Third Sunday of Easter Year B 18th April 2021
Lectionary readings: Acts 3 v12-19; Psalm 4; 1 John 3 v1-9, Luke 24 v36b-48.
Letting go and letting God.
The psalmist says “I can lie down and sleep soundly because you, Lord, will keep me safe”. (Ps4 v8).
The writer is confident that he/she can let go of wakefulness and trust God to look after them as they drift off to sleep.
The other lectionary readings echo this theme of trusting God to look after us.
In the reading from Luke’s gospel, Jesus appeared to his disciples, addressed their needs, “Then he helped them understand the Scriptures. He told them the Scriptures say that the Messiah must suffer, then three days later he will rise from death. They also say that all people of every nation must be told in my name, to turn to God, in order to be forgiven”. (v45-48).
All the New Testament writers suggest that if we are willing to turn to God, he will forgive our sins.
John says “You know that Christ came to take away sins”. (1 John 3 v5).
Sin is a barrier of our own making. Sin is anything that prevents us from having of a close, loving relationship with God.
John goes on to say “people who stay united in their hearts with Christ won’t keep sinning”. (v5). “God’s life-giving power lives in them, and makes them his children, so that they cannot keep on sinning”. (v9).
“God’s live-giving power” is John’s way of referring to the gift of the Holy Spirit, that follows the gift of forgiveness. Both gifts are expressions of God’s grace, the undeserved kindness of God.
Luke, writing in Acts, records Peter’s speech in the temple just after the healing of a lame man. Peter is speaking as one who has recently been forgiven by Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Peter and John had let God’s power flow through them to bring about a miraculous healing. Peter knows that the healing was an act of God, only made possible because it was done in the name of Jesus the Messiah.
The crowd had witnessed God’s love at work among them. Peter says that if anyone in the crowd wishes to experience God’s healing touch in their life they should “turn back to God! Give up your sins and you will be forgiven” (v19).
The combined wisdom of the New Testament writers points towards a loving heavenly Father who wants the best for us. “Think how much the Father loves us. He loves us so much that he lets us be called his children, as we truly are”. (1 John 3 v1)
All that is asked of us is simply to turn to God and to let go of all that hinders the flow of God’s love towards us.
‘Letting go and letting God’ is a recipe for peace, God’s peace, in our hearts and minds. The sort of peace that is infectious, enabling us to be effective disciples.
Bible quotations are taken from the Contemporary English Version.