One of the things I love most about the Bible is how God’s Spirit can breathe new life and fresh inspiration into even the most familiar passages and verses.
Last week, I started reading through the Acts of the Apostles again. I don’t know how many times I have read through or studied this book of the Bible in the past, but I would certainly feel safe in describing it as one of the ones I know “like the back of my hand.” As I started to read the opening chapters I wasn’t reading anything new, but still God made a way so that familiar, well-known words became a source of refreshment.
In Acts 3:14-15, Peter is addressing the crowd who have just witnessed the healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. He boldly reminds them that they were the very same ones who rejected Jesus Christ and brought about his crucifixion. “You killed the Author of Life” he says “whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.”
Those five little words I typed in bold caught my attention - Peter stating that he and his friends were witnesses to the events of both Good Friday AND Easter Sunday; witnesses to Christ’s passion and resurrection.
It struck me that I am a witness to those things too. I’m a witness to the Risen Christ and the power of his great love to heal, save, restore, and transform a life. And you are witnesses too!
As we continue in the season of Easter, reading Bishop Berlin’s Book, The Third Day, and learning from the lives of the very first witnesses to the resurrection, may we all be renewed as we seek to live boldly as witnesses of the new life we have found in the Risen Christ. I’ll see you on Sunday!
Blessings!
Pastor Charlie
