Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter
(Acts 13:26-33; John 141-6)
Days come and go as the world turns on its axis. But one, for Christians at least, will last
forever. Because it marked an event
outside time, the day of the resurrection of Christ will never end. Humans take part in this day when they are
baptized into Christ. As Paul tells the synagogue assembly in today’s first
reading, “’…he has brought to fulfillment for us, their (i.e., the apostles’)
children, by raising up Jesus…’”
Paul’s discourse here is an example of early Christian
preaching. The Book of the Acts of the
Apostles contains several of these speeches, mostly by Peter and Paul. They summarize the entire gospel: Jesus is
God’s word; that is his representative, who was sent to the world to give it
new life. Despite many awesome signs,
the Jewish people did not recognize him as God’s emissary. Rejecting his message, they arranged his
crucifixion by the Romans. The Hebrew
prophets had foretold these events as well as his resurrection from the dead.
The Christian narrative probably sounded strange to people of
the first century as it does to our contemporaries. Surely it requires more testimony than that
of a preacher. We provide that testimony
by living the new life – a life of uncompromising virtue. By our loving acts and faultless lives, people
will know that Jesus has risen from the dead and that we share this destiny.
