Lectionary citations

Acts 3:12-19 with Psalm 4 AND
1 John 3:1-7 AND
Luke 24:36b-48

Focus Scripture:
Luke 24:36b-48

Weekly Theme:
Growing Community

Focus Statement:
“You are witnesses of these things.”

Questions:
The lectionary has separated this appearance of the risen Jesus from the Emmaus story, which immediately precedes it. Two weeks after Easter, we are very much like the earliest disciples, wrestling with the meaning of it all. Luke tells us that the disciples were frightened and confused and filled with questions. They weren’t hampered by post-Enlightenment doubts, but they did have their doubts nevertheless. No one then and no one now really knows how to explain the resurrection, so they – and we – can only try to describe our experience of it. When we read about the two disciples whose eyes kept them from recognizing him on the road, even though their hearts were mysteriously burning as he spoke, followed by this depiction of a growing little community of questioning, wondering believers, we read about ourselves, too. Today’s passage speaks of an offer of peace, a request for food, a blessing and a commissioning, In both stories, the disciples experienced Jesus’ presence as “mysterious but real. It eludes human perception, and yet is no human fabrication” (Brueggemann et al, Texts for Preaching, Year B). Both of these stories describe the very earliest Christians hearing and doing the very same things that 21st century Christians do: journeying, questioning, fearing, but also feeding and being fed, listening for and receiving God’s call, and, of course, doing Bible study. Trying to make sense of it all seems to be easier, or at least more fruitful, in a community that shares those questions and that call. And it is not insignificant that Jesus brings table fellowship right back into the narrative, because it’s still at the core of our story and at the center of who we are. The experience of the early disciples who touched Jesus, put their hands in his wounds and heard his voice, fed his hunger and received his blessing, is the same experience of Christians today who feed the hungry, break bread together, hunger for God’s blessing, and respond to the call to turn our lives toward God once again. In the New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary in Twelve Volumes (R. Alan Culpepper, “The Gospel of Luke,”Luke/John), God is described as having “been experienced by the community of faith as the One who saves, sends, and blesses…Joy is the natural by-product of blessing.” The power of this experience enabled the early Christians to endure persecution and trials, and it enables us to step out in faith in every new occasion in response to the Stillspeaking God who continues to save, send, and bless us today. Where is your church two weeks after Easter? Is your church’s experience similar to the Emmaus encounter, on the road, or more like the disciples locked in a room, hiding and fearful? What has your congregation “witnessed” that strengthens its belief, its understanding, and its trust in the resurrection? Does your church connect its “feeding of the hungry” with its own feeding at the Table? How does the death and resurrection of Jesus help you to make sense of scripture?

Acts 3:12-19

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.

and

Psalm 4

Refrain:
Let the light of your face shine on us, O God.

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 God has set apart the
faithful for God;
God hears when I call.

When you are disturbed, do not sin;
ponder it on your beds, and be
silent.

Offer right sacrifices, and put your
trust in God.

There are many who say, "O that
we might see some good!
Let the light of your face shine on us,
O God!"

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 God, make me lie
down in safety.

and

1 John 3:1-7

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.

and

Luke 24:36b-48

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."

Third Sunday of Easter
April 30, 2006
Luke 24:36b-48

GROWING COMMUNITY

At the core of our Christian faith is our joyful affirmation that the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us. The sending and receiving of missionaries, of companions, is one of our responses to God’s initiative in sending Jesus to be our friend and companion. The eloquence of the Word is in its being lived out in the flesh and shared with others.

Sharing life is giving and receiving the gifts offered by God through the Church. If we do not seek to understand one another’s language, culture, and traditions, how can we share life? We recognize that the Gospel is “in each place,” yet we seek to affirm the common bond we share as members of Christ’s body.

In our ecumenical venture as members of the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), we witness to both our cherished traditions as churches long engaged in global ministries, and to the needs of a world caught up in rapid change.

We are learning that access to the contemporary tools of communication does not guarantee togetherness. Only in openness and sensitivity to the other can we understand one another at a deeper level. It is in the sharing of life, both here in North America and in other settings around the world, that we experience true communion.

We celebrate the shared life of churches united in Christ, and we support this growing community with gifts to Our Church’s Wider Mission.

In ecumenical liturgical practice, there are normally three readings and one psalm at each Sunday service, in this order:

First Reading: Hebrew Scripture
Response: Psalm (or Canticle) from the Bible
Second Reading: Epistle (or Acts or Revelation)
Third Reading: Gospel

The first two lessons are normally read by laypeople, the Gospel by a Minister of the Word or a layperson. In Roman Catholic, Anglican and liturgical Protestant churches, it is uncommon for an ordained minister to read all of the lessons.

The psalm is not a reading but a congregational response following the lesson from Hebrew Scripture: it is normally sung with a refrain or recited by the congregation as poetry. Occasionally, a canticle is appointed in place of a psalm; it is sung or recited in the same way. The New Century Hymnal provides a complete liturgical psalter with refrains and music.

A hymn may be sung as an introduction to the proclamation of the Gospel.

During Ordinary Time (seasons after Epiphany and Pentecost) two alternative sets of OT readings with responsorial psalms are provided. The first option is a semi-continuous reading through a book of Hebrew Scripture; the second is thematically related to the other readings.