The Great Fifty Days of Easter reach their climax today.  The same group of women and men who had cowered in fear and denied and betrayed Jesus have now become bold and effective witnesses.  What has transformed them?  The events … Continue reading →

Acts of the Apostles 1:15-17,21-26 After the ascension of Christ and before the feast of Pentecost, Luke provides in another sermon, this time before 120 “friends,” an explanation of the fate of Judas.  The role and fate of Judas, he … Continue reading →

Acts of the Apostles 1:1-11 The story told in Luke’s Gospel and continuing through his Acts of the Apostles begins in the Temple in Jerusalem and ends in Rome.  It starts with concerns uniquely important to God’s people, the Jews, … Continue reading →

Acts of the Apostles 10:44-48 In the majestic narrative of Luke-Acts, the appearance of the Holy Spirit always marks a pivotal turn in the story.  As the testimony to the life/death/resurrection of Jesus spread to non-Jews through the preaching of … Continue reading →

Acts of the Apostles 8:26-40 In the gospels, Philip is just a name in the list of the twelve apostles.  But,  in Luke’s Acts of the Apostles we get a more detailed portrait of a Philip.  He is one of … Continue reading →

Acts of the Apostles 4:5-12 This excerpt from the Acts follows two dramatic events.  Peter and the others have pronounced in the name of Jesus a man lame from birth to be healed.  And, they have used the attention this … Continue reading →

Acts of the Apostles 3:12-19 Peter and John go to the Temple for daily prayers.  While there, they encounter a man “lame from birth.”  They announce he is healed and the man immediately “leaps for joy.”  To the crowd who … Continue reading →

Acts of the Apostles 4:32-35 In his Acts of the Apostles, Luke identifies two inter-dependent traits that gave the early church its identity: witnessing to the “the resurrection of the Lord” and spontaneous, voluntary generosity so that “There was not … Continue reading →

Easter Evening Year A.B.C Isaiah 25: 6-9 The prophet imagines a “feast.” which is so vast and so abundant it is attended by all humankind. This feast celebrates the defeat of all the experiences that diminish the universal human condition– … Continue reading →

Acts of the Apostles 19:34-4 Peter’s sermon, in Luke (Acts), is a precis of the early church’s core proclamation.  The Jesus, whom you knew or heard about because of his mesmerizing preaching and amazing healing as well as his gory … Continue reading →