Acts 3:11-26  “…Now I know, brothers and sisters, that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did; but God has thus brought to fulfillment what he had announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer.…”

Psalm 8: 2ab and 5-9   “…What is man that you should be mindful of him or the son of man that you should care for him?…”

Luke 24: 35-48   “…’These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.’  Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures…”

My ways are not your ways says the Lord.  Who can know the mind of God?  Confusion and suffering mixed with joy are the themes that come out of the readings for me today.  The apostles are gathered together discussing the latest events and trying to make sense of their world.  Jesus who had been brutally executed; ends up missing from the tomb, and has appeared to Simon or so he says.  When the two walking on the road to Emmaus join this group, they begin telling of their encounter with a stranger.  Suddenly Jesus is standing with them.  “Peace be with you” he says to them. (Luke 24:36)  I can almost feel their fear and confusion as I imagine this scene.  That feeling of confusion describes how I feel about what is happening in our world today.   Everyday people whose worst encounter with the law is an occasional speeding ticket are bound to be confused with the growing reign of terror in our world today.   But the disciples who had been afraid went out from that confusion to spread the message about the new covenant God had with his people.   When Jesus who was dead came and stood in their midst and even ate with them.  He then explained that what Moses and the other prophets had foretold had to happen.  “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.”  (Luke 24:46-48)

Jesus endured much suffering and even death, but many good works have been done in His name.  Dealing with evil has no less of a price to pay even today.  I don’t know if we have made correct decisions along the way to fighting the evil that is attacking innocent people in our world today - only time will reveal that answer.  We do know what we were told to do is to go out and preach the good news about Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.  Let everyone know about your joy.  Christ’s sacrifice has endured many centuries of Evil’s attempt to take over and remove our reason for Joy.  Just as the apostles were fortified by the Spirit to go on, we are reminded that those same resources haven been handed down to each of us.   Let us not let Satan win by fighting amongst ourselves.  God will bring good out of the rubble of our difficulties. 

We know we can’t expect to escape the Cross, and everyday the Lord said he will walk with us to help us carry it.  The Lord rebuked Peter saying “get behind me Satan” when Peter objected to Christ’s saying he would suffer greatly and be slain for the sake of all of us.  Out of the daze of today’s confusion let us remember to look up, to ask for God’s help.  Lord, please continue to be with our World’s leaders helping them to make sound decisions.   Help us too, to move out of our daze, taking the focus off of ourselves.  Like Peter and the other disciples whose confidence and focus was restored in the reading from Acts, we want to be about the work of spreading your Word and your Joy.