Communicating the Plan for Life

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite our contemplation on how the message of Christ has been communicated and how we can prepare to be more attuned to receiving it.

Reaching People

The passage from the Acts of the Apostles ties Jesus to the expectation of a Prophet to arise and lead the Jews away from their troubles.

* [3:22] A loose citation of Dt 18:15, which teaches that the Israelites are to learn the will of Yahweh from no one but their prophets. At the time of Jesus, some Jews expected a unique prophet to come in fulfillment of this text. Early Christianity applied this tradition and text to Jesus and used them especially in defense of the divergence of Christian teaching from traditional Judaism.

Luke’s Gospel builds the evidence of Jesus resurrection in a bodily presence.

* [24:39–42] The apologetic purpose of this story is evident in the concern with the physical details and the report that Jesus ate food.

An outline of apologetic purpose of Luke comes from the Bible.org website.

In Acts the motif of Jesus’ resurrection as vindication, his fulfillment of Old Testament messianic prophecies, and the charismatic phenomena on and after the Day of Pentecost are used as cumulative evidences of the messianic lordship of Jesus (Acts 2:36) and of the authority of the apostolic truth claims. Along the way Luke uses the speeches of the apostles to present apologetic arguments to a wide variety of audiences, both Jewish and Gentile.

Nancy Shirley ponders why those who witnessed miracles performed by the apostles and heard the implications of what just happened to Jesus could not accept it.

Many have witnessed these incredible things and see the various acts of the apostles resulting in healing.  Yet, they can’t seem to get it. It always makes think that if they see all this and can’t believe what hope is there in getting people 2000 years later to understand.  What does it take to convince them – they were able to personally hear the teachings of Christ. To be in the presence of this amazing “man” – they witnessed Him healing and performing miracles and still allowed His crucifixion.  The first reading emphasizes that aspect

Don Schwager quotes Jerome (347-420 AD), an early church bible scholar, in a letter to Pammachius against John of Jerusalem as he describes Jesus bodily presence after the Resurrection.

"As he showed them real hands and a real side, he really ate with his disciples; really walked with Cleophas; conversed with men with a real tongue; really reclined at supper; with real hands took bread, blessed and broke it, and was offering it to them... Do not put the power of the Lord on the level with the tricks of magicians, so that he may appear to have been what he was not, and may be thought to have eaten without teeth, walked without feet, broken bread without hands, spoken without a tongue, and showed a side which had no ribs." (From a letter to Pammachius against John of Jerusalem 34)

Friar Jude Winkler describes Peter’s kerygma at Solomon's Portico as having a very Jewish emphasis with Jesus tied to the patriarchs. Luke resonates with Stoic philosophy in the strong emphasis on  God with a plan and our duty to the plan of God to accept our status as forgiven and share this understanding with others. Friar Jude urges our attention to evangelization in our parishes.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, quotes Irish poet and priest, John O’Donohue (1956-2008) urging full awareness and appreciation for our body, rather than pushing feelings away or pretending they don’t exist.

Your mind can deceive you and put all kinds of barriers between you and your nature; but your body does not lie. Your body tells you, if you attend to it, how your life is and if you are living from your soul or from the labyrinths of your negativity. . . . The human body is the most complex, refined, and harmonious totality.
Your body is, in essence, a crowd of different members who work in harmony to make your belonging in the world possible. . . . The soul is not simply within the body, hidden somewhere within its recesses. The truth is rather the converse. Your body is in the soul. And the soul suffuses you completely. [1]

Jesus Presence in a resurrected body calls our attention to the need to address the body as we journey as disciples of Christ.

References


(n.d.). Acts, chapter 3 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved April 5, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/acts/3

(n.d.). Luke, chapter 24 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved April 5, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/luke/24:35

(2006, February 20). 3. A Brief History of Apologetics | Bible.org. Retrieved April 5, 2018, from https://bible.org/seriespage/3-brief-history-apologetics

(n.d.). Creighton Online Ministries - Creighton University. Retrieved April 5, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/online.html

(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved April 5, 2018, from http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/

(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved April 5, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/