I.Theme – Now after the Resurrection what must we do ?
"Road to Emmaus" , Tiffany (1912)
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
First Lesson – Acts 2:14a,36-41
Psalm – Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17 Page 759, BCP
Epistle –1 Peter 1:17-23
Gospel – Luke 24:13-35
The answer to what we must do after the Resurrection comes in the various readings to this week’s lectionary.
In Acts, Peter declares God had made the risen Jesus both Lord and Christ. The people respond, "What must we do?" "Repent and be baptized."
The Epistle answers "live as the baptized" in reverent fear of God, and with deep affection for one another from the heart.
The writer of the Psalms package was in a time illness, near death.Tthe answer is to love and praise God since God saved him from this affliction. He will worship the Lord, and praise the Lord in the worshipping community in the temple.
The Gospel reading on the Road to Emmaus provides the fullest explanation.
The emphasis is on evangelism and mission. Two companions are on the road to Emmaus, some 7 miles from Jerusalem. Jesus meets up with them but they didn’t recognize him. He taught them the importance of sustaining their faith through scriptures. It wasn’t until they stopped for the night for a meal that they recognized Christ in the breaking of the bread. After the revelation of Jesus in the scriptures and in the Eucharist, the two individuals went back and shared their faith experience with the community, the Body of Christ in Jerusalem.
What would sustain the community of faith was the Word of Jesus, friends involved in community worship and participating with the sacraments. They had to live out and experience Jesus through revelation. The followers needed to open their minds and hearts to new possibilities as they fulfilled the mandate to preach repentance and forgiveness everywhere in the name of Jesus. We need to expect Jesus outside our normal experience.
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