Thursday within
the Octave of Easter
(Acts 3:11-26; Luke 24:35-48)
“What’s in a name?”
Juliet asks, “that which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.”
She will learn that a name contains more
than commonly imagined. Names identify
people both as individuals and as members of an association. Invoking a name in a situation can bring the
power of the person or association to bear on it. In today’s first reading Peter tells the Jews
that the paralytic was healed by faith in the name of Jesus.
Peter and John have just healed the man begging near the
Temple gate. Now Peter launches into one of the sermons in Acts that is considered
paradigmatic of Christian preaching. In
other words, all Christian preachers should not only imitate its conviction but
also its claims. Peter has no
reservations that Jesus’ death and resurrection are the source of new life. People have only to repent of their sins and
call upon his name to inherit eternal life.
More and more people today are searching for their
identities in their DNA. They want to know who they are by associating
themselves with particular real estates.
Of course, it is interesting but it is hardly conclusive and holds
little prospect for the future. We are
far better off to associate ourselves with the name of our Redeemer. In Jesus we are adopted daughters and sons of
God. He bestows on us the destiny of
eternal life. Like the paralytic in his
name we are made whole.
