(Zephaniah 3.14-end); Acts 3.12-19; Psalm 4; 1 John 3.1-7;
Luke 24.36b-48
Almighty Father, who in your great mercy gladdened the
disciples with the sight of the risen Lord: give us such knowledge
of his presence with us that we may be strengthened and sustained
by his risen life, and serve you continually in righteousness and
truth. Amen.
COMPLEX emotional states are very difficult to describe. The
writer of Luke's Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles avoids the
traps of incoherence and sentimental excess to achieve a
near-perfect account of the feelings of 11 shocked and grieving men
as they find themselves face to face with the risen Jesus. Despite
the tangible assurances that it is really him, they cannot take it
in (Luke 24.36-40): Jesus has to speak to them again, and ask for
food "while in their joy they were disbelieving and still
wondering" (Luke 24.41). This masterly weave of elation,
incredulity and amazement makes such an impact because it is
entirely consistent with the behaviour that might be expected of
people who had had no hope of seeing again someone they dearly
loved.
Conversation in the room must already have reached
excitable levels by the time Jesus arrived. The 11 disciples had
been joined by Cleopas and his companion, and had told them of the
Lord's appearance to Simon (Luke 24.34). The other two had related
in turn how they had met him on the journey to Emmaus (Luke 24.35).
Suddenly Jesus himself was there with them, and the 11 were too
happy to believe their eyes. For a fleeting moment they might even
have imagined a return to their earlier life as Jesus's followers.
But the Jesus who had first called them was not scarred by
crucifixion; and there was now something different about the nature
of his presence. "These are my words that I spoke to you while I
was still with you," he says (Luke 24.44). In future, "being with"
the disciples would mean something quite different.
To be prepared for that, the disciples had to believe that
this risen Jesus really had stood among them, touched them, and
eaten with them. Jesus's persistence heralded the next stage of his
call to those he had first addressed as they despaired of making a
catch after a long night's fishing. Then, they were promised that
they would become "fishers of people" (Luke 5.10). Now, the
metaphor was being translated into reality, in the ambitious task
of carrying the message of salvation through the resurrection from
Jerusalem to all nations (Luke 24.47). The disciples' eyewitness
testimony would form the substance of the teaching of those who did
not have such immediate access to the experience of Jesus's
presence (1 Corinthians 15.3-9), and must "walk by faith and not by
sight" (2 Corinthians 5.7).
This conviction of experience, reality and presence is at work
in Peter's powerful speech to an audience outside the Temple in
Jerusalem, amazed at the healing of a crippled man. It is essential
to read Acts 3.1-11 before embarking on the excerpt prescribed by
the lectionary; for the earlier passage is what makes sense of
Peter's words. Two things have happened: a crippled man, raised up
on to his feet, has been given a bigger and possibly more
problematic gift than a few coins (Acts 3.11); and the assembled
crowd has seen God's promise of healing and renewal fulfilled
(Isaiah 61.1-2).
Peter is at once stern and encouraging. This is not the first
time he has had to speak in these terms, singling out Israelites
(Acts 2.22) from the large crowd gathered on the day of Pentecost
as those who should have known better (Acts 2. 22-36). Yet he calls
them "friends" (Acts 3.17), and assures them that the covenant God
made with their ancestors is extended to them; and that God has
privileged them by sending Jesus to them first (Acts 3.26).
Such generosity of approach surely traces its roots to the
dominant note of joy in the reported appearances of the risen Jesus
(Matthew 28.8-10; Luke 24.41; John 20.16, 20). The transformative
element of the message preached to the nations was the visible joy
of those who carried it, often in the face of adversity, insult,
and danger. Many times, the words of Psalm 4 may have been the
prayer of these early missionaries, as they clung on to that first
joy: "You have put gladness in my heart, more than when their corn
and wine and oil increase" (Psalm 4.7).
This Easter, church leaders have spoken out against the
systematic and vicious persecution in many parts of the world of
Christians who have not denied their faith. As the Churches hold
persecuted Christians in their prayers, they should ask that
somehow the gift of that profound and transforming joy will not
desert those who suffer in the wreckage of their lives.
