To
be a Christian is to be a part of the Chosen people, those who are chosen to
witness to the power and the joy of the Resurrection.There is power in the resurrection of Christ
and this power was fully displayed in the lives and works of the apostles and
the early Christians.There is joy in
the resurrection and this joy is experienced by all those who have committed
themselves wholly to the affairs of Christ.May our prayerful reflection on the following sections of the world of
God help us to have a share in the power and the joy of the Easter people:“Acts 2: 42–47,Psalm 117,1 Peter 1: 3–9 and the Gospel of St. John 20: 19-31”.
The reason why God the Father raised his Son Jesus Christ from the dead was so as to enable us to share through Christ, the abundant of his riches and to inherit with him the kingdom of heaven.It therefore constitutes the joy of any true believer in Christ to rejoice and to bless God because of the treasure that has become his own by the virtue of the resurrection of Christ and God’s own choice of him to belong to the circle of believers who are the true beneficiaries of the riches of the resurrection.St. Peter expressed his gratitude for the privilege of the Christian people as follows:“Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy has given us a new birth as his sons, by raising Jesus Christ from the dead, so that we have a sure hope and the promise of an inheritance that can never be spoilt or soiled and never fade away, because it is being kept for you in heaven” (1 Peter 1: 3-4).
Christ and his resurrection is the source of the power and the joy of the community of the faithful right from the days of the apostles.Even right before the Pentecost day, it was in the gathering of the Apostles as a body of the faithful that they started to feel the presence of the risen Christ and the power, peace, and joy associated with it.The first day that this kind of feeling of joy and assurance started to enter their lives after the trauma of the passion and death of Christ their master was on the evening of that day of the resurrection when Christ invaded their gathering and poured his gifts in abundance on them.The Gospel reported:“In the evening of the same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews.Jesus came and stood among them.He said to them, ‘peace be with you and showed them his hands and his side.The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘receive the Holy Spirit.For those whose sins you forgiven, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.’” (John 20: 19 – 23).
So Christ is encountered and his immense treasures received in the course of the gathering and heartfelt prayer of the community of the faithful.So this has been the source of the power and joy of Christian people throughout the ages who know that the truth and love that they express in their worship is what they live in their lives.It is the treasure that the Christians gain from their sincere lives and faithful community worship that they go and share among themselves and with all those outside.For this right from the early Christian Community of Jerusalem, faithfulness to community worship and strict adherence to the teachings of Christ as handed down through the apostles has been the hallmark of all true people of the resurrection. Here is a testimony given by the scripture of the life of the early Christians of Jerusalem.“The whole community remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to prayers.The many miracles and signs worked through the apostles made a deep impression on everyone.The faithful all lived together and owned everything in common.”(Acts 2: 42 – 45)
