St Mary's

Today Talk from Rev'd Samuel

14th April 2024

“May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you O Lord my refuge and redeemer amen.”

One Sunday morning, a priest came to his church, took the service, preached a long sermon and after worship, while everyone was having some tea and coffee, a little boy approached the priest and said, “When I grow up, I have decided I will give you some money.” “Well, so nice of you and thank you for what you are thinking” the priest replied, “But can I ask you something”, the priest continued, but why?”. The boy replies “Because my father says you’re one of the poorest priests we’ve ever had.”

It has been two weeks since we observed Easter, a day when we celebrated the event when Jesus rose from the dead, but if we recall today's Gospel passage in our minds, we can see that this passage refers to the very days when Jesus rose from the dead.

If we want to look at the context of this passage, we must look chapter twenty-four from the start. After reading the 24th chapter from the beginning we find that the two disciples were returning to Emmaus after Jesus' resurrection on Easter morning.

It is then that they meet Jesus on the way, and at first, risen Lord does not reveal himself to them, but after when they go home, he reveals himself to them on breaking of the bread. After seeing Jesus alive, the disciples return to Jerusalem and retell the whole story to the rest of their companions, and this is what this entire passage describes. That's why if we look at Luke 24:35, it says,

“Then they told what had happened on the road and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.”

As we all know that this passage is taken from the Gospel according to Luke, and according to New Bible Commentary,

“Luke’s Gospel differs from the other three in that while they are each independent, self-contained writing about the life of Jesus… From the second half of the second century AD onwards, there is a clear belief that the writer of the of this Gospel (and Acts) was Luke, the doctor and companion of Paul…The main theme is his account is the Gospel of salvation.”

If we recall today's Gospel passage in our minds, it is right, and I think it is appropriate to say that the commentary describing the gospel passage correctly, and the passage we heard reflects that thought. The word gospel means good news and the resurrection of Jesus was the good news of that time, as well as a news that is a message of joy, gladness, relief, satisfaction to all mankind.

This is the news that we Christians need to spread more and more. This is the news that we need to reveal and declare to more and more people. This is news that we need to enact more and more in our daily lives.

And this is what Peter and John demonstrated in the temple. The passage we just heard from the book of Acts is after the miracle where John and Peter healed a paralytic in the Solomon’s portico in the temple.

But the thing to remember here is that we can take this gospel, or good news to the people only when we ourselves are aware of it. Being familiar does not mean that we have memorized Bible passages or that we have read the Bible cover to cover. Rather, it means that we also understand it well. In today's Gospel passage, we can see something similar there. The disciples of Jesus who had gone to Emmaus did not understand at first when Jesus appeared to them.

This does not mean that they did not know what had happened, but rather that they had not previously seen the Word in the way that Jesus explained it to them at that time. And when he did so, their eyes were opened, and they began to understand the word well. All things were revealed to them which they had not understood for some reason. In other words, it would be fair to say that Jesus opened their minds so that they could understand the Word.

If we recall the passage in the book of Acts in our minds, it seems that Peter is reminding the people in the Solomon’s portico the mistake people committed by giving Jesus to die on the cross. But that is not the point, because what happened to Jesus was foretold long ago. Jesus knew what kind of death He was going to die. That's why if you study Psalm 22, or read the scriptures of the prophet Isaiah, or study other passages, you can read about the death of Jesus on the cross.

What Peter and John were doing here was, they were fulfilling what Jesus commanded to those disciples who met him on the road to Emmaus, because in our Gospel reading Jesus said that you are the witness of all things, now go and tell others. In other words, he is saying that now it your duty to proclaim the Gospel of salvation to others.

This does not mean that they did not know what had happened, but rather that they had not previously seen the Word in the way that Jesus explained it to them at that time. And when he did so, their eyes were opened, and they began to understand the word well. All things were revealed to them which they had not understood for some reason. In other words, it would be fair to say that Jesus opened the minds of his disciples so that they could understand the Word.

That's why Jesus said to them that it is your job now to take this good news to the world. Because it is natural that when we understand something, then we can explain it well to others. Just today someone sent me a quote on my WhatsApp, the origin of which I don't know, but I want to share it with you. The quote goes like this,

“Decisions are always easier, when vision is clear.”

So, coming back to the gospel of salvation, and its importance in our life, good new that we need to spread through our life and dees. While I was doing my morning devotion from one of my mobile application, it was written there that,

“We’re entrusted with the same mission as the disciples – to preach with zeal, courage, and conviction. First, we must believe in Jesus’ triumph over sin and death, finding life in Him alone. Then, we must commit ourselves to sharing this faith wholeheartedly.”

Keeping that in mind, let us look at our personal, individual, family, and church lives and see if we are fulfilling the responsibility that Jesus has placed upon us. Jesus said that now it is your responsibility to take this news to the people. The question is whether we are fulfilling this obligation. Are we fulfilling the task assigned to us? Are we carrying out the responsibility given by Jesus well?

The thing to remember is that fulfilling this responsibility is our duty. We must preach this gospel at our work, in schools, at our job, in markets, on buses, while traveling, in other words we need to fulfil this all the time through our actions, words, and deeds. Let us pray to God to give us the courage, strength, and guidance to do so.

God bless you all. Amen.