Not a Popularity Contest
Apr 13: Thursday in the Octave of Easter
When you’re considering what’s the right thing to do, it’s not up for a vote. What’s right is right, what’s wrong is wrong, and there’s only one person you need to check in with—God.
Reading 1
Acts 3:11-26
As the crippled man who had been cured clung to Peter and John, all the people hurried in amazement toward them in the portico called “Solomon’s Portico.” When Peter saw this, he addressed the people, “You children of Israel, why are you amazed at this, and why do you look so intently at us as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety?
“The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus whom you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence, when he had decided to release him. You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.
“And by faith in his name, this man, whom you see and know, his name has made strong, and the faith that comes through it has given him this perfect health, in the presence of all of you. Now I know, brothers and sisters, that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did; but God has thus brought to fulfillment what he had announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer. Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away, and that the Lord may grant you times of refreshment and send you the Christ already appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the times of universal restoration of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.
For Moses said: A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you from among your own kin; to him you shall listen in all that he may say to you. Everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be cut off from the people.
“Moreover, all the prophets who spoke, from Samuel and those afterwards, also announced these days. You are the children of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors when he said to Abraham, In your offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed. For you first, God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”
Today’s reading continues from yesterday’s, when the beggar was healed. Peter gives credit where credit due—he didn’t cure the crippled man, God did.
He goes on to point out how flawed and unreliable the mob’s opinion is. They, after all, chose to crucify Jesus, God’ servant.
But it’s God who they should’ve listened to. The God of their ancestors, who spoke through the prophets. It’s God who we should listen to.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 8:2ab and 5, 6-7, 8-9
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
O LORD, our Lord,
how glorious is your name over all the earth!
What is man that you should be mindful of him,
or the son of man that you should care for him?
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
You have made him little less than the angels,
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him rule over the works of your hands,
putting all things under his feet.
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
All sheep and oxen,
yes, and the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air, the fishes of the sea,
and whatever swims the paths of the seas.
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
Satan rebelled against God because of how much He loved humanity. He took a third of the angels with him in his rebellion against God. “What is man that you should be mindful of him?” could be the words of the Devil himself.
But God loves us. Satan doesn’t get a vote. God sent His only son to save us, because he chooses to. Unlike Satan, we should accept God’s decisions.
Alleluia
Ps 118:24
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us be glad and rejoice in it.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Do you think priests get sick of hearing the same Alleluia all week?
Gospel
Lk 24:35-48
The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way, and how they had come to recognize him in the breaking of bread.
While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them,
"Peace be with you." But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have."
And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.
He said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, "Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."
It’s important that Jesus eats with his disciples, because it shows us that he’s not a ghost or a spirit. He wasn’t raised from the dead in some metaphorical way. This is what he promises for us, as well.
And further, Jesus wants His name to be preached to all nations, starting with Israel, but expanding ever outward.
It’s not that Jesus wants to win a popularity contest. He doesn’t want the world to elect Him as leader. What he wants is to bring us to Himself, each one of us, individually.
It’s never about support or numbers; it’s about having a personal relationship with God.