The Readings – the Third Sunday of Easter – 14 April 2024
First Reading: Acts 3:12-19
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles
When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, “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? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you. “And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out,
The Word of the Lord.
Responsorial: Psalm 4
Answer me when I call, O God of my right!
You gave me room when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.
How long, you people,
shall my honor suffer shame?
How long will you love vain words,
and seek after lies?
But know that the Lord has set apart the faithful for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.
When you are disturbed, do not sin;
ponder it on your beds, and be silent.
Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord.
There are many who say,
“O that we might see some good!
Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!”
You have put gladness in my heart
more than when their grain and wine abound.
I will both lie down and sleep in peace;
for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.
Second Reading: 1 John 3:1-7
A reading from the first letter of John
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
The Word of the Lord.
Gospel: Luke 24:36b-48
The Lord be with you. And also with you.
A reading from the Gospel of Luke Glory to you, O Lord.
While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ!
Prayers of the Church:
Holy God, Holy and mighty, Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us. In the light of Jesus’ Resurrection, we ask you to hear the prayers we offer today for your world, your church, and for your people according to their needs.
Holy God, grant us the grace of repentance so we may experience the Good News of Jesus’ Resurrection. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Mighty God, let the light of your face continue to shine on us and on the mission of the whole church. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Immortal God, give new and abundant life to those who suffer from deprivation of what they need in life. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Merciful God, give comfort and peace to places in conflict - Ukraine, Russia, Israel, and Palestine, as well as to all those who suffer the terrors and dangers of war anywhere. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Healing God, grant health for all who continue to struggle with the COVID-19 virus and all the seasonal illnesses. Watch over and bless those who work for healing in any way. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Gracious God, you call us your children. Be with us as we gather to hear your word and worship you, remembering today the people of Peace Christian Fellowship, Chatham and their interim pastor, Pr. Paul Sodtke… Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer |
Loving God, hear us as we ask you grace for those who have been given over to our prayers.* Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer. {*Mike Ungar, Deb Kirschner, Rose Gotzmeister, Rose Ungar, Marjorie Weber, George Simonis, Rick Cornelissen, Rose Fick, Ian Rupar}
Holy God, Holy and mighty, Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us as we pray for all these thing in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Sermon
Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.
· As I’m sure you all know we experienced a solar eclipse last Monday. I watched it from my back deck with eclipse glasses my wife had kept from her time as a Girl Guide leader. It was an incredible experience. Of course, it was scientifically predictable and we’d known about it for months and still it was an amazing experience of the fantastic within the ordinary.
· In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus reveals himself in the flesh and eats something. He is not a ghost, but a flesh and blood person who can eat a piece of broiled fish. His presence was a surprise and a shock to his disciples, so his first words to them are Peace be with you. He still has to go further – “Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” What an amazing experience it must have been! Again the fantastic within the ordinary acts of touching another person and eating together, with no ghosts, spectres, or other strange beings involved. What is involved is the community of believers, all of whom encounter the resurrected Jesus. Then Jesus opens the disciples’ minds to all that the Scripture said and in that, he commissions them to be his witnesses to all the world.
· Going further, the first letter of John tells us Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.
· We are God’s children? And there’s more to come? It reminds me of the old stage saying: “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!” Claiming to be a child of God is not uncommon, but to say that the whole revelation of Jesus will make us like him might make us stop and think. Once again the fantastic is experienced in the ordinary. It’s ordinary to know ourselves as created beings and it still staggers the mind and exults the spirit to say we will be like Jesus when all is revealed.
· I really don’t know what this means. What God has in store might be beyond our understanding and even our conception. The Nobel Prize winning physicist, Werner Heisenberg said “Not only is the Universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think.” There is an awful lot we don’t know and a lot we’ll never know. As I said I really don’t understand all this, but it give me a special sort of hope. Whatever I might think, dream, anticipate, or search out, God goes beyond all that. On this, Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians says What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him. (1 Cor 2:9 NIV)
· This encounter with the resurrected Jesus calls us all to a deeper relationship with Jesus and commissions us to be his witnesses to the world as we find it, knowing that it is the world God created and Jesus died for. We, his disciples, are to be his visible, tangible presence for all around us… whether or not we eat broiled fish.
Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.
