|
The joyful news that He is risen does not change the contemporary world. Still before us lie work, discipline, sacrifice. But the fact of Easter gives us the spiritual power to do the work, accept the discipline, and make the sacrifice. - Henry Knox Sherrill
(How does belief in the risen Christ open you to spiritual power?)
|
|
Acts 3:1-10; PS
105:1-9 Lk 24:13-35 That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem
called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?” They stopped, looking downcast. One of
them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” And he replied to
them, “What sort of things?” They said to him, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the
people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides
all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his
Body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see.” And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
spoke! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what
referred to him in all the Scriptures. As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, “Stay with
us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the
blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered
together the Eleven and those with them who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!” Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how
he was made known to them in the breaking of the
bread.
USCCB lectionary
|
Reflection on the Scripture
|
“The Lord has been raised! It is true! He has appeared to Simon
[Peter].”
—Luke 24:34 The Holy Spirit inspired the authors of Scripture to testify that the risen Jesus appeared especially to St. Peter (also known in the New Testament as Simon, Simon Peter, Cephas, and Kephas) before appearing to the entire group of apostles. St. Paul also makes a special reference “that He was
seen by Cephas, then by the Twelve” (1 Cor 15:5). These, and other references, give evidence to the primacy of Peter. At the Last Supper, Jesus told Peter that Satan had specifically requested to put Peter and the apostles to a stern trial (see Lk 22:31ff). Jesus told Peter that it would be his role to strengthen the other apostles (Lk 22:32). According to the above testimony of St. Luke and St. Paul, Jesus appeared personally to Peter after rising from the dead, and only then did He appear to the remaining disciples. Jesus has especially chosen Peter, and his successors, the Popes. He gives them special graces, charisms, and callings. To come closer to the risen Jesus, draw closer to St. Peter and the Popes. Prayer: Father, may I live every element of Your plan for me in full. Promise: “They had come to know Him in the breaking of bread.” —Lk 24:35
Presentation Ministries
|
|
|
-Readings from Jesus Alive in Our Lives, by Philip St. Romain. Ave Maria Press, 1985. Contemplative Ministries, Inc. 2011. Part One, Chapter 1: The Witness of the Church The scriptures are not
writings about history in the 21st century sense of the term. There is a tremendous neglect of historical and biographical details among all of the authors of the New Testament. Why, we do not even know what Jesus looked like! Mark’s gospel, the earliest of the four, neglects any mention of his origins; none of the writings tell us anything significant about his education—something that would seem to be of interest when discussing a spiritual genius like Jesus.
Contemporary biographers must find these omissions appalling! In the same breath, however, we must be quick to acknowledge that scripture is not entirely ahistorical. Strewn throughout its pages are names of people whose existence can be confirmed by non-biblical sources. Scripture is generally true to geography and seldom poses events to have taken place in the wrong time. We do know that
Jesus has a definite place in history; he was born during the reign of Augustus and died during the reign of Tiberius. A few names and places jotted down as asides by the evangelists let on this much.
From the foregoing it should now be clear that scripture does not permit an accurate formulation of a biography of Jesus (even though many such books have been written). Events from his life
preserved for us were written down because of their meaning to the early Church. As the appendix to John’s gospel states: “There are still many other things that Jesus did, yet if they were written down in detail, I doubt there would be room enough in the entire world to hold the books to record them” (Jn 21:25). Let us, therefore, expect no more from scripture than it proposes to give us: a testament of the faith of the early Church, which includes a quasi-historical account of the
meaning of certain events in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
Paperback and eBook versions
|
Please support this outreach with a tax-deductible donation.
|
|
|