Listen here.
Welcome to
Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the appointed Scripture readings for
the upcoming Sunday. I am Pastor Eric Tritten from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
in Hudson, OH. Thank you for
being with me today.
I know that I’ve
been slack on getting these devotions posted over the last few weeks, and I
apologize for that. Part of the reason I feel bad about that is there is an
important change that takes place in the lectionary – the appointed readings
for any given Sunday – during the Easter Season. That change is this: instead
of an Old Testament lesson, we read from the Acts of the Apostles, more
commonly referred to simply as Acts. The reason for this is that Acts shows us
the disciples’ ministry of preaching about Jesus’ resurrection. They actual did
the work that Jesus gave them to do – forgiving and retaining sins, preaching
repentance and forgiveness in His name, and testifying that Jesus had truly
risen from the dead!
Let’s take a look
at the reading. It is from…
The Reading: (Acts 3:11-21
ESV)
11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly
astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's. 12
And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: "Men of Israel, why do you
wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety
we have made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you
delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to
release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked
for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of
life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16
And his name-- by faith in his name-- has made this man strong whom you see and
know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health
in the presence of you all.
17
"And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your
rulers. 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets,
that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent
therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that
times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may
send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must
receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by
the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.
Comments
Just
like our Gospel reading yesterday, this reading picks up midstream in a story,
and we need to open our Bibles to find out what’s going on. Why is some guy
clinging to Peter and John. We turn to Acts 3:1-10 to find out.
At the beginning of Acts 3 we find
Peter and John headed to the temple, “at the hour of prayer.” There was worship
and prayer going on at the temple. Remember, that the Christian faith flows out
of the Jewish faith, and many of the practices of public worship and prayers,
along with some of our devotional traditions, come to us out of Judaism. As
they approached the temple they met a man who was lame – he couldn’t walk,
work, provide for himself, anything. In fact, people carried him to the temple
gate to beg for money. So when he sees Peter and John, he begs them to give him
some money. Instead, Peter says, “I have no silver or gold, but I do have I
give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And
they help the man up, and all of a sudden he can walk, he can leap, and he
praises God for being healed.
This is who is clinging to Peter and
John, and this is why the people are utterly astounded. And this is also why
the people are ready to listen to Peter, who jumps on the opportunity to give
glory to God. I love the way he says this, “Why do you wonder at this, or why
do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?”
He’s saying – this isn’t about us at all! It is about God, however, and God did
this through the name of Jesus – the Holy and Righteous One, the Author of
Life. The leaders and the crowds put Him to death, but God raised Him up as the
proof that this is the One in whom we are to trust.
Now, notice how this connects to our
Gospel lesson. It’s not just that Peter and John are Jesus’ witnesses, but they
also call on the crowds to repent that their sins might be blotted out. Jesus
charged the disciples to preach repentance and forgiveness as His witnesses to
the resurrection, and that is exactly what they are doing.
Meditate on this today. Jesus death
and resurrection lead us to repentance and forgiveness. Jesus’ salvation gives
us forgiveness, and we live differently because of His forgiveness.
I use that word, “meditate,” quite
regularly in these devotions. I should probably pause and explain what I mean
by that. In Eastern Religions like Buddhism and Hinduism, meditation is usually
equated with clearing one’s mind and emptying yourself of feelings, emotions,
and thoughts. Christian meditation is different. God does not want us to empty
our minds; He wants to fill our minds with His Word and His love. My favorite
image of Christian meditation is that it is like daydreaming about someone you love.
It isn’t difficult. It isn’t unpleasant – or at least it shouldn’t be, or
wouldn’t be if we weren’t sinners. It is simply allowing God’s Word to work in
our minds so that it influences the way we think and act. Because we are
sinners, though, sometimes meditation takes some discipline and guidance. I
hope that helps with that.
Prayers
Thinking about
God’s Word leads us to pray. It’s like a conversation, someone speaks and we
respond. In God’s Word, God speaks to us, so we respond to Him in prayer. So
let’s pray:
Lord God, we
thank You for Your servants Peter and John, for their testimony about Jesus’
resurrection and their proclamation of repentance and forgiveness in Jesus’
name. Forgive us for our hesitance to speak about Jesus. And please shape our
hearts and minds so that we become people of repentance who live in Your
forgiveness day by day. As we trust in Jesus for our salvation, please give us Your
Holy Spirit so that we, too, will speak of all our Lord has done to save us
from sin and death. It is in His name that we pray today and always. Amen.
Memory Verse: 1 John 3:1 - See what kind of love the Father
has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The
reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 Jn. 3:1
ESV)
Thank you so much
for using Devotions for Worship, I pray that our time together has blessed you
and given you something to meditate on – some reminder of God’s grace to rattle
around in your brain – for the rest of the day.
Would you do me a
favor? If you got something out of this devotional time, would you like and/or
share it on Facebook, Twitter, or wherever you do social media? That would help
me get the word out, and hopefully help these devotions be a blessing to
others.
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God bless you!
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