3rd Sunday after Resurrection
Greetings in Christ Jesus,
Sunday May 7, 2017
Epistle: Acts 2: 22-28
22 You
men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among
you, by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him, in the midst of
you, as you also know: 23 This same being delivered up, by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you by the hands of wicked men
have crucified and slain. 24 Whom God has raised up, having loosed
the sorrows of hell, as it was impossible that he should be holden by it. 25 For
David says concerning him: I foresaw the Lord before my face: because he is at
my right hand, that I may not be moved. 26 For this my heart has
been glad, and any tongue has rejoiced: moreover my flesh also shall rest in
hope. 27 Because You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor suffer Your
Holy One to see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the ways
of life: You shall make me full of joy with Your countenance.
Gospel: John 4: 5-42
5 He came
therefore to a city of Samaria, which is called Sichar, near the land which
Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus
therefore being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well. It was about
the sixth hour. 7 There came a woman of Samaria, to draw water.
Jesus said to her: Give me to drink. 8 For his disciples were gone
into the city to buy meats. 9 Then that Samaritan woman said to
him: How do you, being a Jew, ask of me to drink, who am a Samaritan woman? For
the Jews do not communicate with the Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered,
and said to her: If you did know the gift of God, and who he is that said to you,
Give me to drink; you perhaps would have asked of him, and he would have given you
living water.
11 The
woman said to him: Sir, you have nothing wherein to draw, and the well is deep;
from where then have you living water? 12 Are you greater than our
father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his
children, and his cattle? 13 Jesus answered, and said to her:
Whosoever drinks of this water, shall thirst again; but he that shall drink of
the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever: 14 But
the water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water,
springing up into life everlasting. 15 The woman said to him: Sir,
give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw. 16 Jesus
said to her: Go, call your husband, and come here. 17 The woman
answered, and said: I have no husband. Jesus said to her: You have said well, I
have no husband: 18 for you have had five husbands: and he whom you
now have, is not your husband. This you have said truly. 19 The
woman said to him: Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our
fathers adored on this mountain, and you say, that at Jerusalem is the place
where men must adore.
21 Jesus
said to her: Woman, believe me, that the hour comes, when you shall neither on
this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, adore the Father. 22 You adore
that which you know not: we adore that which we know; for salvation is of the
Jews. 23 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true adorers
shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeks such
to adore him. 24 God is a spirit; and they that adore him, must
adore him in spirit and in truth. 25 The woman said to him: I know
that the Messias comes (who is called Christ); therefore, when he is come, he
will tell us all things. 26 Jesus said to her: I am he, who am
speaking with you. 27 And immediately his disciples came; and they
wondered that he talked with the woman. Yet no man said: What seek you? or, why
talk you with her? 28 The woman therefore left her waterpot, and
went her way into the city, and said to the men there: 29 Come, and
see a man who has told me all things whatsoever I have done. Is not he the
Christ?
30 They
went therefore out of the city, and came unto him. 31 In the mean
time the disciples prayed him, saying: Rabbi, eat. 32 But he said
to them: I have meat to eat, which you know not. 33 The disciples
therefore said one to another: Has any man brought him to eat? 34 Jesus
said to them: My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, that I may perfect
his work. 35 Do you not say, there are yet four months, and then
the harvest comes? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and see the
countries; for they are white already to harvest. 36 And he that
reaps receives wages, and gathersh fruit unto life everlasting: that both he
that sows, and he that reaps, may rejoice together. 37 For in this
is the saying true: That it is one man that sows, and it is another that reaps.
38 I have sent you to reap that in which you did not labour: others
have labored, and you have entered into their labours. 39 Now of
that city many of the Samaritans believed in him, for the word of the woman
giving testimony: He told me all things whatsoever I have done.
40 So
when the Samaritans were come to him, they desired that he would tarry there.
And he abode there two days. 41 And many more believed in him
because of his own word. 42 And they said to the woman: We now
believe, not for your saying: for we ourselves have heard him, and know that
this is indeed the Saviour of the world.
Psalm 67/68
1 Unto
the end, a psalm of a canticle for David himself. 2 Let God
arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee from before
his face. 3 As smoke vanishes, so let them vanish away: as wax melts
before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. 4 And
let the just feast, and rejoice before God: and be delighted with gladness. 5 Sing
to God, sing a psalm to his name, make a way for him who ascends upon the west:
the Lord is his name. Rejoice before him: but the wicked shall be troubled at
his presence, 6 who is the father of orphans, and the judge of
widows. God in his holy place:
7 God
who makes men of one manner to dwell in a house: Who brings out them that were
bound in strength; in like manner them that provoke, that dwell in sepulchres. 8 O
God, when You did go forth in the sight of Your people, when You did pass
through the desert: 9 The earth was moved, and the heavens dropped
at the presence of the God of Sina, at the presence of the God of Israel. 10 you
shall set aside for Your inheritance a free rain, O God: and it was weakened,
but You have made it perfect. 11 In it shall Your animals dwell; in
Your sweetness, O God, You have provided for the poor. 12 The Lord
shall give the word to them that preach good tidings with great power. 13 The
king of powers is of the beloved, of the beloved; and the beauty of the house
shall divide spoils.
