[ Today's Readings ]
Jesus, you want our joy to be complete! That is why you give us your commandments and your teachings. All of these show us how to love one another as you love us by even laying down your life for us.
The world believes that such love is futile. You make us witnesses to the fact that it is not. Far from being futile, true and lasting victory is only found in love like this. That is why you call us to be witnesses to the resurrection.
Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men
who accompanied us the whole time
the Lord Jesus came and went among us,
beginning from the baptism of John
until the day on which he was taken up from us,
become with us a witness to his resurrection.
Yesterday we saw that Paul is so focused on the resurrection that even Festus couldn't help being aware of his main point.
Instead they had some issues with him about their own religion
and about a certain Jesus who had died
but who Paul claimed was alive.
This is an earth-shattering claim. But it isn't such a complicated complain that any of us need be afraid to make it. With this claim as a starting point we can tell the world all that you did while you were here on earth.
We tend to think that we choose you. We think that our analysis results in our Christianity. But in fact, you choose us. You propose. You invite. And our analysis, if it is anything, is part of our response. This should make us bold in sharing what you teach us with others. It means that what we are doing is much bigger than a personal agenda.
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you
and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,
so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
It isn't a matter of preference. It's your plan for the world. That is why you want us to bear fruit and why the Father will give anything we need toward this goal.
It is for this same reason that Matthias is chosen to join the the apostles.
May another take his office.
The Greek for office is "episkopēn" from which we derive, Episcopal, or bishopric. In other words, we see here the first ordination of a bishop. You provide apostolic succession for your Church to guarantee the witness to the resurrection and to your whole life. You want to tell the whole world "what his master is doing." You want to call all the people of the world friends. Raise up witnesses more and more to the resurrection!
He raises up the lowly from the dust;
from the dunghill he lifts up the poor
To seat them with princes,
with the princes of his own people.
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