My first thought in this problematic passage is, \u201cOh dear, Peter goes from calling attention to the healed man to blaming this Jewish audience for Jesus\u2019 death.\u201d Living in a post-Holocaust era, we know where the evil of anti-Semitism can lead. We ask, why does Peter make that inappropriate\u2014even offensive\u2014leap when he says, \u201cYou killed the Author of life\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To help take the edge off, we should remember that Peter himself is a Jew, testifying to other Jews about \u201cthe God of [their] ancestors,\u201d the Jewish God. He is pointing out that it is not \u201cby our own power or piety\u201d that the lame man is healed, but by the man\u2019s \u201cfaith that is through Jesus.\u201d When Peter says, \u201cRepent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out,\u201d this applies to anyone who doesn\u2019t see God\u2019s sovereign power in the person of Jesus Christ. That could be us, depending on the day or the hour! We have the opportunity to see this as Peter\u2019s invitation, even if shrouded in accusatory language, to continually recognize the power of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can\u2019t think of anything more relevant to these latter days than verse 6: \u201cMany are saying, \u2018Oh, that we might see better times!\u2019 Lift up the light of your countenance upon us, O Lord.\u201d As the above reading from Acts suggests, so often we\u2019re not thinking about God\u2019s power, but rather about our own power. This psalm refocuses us, helping us start to process the reality that, were it not for divine protection, we would surely be lost. In today\u2019s world of constant danger and instability, we hear the words of the psalmist with a special poignancy: \u201c[F]or only you, Lord, make me dwell in safety.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This epistle elaborates on what happens when we reaffirm our adoption into God\u2019s family as \u201cchildren of God.\u201d Of course, Jesus is the key to that adoption. When we recognize Jesus as the one \u201crevealed to take away sins,\u201d we are counted among those who can \u201cpurify themselves.\u201d Without Jesus, our sins lay unredeemed \u2013 as the epistle-writer suggests, they\u2019re a kind of \u201clawlessness\u201d that has self-evident consequences. Hinduism and Buddhism have a well-known name for the cause-and-effect nature of these consequences: karma. But Jesus allows us to transcend that since by turning to him, we are putting our faith in God made flesh, who has the authority to take away sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Christian life, sin leads to a temporary blindness, which makes it possible to say that \u201cno one who sins has either seen him or known him,\u201d severe as it sounds. But when we turn away from sin and do what is right, we ourselves become \u201crighteous, just as he is righteous.\u201d It\u2019s all about repentance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How funny that we end our Bible study with this passage, since we\u2019ve been talking so much about having faith in Jesus\u2014and here, the disciples are caught off guard, \u201cdisbelieving and still wondering\u201d whether this resurrection appearance is really happening. Even in their joy, they are having trouble coming to faith at that moment, since Jesus\u2019 physical presence among them is so unbelievable. And in his love for them, Jesus decides to prove it to them by eating a piece of fish. He didn\u2019t have to do that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This final appearance of Jesus comes nearly at the end of Luke\u2019s Gospel, right before Jesus\u2019 ascension into heaven. Here, an early understanding of Jesus\u2019 identity is being summarized and rehearsed, almost as if it\u2019s just been crystallized by the community for which this gospel was made: \u201cThus 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.\u201d We are heirs to this very same teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Acts 3:12-19 My first thought in this problematic passage is, \u201cOh dear, Peter goes from calling attention to the healed man to blaming this Jewish audience for Jesus\u2019 death.\u201d Living in a post-Holocaust era, we know where the evil of anti-Semitism can lead. We ask, why does Peter make that inappropriate\u2014even offensive\u2014leap when he says,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201221,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23,22,52,3],"tags":[195],"class_list":["post-766942","bible_study","type-bible_study","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-studies","category-easter","category-sermons-that-work","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-easter-3b"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":23,"label":"Bible Studies"},{"value":22,"label":"Easter"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":195,"label":"Easter 3B"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/766942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bible_study"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/766942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":951749,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/766942\/revisions\/951749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}