14 If
you sleep among the midst of lots, you shall be as the wings of a dove covered
with silver, and the hinder parts of her back with the paleness of gold. 15 When
he that is in heaven appoints kings over her, they shall be whited with snow in
Selmon. 16 The mountain of God is a fat mountain. A curdled
mountain, a fat mountain. 17 Why suspect, you curdled mountains? A
mountain in which God is well pleased to dwell: for there the Lord shall dwell
unto the end. 18 The chariot of God is attended by ten thousands;
thousands of them that rejoice: the Lord is among them in Sina, in the holy
place. 19 You have ascended on high, You have led captivity
captive; You have received gifts in men. Yea for those also that do not
believe, the dwelling of the Lord God. 20 Blessed be the Lord day
by day: the God of our salvation will make our journey prosperous to us. 21 Our
God is the God of salvation: and of the Lord, of the Lord are the issues from
death.
22 But
God shall break the heads of his enemies: the hairy crown of them that walk on
in their sins. 23 The Lord said: I will turn them from Basan, I
will turn them into the depth of the sea: 24 That your foot may be
dipped in the blood of your enemies; the tongue of your dogs be red with the
same. 25 They have seen Your goings, O God, the goings of my God:
of my king who is in his sanctuary. 26 Princes went before joined
with singers, in the midst of young damsels playing on timbrels. 27 In
the churches bless God the Lord, from the fountains of Israel. 28 There
is Benjamin a youth, in ecstasy of mind. The princes of Juda are their leaders:
the princes of Zabulon, the princes of Nephthali. 29 Command Your
strength, O God: confirm, O God, what You have wrought in us.
30 From
thy temple in Jerusalem, kings shall offer presents to You. 31 Rebuke
the wild beasts of the reeds, the congregation of bulls with the kine (herd of
cows) of the people; who seek to exclude them who are tried with silver.
Scatter the nations that delight in wars: 32 ambassadors shall come
out of Egypt: Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands to God. 33 Sing
to God, you kingdoms of the earth: sing to the Lord: Sing to God, 34 who
mounts above the heaven of heavens, to the east. Behold he will give to his
voice the voice of power: 35 give glory to God for Israel, his
magnificence, and his power is in the clouds. 36 God is wonderful
in his saints: the God of Israel is he who will give power and strength to his
people. Blessed be God.
My Friends,
In our opening Epistle from the book of Acts we can see that
today we are speaking of the victory of God over evil, (sin and death). We are
shown that Jesus the Christ could not be held in death but that He was freed
from death and overcame death so that we might live, this was in fact
prophesied by King David in Psalm 15/16: 8 I set the Lord always in
my sight: for he is at my right hand, that I be not moved. 9 Therefore
my heart has been glad, and my tongue has rejoiced: moreover my flesh also
shall rest in hope. 10 Because You will not leave my soul in Hades;
nor will then give Your holy one to see corruption. You have made known to me
the ways of life; You shall fill me with joy with Your countenance: at Your
right hand are delights even to the end.
This is a time of great joy for all of mankind for all who
believe and trust or entrust their entire life or being to the Lord Jesus the
Christ. We all must remember that to simply believe that this Jesus existed is
not a saving belief for even the demons believe and tremble. This believing for
salvation means to trust in and on the Lord, everything in our entire life
including our very life and the things that take place are entirely entrusted
to Him. This is the belief that we are to have. Nothing short of this will be
acceptable.
Remember Jesus said; not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord,
will enter into the kingdom of heaven. We must give ourselves completely over
to Him, period. No matter what happens in our life.
In today’s Gospel we see that all, every race, all of
mankind is able to believe and gain heaven by this belief. There is no
difference of mankind in the salvation of man’s soul. Believe, entrust your
entire life to Him and live according to the commandments; if you love me, keep
my commandments. The path is not easy, the tempter, Lucifer the devil never
rests. We must be ever vigilant to keep ourselves from sin which is turning our
back on God himself and doing that which is against Almighty God by either
doing what we should not or by not doing what we should.
In today’s Psalm we see the Psalmist speaking prophetically
regarding the Resurrection of Jesus the Christ. In verse 1 we see (unto the
end) and in verse 19 we can see resurrection and ascension to the Father. (19 You have ascended on high, You have led
captivity captive;) We can see this theme spoken of by the apostle Paul in
the book of the Ephesians chapter 4 verse 8: 8 Wherefore he says:
Ascending on high, he led captivity captive; he gave gifts to men. 9 Now
that he ascended, what is it, but because he also descended first into the
lower parts of the earth? Psalms 65, 66, and 67 are sung throughout the Paschal
season including bright week, (the week following the Sunday of the Resurrection
up to but not including the following Sunday, (Which is called Thomas Sunday)).
At the Christ’s resurrection, death, the final enemy, was defeated, we can see
here in verse 22 how He ‘broke the
heads of his enemies: the hairy crown of them that walk on in their sins’.
This is a victory
Psalm of God over His enemies.
May the peace of our Lord Jesus the Christ be with you
throughout this day and the rest of your life. May the Holy Spirit fill us all
to overflowing so that everyone in whose path we cross may receive a blessing
from our Lord Jesus the Christ.
Blessings
Member of the
Autocephalous Orthodox Catholic Church of the Americas
Many Blessings!
+William
