Luke 24:36b-48
Jesus himself stood among them. 37 But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have." 40 41 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them. 44 Then he said to them, "These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
“They Disbelieved For Joy”
Good news as well as bad news is hard to believe. It is too good to be true.
To disbelieve for joy is to believe that which is too good to be true. It is perhaps the most honest way to hear and respond to the Easter message.
As Eugene Kennedy, says in his book, Believing, the disciples here are
“experiencing an impulse to believe more deeply...a passionate need to believe as richly and profoundly as possible.”
For “believing cannot be activated by force or by fear.” It happens when we encounter the mystery of the resurrection. And discover a truth which is too good to not be true!
Acts 3:12-19
3:12 When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, “You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him walk? 3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him. 3:14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 3:15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses. 3:16 By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
3:17 “Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 3:18 But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.
3:19 “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord
“But God...”
The genius of the poet is that he says more then he knows.
The same is true for the Bible, and those who spoke in it.
Like Peter in today's lesson.
He begins by blaming them for Jesus crucifixion; but he doesn’t belabor it.
Blaming doesn’t help anyone! It doesn’t bring times of refreshment.
Words of a father in a TV story where a boy drowns:
“To blame ourselves is the easy way out. It was a tragic accident.
It happened. It doesn’t make any sense. And to blame ourselves for it
happening is to run away from it, and it is to keep life from ever happening
to us.”
To blame is to die; to accept the mystery of it is to be open to times of refreshing.
Peter also gives them an excuse as a way out but doesn’t stay with it.
There is no hope in making excuses. It is a cowards way of blaming.
What we need to dare say is, “I blew it...but God didn’t and God doesn’t!” God can reverse it! That brings times of refreshment.
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