Bright Tuesday. Our Venerable Father Titus the Wonderworker. Passing into Eternal Life (1959) of Blessed Mykola (Nicholas) Charnetsky, Exarch of Volhynia and Confessor.
Bright Week. No fasting or abstention from foods.
Acts 2:14-21. Luke 24:12-35.
Read Acts 2:14-21
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
In this morning’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we’ve jumped about 48 days ahead in our story since the glorious day of Jesus’ Resurrection. The apostles have just experienced Pentecost and are so abundantly filled with the Holy Spirit and sharing the message of the Resurrection that onlookers think they must be drunk!
St. Peter offers us three points for reflection today. First, we live in the end times—we needn’t fear the end of the world; rather, as Christians, we attentively wait for Jesus’ return. Second, the Good News of Jesus’ victory over sin and death is not limited to an ethnic or cultural group or members of a particular socio-economic class. Rather, the Good News of the Resurrection is for all peoples. This is our mission to share the Gospel with those who have yet to hear the Good News.
Let us focus in on the third point, “that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved” (Acts 2:21). It is not enough for us to know what Jesus has done for us, but we must have an active and dynamic relationship with Him. It is not enough that we recognize Jesus as Lord, as He warns us in Matthew: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Brothers and sisters, call upon the name of Jesus in all that you do, not just today, but though out your life. Invite Him to journey with you during your earthly pilgrimage to the Kingdom of Heaven. For Jesus did not tell us the way we should go, nor did He show us the way, for He is the Way, He is the Truth, He is Life.
Today, like the apostles, let us continue to be filled with the joy of having encountered the resurrected Jesus Christ on Pascha. Let us not be afraid to shout from the rooftops, that Christ is Risen!