Wednesday of the 2nd Week of Easter (Year C)
Ac 5:17-26, Ps 33:2-9, Jn 3:16-21
John 3:16 is such well-trodden ground; you’d be hard-pressed to find a Christian who can’t recite that passage from memory.
The first reading, though, is more intriguing. It breaks the continuity established since Easter Monday by skipping over a large chunk of Acts 5 that can be summarized thus:
- Husband and wife Ananias and Sapphira try to take half off their donation to the apostles, and paid for their deceit with their lives. Everyone goes SHOCK! FEAR! (Ac 5:1-10)
- The apostles work lots of miracles, meeting with other believers in Solomon’s Colonnade, an area on the eastern side of the Outer Court in the Temple of Jerusalem. They draw crowds even from outside Jerusalem, all believing the apostles to wield such power that even Peter’s shadow could make them whole again, but none were willing to actually join them. (Ac 5:11-16)
This explains why the high priest and his cohort were filled with enough jealousy to order their arrest and imprisonment, only to have them be quietly teleported out in the middle of the night, right under the noses of their oblivious guards, and continue their preaching within the temple on the next day.
When the captain of the Temple and the chief priests heard this news they wondered what this could mean. (Ac 5:24)
Or in the words of far too many fictional characters: “I have a very bad feeling about this…”
Then they find out where the apostles went, and what they were doing. The captain and his troops gets tasked to recapture them, only to find an enthralled crowd surrounding the apostles. Imagine their frustration, having to dial back their usual jackbooted arrogance for fear of starting a riot.
Captain: PETER! You rotten piece of…
<crowd growls…dangerously>
Captain: <swallows angry oath in frustration> Peter, would you and your compatriots please come with us? The chief priests would like to have a word.
Peter: Of course, captain, since you asked so nicely.
Such is the power of the Truth that is the Good News. This is why I began this series of blogs reflecting on each day’s readings: I am compelled by One who is within and without me, to spend a large chunk of time each day ingesting, digesting and projecting the Word of God onto the public screen that is my website, a modern substitute to the temple courts that the apostles preached in. I pray that, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, this will truly become part of my daily life, and ask you, dear brothers and sisters, to firmly nudge me should I falter. Thanks be to God, and to you for reading this far.
Amen.
One more thing…
Every Sunday, I see some people entering church well into the Communion Rite, receive Holy Communion, and depart immediately afterwards. I’m genuinely curious to understand what compels them to take the trouble to navigate through the often-terrible traffic outside and inside the car park for just a brief few minutes. Could it be, in the light of Ac 5:11-16, that they seek healing without commitment, treating the Body of Christ as basically a “magic pill”?
If you know anyone who does this regularly, and has deigned to explain their rationale to you, please do share it in a comment below. Thanks much!
(Today’s title was inspired by Dr. Leslie Tay’s food blog ieatishootipost: Singapore Food Reviews and Recipes.)