May 11, 2025
(Acts 9:31-42; Ps.116:12-17; Jn.6:60-69)
“We have come to believe.”
Yes, Peter professes for the Twelve (except Judas, of course), “We are convinced that you are God’s holy one.” They have heard His words and seen His works, and despite the difficulty of this latest and most challenging of words – that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood – their faith is not shaken as is that of so many others, as is the faith of so many even today regarding the same teaching. Peter declares, “You have the words of eternal life,” and he knows by Jesus’ words all things are possible, for “it is the spirit that gives life” to the flesh. And so Peter and the apostles can sing with our psalmist, “The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the Lord,” and by this invocation – “This is my body… This is my blood” – the Lord’s words are proven true: His presence is with us, and of Him we eat.
And in our first reading, faith comes, too, through the blessed healing of two disciples. We are told that through the healing of one, “All the inhabitants of Lydda and Sharon, upon seeing him, were converted to the Lord”; and upon the raising of the other, “Many came to believe in the Lord.” Truly here is evidence that the Church “was being built up and was making steady progress in the fear of the Lord.” Whereas in our gospel we see a pruning of the faithful to discover those who truly believe, here we see those so refined, today in the person of Peter, serving to increase the numbers of those who believe.
“You have loosed my bonds.” What appropriate words from our psalmist today for those cured by Jesus through Peter’s intercession to sing in praise of God. For one is released from paralysis and the other from the very bonds of death. But how much more appropriate these words are for the others to sing, those who are set free from a lack of faith – those who come to believe in Jesus. For here truly is the greatest freedom, the greatest healing there is, to be able to declare with the whole of His faithful: “To you I will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and I will call upon the name of the Lord.” O that all might come to life in the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ!
As Jesus did, so do the apostles. As he healed, so do they. As Jesus told the paralytic to take up his mat and go home (Mt.9:6), so Peter says, “Get up and make your bed.” As Jesus said, “‘Talitha, koum’, which means, ‘Little girl, I say to you, arise!’” (Mk.5:41), so Peter says, “Tabitha, stand up.” And as surely as these are raised by the words spoken in Jesus’ name, so when the apostles speak the Lord’s words of spirit and life – “This is my body… This is my blood” – over the gifts of bread and wine, so truly do they become His flesh and blood. I pray all shall come to believe.
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O LORD, let us live and act
as if we believe in your Son;
let us do the things He has done.
YHWH, you have loosed our bonds and raised us from death by the sacrifice of your Son, and in His Name all are now saved from their sins and consecrated to you. Help us to believe the words He speaks, to be of the Spirit and life and not the flesh. O let us come to you!
O LORD, let our faith not be shaken by the demands of your Son, by the challenge He offers us to believe and so come to life in His Name. Let your Church flourish and grow in fear of you and the consolation of the Spirit. Yes, let all be converted to love of you and serve to do your will in this world, till all come to dwell eternally in your kingdom.
This day we take up the cup of salvation and declare your praise, O LORD. This day let us fulfill our vows to you, that in your sight our death might be blessed and we be raised to life with you.