116 I love you, Lord! You answered my prayers. 2 You paid attention to me, and so I will pray to you as long as I live. 3 Death attacked from all sides, and I was captured by its painful chains. But when I was really hurting, 4 I prayed and said, “Lord, please don’t let me die!”
12 What must I give you, Lord, for being so good to me? 13 I will pour out an offering of wine to you, and I will pray in your name because you have saved me. 14 I will keep my promise to you when your people meet. 15 You are deeply concerned when one of your loyal people faces death.
16 I worship you, Lord, just as my mother did, and you have rescued me from the chains of death. 17 I will offer you a sacrifice to show how grateful I am, and I will pray. 18 I will keep my promise to you when your people 19 gather at your temple in Jerusalem. Shout praises to the Lord!
You are given the opportunity to say what you have always wanted to. What would you say?
Peter is responding to the crowd. These words actually come on the day of Pentecost, after the people have heard the coming of the Holy Spirit. The crowd is very confused about what has happened and is happening, and so Peter sets out to tell them – not just what it means – but also what they should do about it. Words they need to hear if they are to begin to understand what Jesus was about and what he means.
14 Peter stood with the eleven apostles and spoke in a loud and clear voice to the crowd:
Friends and everyone else living in Jerusalem, listen carefully to what I have to say!
36 Everyone in Israel should then know for certain that God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ, even though you put him to death on a cross.
37 When the people heard this, they were very upset. They asked Peter and the other apostles, “Friends, what shall we do?”
38 Peter said, “Turn back to God! Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven. Then you will be given the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is for you and your children. It is for everyone our Lord God will choose, no matter where they live.”
40 Peter told them many other things as well. Then he said, “I beg you to save yourselves from what will happen to all these evil people.” 41 On that day about three thousand believed his message and were baptized.
The people seem genuinely upset that anyone should think that they put Jesus to death. But there doesn’t seem to be any argument about it. Perhaps there is a dawning recognition that someone should have stopped what was happening to Jesus during his trial, maybe stood up for Jesus, or listened to what he had to say; certainly not just going with the mob. A growing realisation that Peter is right and Jesus was and is Lord, and they, collectively, have crucified him, if not by doing it, by not stopping it. They recognise their place, their part in his death.
So they want to know what to do. How can they put right the injustice they have allowed to steam roller on? The things they have done that caused his death?
Peter reassures them. Actually it is quite simple. They need to turn back to him and they will be forgiven. The hardest part is realising what we’ve done, from then God deals with it.
This is Peter speaking. Remember Peter? The one who denied that he knew Jesus on that dreadful night, the one who refused to speak up, when who knows what word might have changed the course of things. Yet he has found God’s forgiveness and restoration. He can tell them with certainty that they can know it too.
And so the truth is, whatever we realise we have done, whatever part we know we have played in the crucifixion of Jesus, there is forgiveness, hope and new life. The very God who has been offended and attacked forgives us. We need no longer live in fear or shame, for as we turn to God and seek his forgiveness, he gives it.
Seeking forgiveness may not seem simple, it may be a struggle – but God waits, he promises, he forgives as we can come to him.
Lord,
as I reflect,
I can see my part
in your death.
The things I have done,
that have been another nail,
hammered home,
holding you to the cross.
I realise that I am
as responsible as anyone.
So what can I do?
I come,
in confession,
longing for your forgiveness,
knowing that you give it,
replacing my guilt
with your Holy Spirit.
Thank you
for doing that,
for forgiving me,
setting me free
from the stupid things I have done,
the wilful things,
things that have hurt you,
those around me
and myself.
Thank you
that something can be done,
all is not lost
and you give me new life.
19 The disciples were afraid of the Jewish leaders, and on the evening of that same Sunday they locked themselves in a room. Suddenly, Jesus appeared in the middle of the group. He greeted them 20 and showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they became very happy.
21 After Jesus had greeted them again, he said, “I am sending you, just as the Father has sent me.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they will be forgiven. But if you don’t forgive their sins, they will not be forgiven.”
Jesus and Thomas
24 Although Thomas the Twin was one of the twelve disciples, he wasn’t with the others when Jesus appeared to them. 25 So they told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But Thomas said, “First, I must see the nail scars in his hands and touch them with my finger. I must put my hand where the spear went into his side. I won’t believe unless I do this!”
26 A week later the disciples were together again. This time, Thomas was with them. Jesus came in while the doors were still locked and stood in the middle of the group. He greeted his disciples 27 and said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands! Put your hand into my side. Stop doubting and have faith!”
28 Thomas replied, “You are my Lord and my God!”
29 Jesus said, “Thomas, do you have faith because you have seen me? The people who have faith in me without seeing me are the ones who are really blessed!”
Why John Wrote His Book
30 Jesus worked many other miracles for his disciples, and not all of them are written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you will put your faith in Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. If you have faith in him, you will have true life.
We were alone and afraid. In the last few days we had been through just about every emotion imaginable. Hope, as Jesus entered Jerusalem, thinking this was it, this was the time, the Messiah was here, and everything was going to be different; confusion at the meal, when he spoke of betrayal and suffering; the dawning horror of his arrest and the out of control steam roller that became his death; the pain, anguish and heartache watching his final surrender to all that humanity at its worst could throw at him; his death…
And then, as we mourned, more confusion. He wasn’t dead after all, but was alive. What to think, what to do?
So we did what we could. We gathered together. To comfort, for protection, to try to work it all out.
Of course the authorities would think it was us. That we had somehow removed the body and were making up stories to make it seem like we weren’t fools, following a broken dream; that we hadn’t been deluded; that we weren’t wrong about Jesus.
As we sat, in shock, in wondering, in fear, suddenly there he was. Just when we needed him, Jesus came to us and was amongst us, present in all those tumbling, whirling emotions; still there in the reality of our lives.
But he wasn’t just appearing to reassure us, though that was important. He also came to remind us that the work was not done. His death and resurrection are not the end, but a new beginning. We are to now the ones to go and to show others God’s ways. All that Jesus showed us, we are to pass on and to live out, to bring his forgiveness and hope to the world.
A hope, even for those who find it hard to believe it.
Thomas wasn’t there, he thought he’d missed out, that the resurrected Jesus wasn’t for him. Jesus got that and came just for him. Came so that he could touch the wounds and know their healing in his life. God wasn’t worried by his continued doubts and ongoing worries, he came to meet them and reassure.
So, however we are left feeling after Easter, sad, happy, bemused, confused, empowered, or any combination, God comes to us, says, ‘Peace be with you’. He invites us to know his reality in our lives today, and sends us to get on with the work – his work, before us.
Thank you Lord
That you are with me
in confusion,
pain,
bafflement,
sadness
and joy.
Thank you for being with me,
bringing your peace
and meeting me where I need it.
Thank you
that I can touch your wounds
and know the reality of your love
and hope.
Renewed,
restored
and empowered by you,
may I go
and do all you ask of me –
to take your words
of love,
hope,
peace
and forgiveness
to all who need to hear
Pam's Perambulation 