God’s Amazing Power

by Sr Renee Dreiling ~ Thursday in Easter Week

Our first reading comes immediately after Peter cures a crippled beggar.  The astonished crowd hurries toward him in amazement.  But Peter is quick to say, “Why do you look so intently at us as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety?”  He reminds the crowd that it is through the power of Jesus that the sick are healed.  And, indeed, that it is the same Jesus whom they in their ignorance had turned over to be crucified.  He goes on to use this as a teaching moment, assuring the people that God worked through their ignorance to fulfill the Scriptures, to bring the promised Messiah to save us from our sins.

It’s a lesson we all need to relearn, God not only saves us in our destitution and desperation, but also God uses our destitution and desperation to exercise extraordinary power and transform our existence.

We learn again that fulfillment of Scripture does not normally consist in verbal prediction and specific implementation at a later date.  Rather, fulfillment comes in the continuous faith that keeps our hopes sustained, the faith that helps us remain steadfast in troubled times, the faith that keeps us worshipping. 

God is so present and so much in love with us that He uses even our failures and our ignorance to bring about miraculous deeds and healing.  It’s easier for most  of us to see Divine Providence as a reward for our good deeds than to admit that God uses even our ignorance and malice to bring about good.  We would rather believe and hope that God would use his power to strike down the wicked!

The Gospel comes with reassurance offering us peace and sure knowledge that Jesus is with us.  Our hearts should be filled today with the same incredulous joy and amazement that the disciples experienced when Jesus came to them, for, Jesus has come to us too.  He opens our minds to understand the Scripture and he asks us to be witnesses to others.  So let our joy and amazement today truly be a witness to everyone we meet!