Bright Saturday; Our Venerable Father John, Disciple of Gregory the Decapolitan (c. 842)
Read
Acts 3:11-16; John 3:22-33
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
Having healed the lame beggar, Peter and John are now met by all the people in Solomon’s Portico in the Temple. We are told that the people are “astounded.” Yet, Peter challenges them. He is curious why they wonder now at such miracles and he emphasizes that this healing is not a result of his and John’s personal piety but that it is God’s work, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob whom the Jews worship, and who was fully revealed to them in Jesus Christ. Through the apostles’ faith in Jesus Christ risen from the dead, this miracle has been achieved. The direct implication here is that the Jews have rejected God in condemning and putting Jesus to death on the Cross, even though He worked great miracles in their midst: healing the lame, curing lepers, giving the blind their sight, and raising Lazarus after four days in the tomb. And then through His Glorious Resurrection, God performs His greatest work: He redeems the world.
How often do we miss things? How often do we fail to see the miracles in our midst? How often do we fail to recognize how God is acting in our lives? The beauty of creation, the gift of life, the gift of human love, and the gift of faith, are all revelations of God’s continual action in the world and in our lives. Let us not just be briefly astounded. During this Pascha, let us rejoice and be glad and give thanks for Our Lord’s Resurrection. Let us open wide both our physical eyes and the eyes of our soul to truly see God and the miracles He is working in our midst through Christ’s Resurrection.