekend “beginning with Moses and all the prophets.” All of the
elements Christian worship-the sacrament of the Word, gospel-telling, transformation,
Mystery, insight, Eucharist, and going forth are in this marvelous story.
