Our Venerable Father Theodore of Syceum (613)
Read
Acts 4:13-22; John 5:17-24
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
Today’s passage wants us to think about change. Luke sets for us a confrontation between Peter, John and the Jewish authorities. The authorities cannot deny a miracle worked by Peter in the name of Jesus and yet are unable to accept it. Even more, they recognized these apostles as uneducated cowards. Uneducated for they never formally studied and cowards because they betrayed, denied and abandoned their master in his time of trial and crucifixion. This change was so stark that it was almost disorienting to the Jewish authorities.
We are reminded today of the power of the resurrected Christ to transform lives from fear and helplessness to deep peace and conviction. St. John Chrysostom emphasizes that their boldness is rooted in a solid faith that “there is no other name (that is the name of Jesus) under heaven given among men by which we must be saved…” (Acts 4:12). The resurrected Christ has the power to change us just as he did the apostles, but we like them have to put our faith in Jesus and “renounce the present life…” (St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles 10). That is to say, there is nothing here on earth worth pursuing as the highest good, except for Jesus and his Kingdom. To renounce this life means that everything I think, say and do I bring under the reign of the King of Heaven. The more my life falls in line with Christ the more he is able to effect amazing change in my life.