Today's First Reading is from Acts, beginning at the 2nd Chapter and the 14th Verse (Acts 2:14,22-33 ):
But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know -- this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him, 'I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will dwell in hope. For thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let thy Holy One see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou wilt make me full of gladness with thy presence.'
"Brethren, I may say to you confidently of the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne, he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you see and hear."
Today's Song of Praise is taken from Psalm 16 (Ps 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11):
R. Alleluia.
Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, "My LORD are
you."
O LORD, my allotted portion
and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my
lot.
R. Alleluia.
I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I
set the LORD ever before me;
with him at
my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
R. Alleluia.
Therefore my heart is glad and my soul
rejoices,
my body, too, abides in
confidence;
because you will not abandon
my soul in Sheol,
nor will you suffer
your holy one to undergo corruption.
R. Alleluia.
You will show me the path to life,
abounding joy in your presence,
the
delights at your right hand forever.
R. Alleluia.
Today's Epistle is from the 1st Letter of Peter, beginning at the 1st Chapter, and the 17th Verse (1 Peter 1:17-21):
And if you invoke as Father him who judges each one impartially according to his deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile. You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake. Through him you have confidence in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
+ A Reading from the Gospel of Luke, beginning at the 24th Chapter, and the 13th Verse (Luke 24:13-35):
That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
And he said to them, "What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see."
And he said to them, "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them.
When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?" And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.
In today's
readings, we see the fulfillment of the Lord's promise in the Old
Testament: "because you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
nor will you suffer your holy one to undergo corruption."
In the First Reading, from Acts, Peter tells us that this promise was
made to David, and fulfilled in David's descendant, Jesus.
God became man in Jesus, that through Jesus we might be carried back to god, and not fade away when our bodies and our memories become dust. Prior to about 200 B.C., the ancients, both Graeco-Roman and Jewish, seem not to have had a very clear idea of the afterlife.
One survived as a "shade" in the underworld precisely as long as one's memory was kept fresh by one's descendants. The Greeks sacrificed to their honored dead, and Ulysses, when he goes to Hades to consult the shades, pours blood (seen then as life) into a trough, so that, by drinking of it, the shades will have strength enough to talk to him.
This is the thought in the Psalm: "...thou wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor let thy Holy One see corruption..." The Psalmist sings confidently that the Lord will remember those faithful to Him, even beyond the memory of generations of descendants.
Again, in today's Epistle, we see Peter talking about The greatness and wonder of what has been done for us by Jesus -- and by extension, by the Father, who made the promise to David. There are some key phrases in the reading:
"...ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers..." This is not so much a slap at the Jewish Law and its 600-some commandments, as it is a statement that we are reborn in Baptism to a completely new order of things, different from the "merely human' which was the lot of mankind before Christ.
"...destined before the foundation of the world..." Jesus is God -- the Second Person of the Trinity, and (in St. John's words, from his Gospel) "...all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made....". The Old Testament is the foreshadowing of Jesus, and the prelude to the New.
"...made manifest at the end of the times..." The end of the old times -- the times before the Incarnation, Crucifixion, and Resurrection. The new world, the renewed world, is not in some indefinite (or all too definite, in the case of the multitude of false prophets) future, but NOW.
Jesus came in the flesh some 2000 years ago, died, was raised, and ascended into heaven. He comes now in glory to raise the living and the dead. The new age, the millennium is NOW.
"...your faith and hope are in God." In faith and in hope, we reach out to God -- and He reaches back, and draws us to Him. This is the message of Easter -- the Father who raised the man Jesus will also raise us up.
In today's Gospel. Cleopas and some friends are walking back to Emmaus from Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon -- they have just been with the Apostles and others, and had gotten the news of the Resurrection. They are talking about it: "What can this mean?"
Along comes a stranger, who explains all of the prophecies of the Old Testament, and how they apply to Jesus and foretell the Resurrection. Their reaction is: "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?" -- one of the first instances of the power of the Word of God overwhelming people.
They did not know him, however, until the Breaking of the Bread -- they met Him, late on the first Easter Sunday, in the same way we meet him in the Liturgy -- in the Breaking of the Bread. Let us remember the experience of Cleopas and the others, and pray that we may always meet Him in the Eucharist . . .
In the Name of the Father + And of the Son + And of the Holy Spirit + Amen.