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It’s Not About You: A Meditation on the Abrupt End of the Acts of the Apostles Msgr. Charles Pope • May 26, 2016 • Last week as we finished the Easter Cycle and crowned it with Pentecost. We also finished the lengthy reading of the Acts of the Apostles. There are two parts of the Acts of the Apostles: The Acts of Peter and those of Paul. But to be honest, the book has an unfinished quality to it. Let’s consider that.First, a quick summary: The second part of Acts is focused on the evangelical mission of St. Paul...

“Ascension Day, the Forgotten Festival” (Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1:1-11) Welcome to the Forgotten Festival! Today is Ascension Day, or, as it’s more properly called, the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord. But there is reason to call it, as I say, the “Forgotten” Festival. Because even though Ascension Day is classed in the church year as a major festival, which means it’s a day for all churches to hold the Divine Service of Word and Sacrament, the sad fact is that in recent decades many congregations and many Christians have forgotten all about celebrating this important festival. It used...

“Easter Joy Continues!” (John 20:19-31; Acts 5:29-42; 1 Peter 1:3-9) Alleluia! Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!) Yes, he is risen indeed! And guess what? He is still risen! Christ didn’t stop being risen once Easter Day was over. And so the Easter season continues--and with it, our Easter joy. It’s the Second Sunday “of” Easter! Thus our theme for this morning: “Easter Joy Continues!” The Easter joy was certainly evident last Sunday. Easter Day at St. Matthew’s was a day of great joy. As soon as the resurrection was announced at the start of the service, we...

“Pentecost: A Firstfruits Harvest Festival” (Acts 2:1-41) What do you know about the Feast of Pentecost? If you’re like most people in the church today, I’m guessing not too much. Oh, maybe you know it has something to do with the coming of the Holy Spirit. And you would be right. But there’s more to it than that. OK, let’s see. Maybe you’ve heard that Pentecost is called “the birthday of the church.” Well, alright, there’s something to that. Maybe somewhere along the line you heard that people can wear red to church on Pentecost Sunday. And that does match...

“Our Guiding, Guarding Good Shepherd” (John 10:22-30; Acts 20:17-35; Revelation 7:9-17) Today is “Good Shepherd Sunday.” Every year on this Sunday in the Easter season we focus our attention on Jesus as our good shepherd. On this day every year our psalm is Psalm 23, “The LORD is my shepherd.” On this day every year the Holy Gospel is a portion of John 10, the chapter in which Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, and I lay down my life for the sheep.” Every year on this Sunday the other...

Some will tell you the Bible can't be understood. Others say you can't understand it without a theology degree, or an ordained teacher, or a special vision/revelation. I challenge those claims, and invite everyone to read Acts 4 and see whether the following questions are too difficult. And when you're done, you might find you know more than your preacher. :-) 1. What was it in Peter's sermon in ch. 3 that upset the Sadducees so much? (See Mt. 22:23, for instance.) 2. In Mt. 10:17-20, Lk. 21:12-15, Mk. 13:9-11, and elsewhere, Jesus had given to the apostles warnings, instructions,...

Some will tell you the Bible can't be understood. Others say you can't understand it without a theology degree, or an ordained teacher, or a special vision/revelation. I challenge those claims, and invite everyone to read Acts 3 and see whether the following questions are too difficult. And when you're done, you might find you know more than your preacher. :-) 1. What was the lame man expecting to receive from Peter and John? 2. Did the people recognize this man? Why were they amazed when they saw him? 3. How had the Jews treated their Messiah/Christ? 4. What proofs...

Some will tell you the Bible can't be understood. Others say you can't understand it without a theology degree, or an ordained teacher, or a special vision/revelation. I challenge those claims, and invite everyone to read Acts 2 and see whether the following questions are too difficult. And when you're done, you might find you know more than your preacher. :-) 1. Something unusual happened on Pentecost. Was this predicted by Jesus in the previous chapter? 2. How many different nationalities were represented in Jerusalem at Pentecost? 3. How did they know the apostles were Galileans? 4. Joel's prophecy quoted...

