Peter and the other disciples do not know what lies ahead.
The suffering and death of Jesus has tested them beyond
their strength. And yet, they live through it to testify to God’s
power to bring life out of death, love out of fear, courage and
strength out of grief...
Gracious and almighty God, when trials grieve us, may we put our complete trust in you. Strengthen us to act on our love for Jesus even when we cannot see or comprehend your miraculous work among us. Amen.
Psalm 16 and Acts 2 fit together, since the latter quotes the former. Both celebrate God’s presence in human life and the powerful expression of that presence. In his Pentecost sermon Peter sees a messianic application of the psalm to the resurrection of Jesus. First Peter affirms that resurrection creates community, stressing the faith and love of Christians that arise without the experience of physical contact with Jesus. For later generations, belief and commitment are born out of the witness of others.
• Read Acts 2:14a, 22-32. When has a life experience made you, like Peter, feel that your faith was a sham? How did you move past that experience into renewed hope?
• Read Psalm 16. When have you perceived God as refuge? How has your faith in God steadied your life? What is your “goodly heritage”?
• Read 1 Peter 1:3-9. What act of power and grace on God’s part allows you to reconfigure or reinterpret your life story?
• Read John 20:19-31. When have you employed the power to release others from their sin? to leave them in their sin?
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