The first disciples were transformed by the experience of the risen Christ in their lives. These ordinary neighbors – young adults or older adults, men, women, tax collectors, fisherman, day laborers, temple officials, wives, tent makers – suddenly became joyful outspoken witnesses, announcers of their joyful experience. The acts of the Apostles is a good blueprint for how we as individual Christians and how our local Christian community are called to live.
In today’s reading from Acts we hear the beginning of one of Paul’s first proclamations of the risen Christ. His message is tied to a real-life history. It is a proclamation of a God who is present in the history of Israel, a shared, lived experience. Being new in town, he is invited to share his faith after the reading from the Old Testament in the synagogue. First, we see that he responds to the invitation. He gets up and wholeheartedly shares his faith experience. He does not remain silent. Second, he calls his listeners to remember the marvelous actions of God in their history: their slavery in Egypt, the Exodus, their journey through the desert, their arrival in the promised land, the judges, the kings and finally the great king David and the promise of a new and greater king to follow David. Paul then announces that John the Baptist pointed out that promised new king in the person of Jesus.
This is the beginning of the first evangelization messages of the Church – the Good News. It is a lived experience. It is tied to a shared history of a God who is active in their lives and the fulfillment of all the promises the God had made to his people. This message and this style are not based on the recitation of cold doctrines. It is not the repetition of a memorized catechism. It is not prudish in the sense of being extremely pious. It is not condemning – in fact these first proclamations are full of pardon and forgiveness. It is not mystical in the sense of being placing the resurrection outside our daily life experience.
Paul and the first Christians were living proof, living witnesses that all the hopes and promises of their ancestors regarding a new life with God through a new Savior had been fulfilled in the risen Christ. They were already living in the new times of forgiveness, peace and joy. Think of your own life, your own hopes and desires for yourselves and the life of your family. First, do you share and announce the fulfillment of all your hopes, or do you keep silent? Second, is your sharing of your faith rooted in a personal experience of God’s action in your life through the risen Christ?
We ourselves are proclaiming this good news to you
that what God promised our fathers
he has brought to fulfillment for us, their children, by raising up Jesus.
Image: https://www.bible.com/events/480905