Some will tell you the Bible can't be understood. Others say you can't understand it without a theology degree, or an ordained teacher, or a special vision/revelation. I challenge those claims, and invite everyone to read Acts 1 and see whether the following questions are too difficult. And when you're done, you might find you know more than your preacher. :-) 1. Acts is Luke's second book. What was his first book about? 2. What convinced the apostles that Jesus had been raised from the dead? 3. Why didn't they begin proclaiming the gospel right away? 4. When would they...

“The Past, Present, and Future of the Ascension” (Luke 24:44-53; Ephesians 1:15-23; Acts 1:1-11)“He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence he will come to judge the living and the dead.” That’s what we just confessed about our Lord Jesus Christ, isn’t it? This portion of the Apostles’ Creed captures what this day, Ascension Day, is all about. These three things: He ascended into heaven. He sits at the right hand of the Father. And he will come again. A past act. A present reality. And a future hope. And all...

“One Name, One Flock, One Shepherd” (Acts 4:1-12; John 10:11-18)Today is the Fourth Sunday of Easter, also known as “Good Shepherd Sunday,” the day in the church year every year when the propers--that is, the various parts of the service--revolve around Jesus as our Good Shepherd. The Holy Gospel is always a portion of John 10, in which Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd. The Psalm is always the 23rd Psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd.” The Hymn of the Day, which we just sang, is “The King of Love My Shepherd Is.” And so on. This theme of the...

“Faith, Fellowship, and Forgiveness” (John 20:19-31; 1 John 1:1 – 2:2; Acts 4:32-35) Did you get any gifts for Easter? Maybe an Easter basket, filled with chocolate bunnies and jelly beans and Easter eggs that you open up and there’s a coin inside? Well, I can think of some Easter gifts that are even better than that. And today I want to tell you about them. They’re right there in our readings for today, and they are these Easter gifts, three of them: “Faith, Fellowship, and Forgiveness.” Faith, fellowship, and forgiveness: three Easter gifts that we have because of the...

1) Who was St. Luke? St. Luke is mentioned by name in three passages of Scripture: In Colossians 4:14, St. Paul writes: “Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you.”In 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul writes: “Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you; for he is very useful in serving me.”And in Philemon 23-24, Paul writes: “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.” Since Luke is mentioned in three letters, we can infer that he was a frequent companion of St....

“The Front Porch of Peter’s Pentecost Sermon” (Acts 2:1-21)The purpose of a front porch is to get people into the house. The front porch may be small, the front porch may be large, but it does its job if it gets people into the building. The front porch is not the place where you want people to stay, but it should provide a good entryway into the house. And ideally, it should match, and be suitable for, the rest of the building. That’s the way it is with the front porch of a house. That’s the way it is with...

The Papacy in Scripture – More Than Matthew 16 In an earlier blog post, I made the point that the role of St. Peter and his successors is made remarkably clear in Matthew 16:18-19 and its immediate context:And I tell you, you are Peter (Gr.—petros—‘rock’), and on this rock (Gr.—petra—‘rock’) I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.Jesus...

Mark Levin says he thought long and hard about what the House of Representatives can do, given that they won’t use the power of the purse to reign in this president, and has come up with a solution. He says they should pass a resolution declaring null and void all presidential acts that are unconstitutional. Hey lays it out below: There’s something the House of Representatives actually can do. …Congress is a co-equal branch of the federal government and the House of Representatives is a co-equal branch of the United States Senate. The House of Representatives should pass a resolution....

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There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.And now send...

And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.(Acts 9:1-2) Saul of Tarsus hated Jesus. The up and coming Rabbi hated the followers of Jesus also.He was appalled by the rapid growth of the sect of Jews known as the ‘Nazarenes’. The constant preaching of the Nazarenes enraged him. The unlearned and ignorant ‘Apostles’ of the sect insisted that...

And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.And the eunuch...