Daily Readings Reflection for 4/07/10

Reflection on Today’s Daily Readings by Fr. Bertrand Buby, SM

Scripture: Lectionary # 263. Acts 3:1-10. Psalm 105:1-2,3-4,6-7, 8-9. Luke
24:13-35.

Post-resurrection narratives continue at the end of each Gospel, but it is
Luke in the Acts who shows the effect of the resurrection of Jesus in the
bringing in of the Kingdom of God through the Apostles witness and
preaching and now today through the extraordinary healing powers some of
them possess. Jesus had promised that they would be able "to move
mountains" but even better, to heal, exorcise, and forgive people of their
sins. John and Peter perform a miracle by healing the man who was crippled
from birth and who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the holy city of Jerusalem.
Both apostles were on their way to say a "three o'clock prayer" in the
Temple when they see the beggar asking for alms. He lights up for Luke
tells us he saw there was hope in the way they stopped and paid attention
to him--a rarity in his life! Peter says, "I have neither silver nor gold,
but what I have I give you! In the name of Jesus the Nazorean, walk." He
is cured and he starts walking, jumping, and praising God outside and
inside the Temple. The Good News of Jesus' Resurrection is not only a
silent witnessing nor a bombastic preaching and teaching, it is also a real
healing through the hands of Peter and John. These were the two who ran to
the tomb and now they make it possible for the beggar to run to the Temple
and skip, hop, and jump through the dusty warm clay of the city streets.
The people who knew the poor cripple were astounded and so are we. But the
resurrection does such things for those who trust and believe beyond the
normal way of seeing things.

Luke then fascinates us with one of the most colorful stories surrounding
the resurrection. Two disciples are on their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus
some seven miles away. An unknown person joins them (they do not recognize
Jesus) and asks them about the latest news in Jerusalem. They then tell
their version of what has happened to Jesus whom they thought would do
something more than prophesy. They were sad and discouraged. Jesus
startles them by telling their version of the story in the perspective of
the Torah, the Prophets, and the Psalms (writings). He may have
synthesized the whole of the Tanak for them in this course on Scripture
given on a journey. They are amazed and thunderstruck. When evening draws
near, they invite Jesus to stay and dine with them. He accepts and when he
takes the bread and blesses it they realize that it is Jesus in their
midst. He however leaves almost as quietly as he had joined them on their
journey. The account Luke gives us is similar to what we experience in the
liturgical celebration of the Word and the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
We too learn about Jesus through the whole of Scripture and when we are
truly open to the Word of God it is Jesus through the Holy Spirit who
breaks open for us that Word then gives himself to us in the bread and wine
that have been transformed into his very person or as the words say, into
his body and blood.

It is conjectured that the two on their way to Emmaus could have been Mary
and her husband Cleopas. Luke continues to gives us many such brilliant
stories about the events after the resurrection that formed the first
community of believers in and around the city of Jerusalem. Alleuiah and
Amen!