Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020  (today’s lectionary)
The best reflection of God … is people. Thank you, Eddie Lowen. God is counting on you to be a joygiver, full of light and not darkness. “God does his best work in the dark.”
Peter and his friends, the disciples of Jesus are witnesses of all Jesus did. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. But they put him to death on a tree and now the same and great anointing offers everyone who believes the forgiveness of your sins in the name of Jesus.
Alleluia, we praise the Lord, alleluia, Amen! The right hand of the Lord holds me and keeps me, carries me and forgives me. The touch of Jesus’ fingertip traces my cheek even as the right hand of the Lord strikes with power. My healing frees me from the oppression of the devil, and this healing in this mercy hears my prayer.
It is wonderful in our eyes. (Acts 10, Psalm 118)
This is the morning of death and new life. This is the Easter morning of solutions and joy. An angel rolls away the stone, Jesus leaves an empty shroud and steps out to meet the day. And we, greeted as well through our proxy Mary, rejoice and lift up our heads.
#
Monday in the Octave of Easter, April 13, 2020. (today’s lectionary)
Peter is coming into his own. In the film St. Peter which stars Omar Sharif as Simon Peter, Peter nearly follows in Judas’ footsteps instead of those of his master and teacher. His guilt overwhelms him even as he discovers that Jesus has risen.
But his friends, the men and women with whom he spent the last three years, won’t leave him alone. He tries to go out “fishing” alone in his boat, but they insist on crowding on board with him.
And then, as we know, they catch no fish until a stranger onshore tells them to cast out on the other side of the boat. The nets fill up in seconds, the boat almost tips over, someone recognizes the stranger, and Peter is off walking through the water (not on it this time), rushing toward his great friend, Jesus, who settles alongside him by the morning fire and tells him over and over, “Peter, feed my sheep.”
How can he not, now, only a week or two later, praise this man and God, this Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus of Galilee, Jesus of Israel, soon to be Jesus of all the world!
God raised this Jesus! Of this we are all witnesses. Exalted at the right hand of God, he poured forth the promise of the Holy Spirit that he received from the Father, as you both see and hear! (Acts 2)
Luke hears Peter preach. Peter speaks of Jesus and his Father and the Holy Spirit in the same sentence, and of course this helps the theologians a bit later to happen upon the concept of ThreeInOne, of Trinity.
Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope. You hold fast my lot, and I will set you ever before me. (Psalm 16)
It’s nearing 10 pm. Soon I will be curling up in warm blankets, breathing deep, praying and thanking God for the day he’s given us, falling slowly into sleep. I think of Peter, resting after his day of preaching and organizing and healing and laughing, finishing his meal and retiring, reclining, covering his own self with warm blankets, breathing deep, praying and thanking God for this fine day.
Each night, like us all, Peter falls slowly into sleep. Things are different now. Tomorrow’s dawn still calls forth the next day of the rest of our lives, but now we live in hope and joy rather than sorrow and betrayal. Jesus is alive!
The angry leaders of the temple told their guards, “Make up the story that his disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.” And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day. (Matthew 28)
Fake news is nothing new, right? A little power, a little money whispered about in the right places, a little ambition and greed and especially fear … that’s all it takes.
Too late. Jesus is risen. The disciples have left Jerusalem and headed back to Galilee. They will be listening to Jesus more closely now than ever. The world will never be the same.
#
