Acts 2:14a,
22–36—The second reading for the
Trinity Sunday is a continuation of St Peter’s Pentecost Day sermon in
Jerusalem. In this portion, Peter speaks of Jesus Christ, a man attested to you by God with mighty wonders and signs, who was
crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men, but raised up from the dead
because He was not just a man, but also Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you
crucified.
Peter quotes from Psalms 16 and 110, showing how the
Old Testament testifies of Christ, and also proclaims how all three persons of
the Trinity were involved in the salvation of mankind. Jesus (the Son) was
delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God (the
Father), has been exalted at the right hand of God, and now pours out His
Spirit that people might hear and believe the Good News.
The resurrection of Christ is the central message of
the Christian Church and the cornerstone content of our witness in the world. The
message of the early Church is the message of the 21st Century
Church. The proclamation that Christ
lives and reigns is the hope and challenge that the world most desperately
needs to hear. Without this proclamation,
we have no message.
Charles Colson once recounted a powerful story about
the bold witness of a Russian Orthodox monk.
It happened in 1990 in Moscow on the Russian May Day. Mikhail Gorbachev and other Russian leaders
were standing on a platform in Red Square watching a procession of tanks,
missiles and troops rumble past them.
That year’s May Day celebration was different, however, for, behind the
tanks and missiles and troops, followed a massive throng of protesters calling
for freedom and heralding the collapse of the old Communist state. It was out of this mass of protesters that this
monk made his bold statement. As they
passed before the platform, this monk hoisted a huge crucifix into the air,
stepped out of the mass of protesters towards the leaders on the platform and
shouted, “Mikhail Sergeyevich! Christ is risen!” At this, Gorbachev turned and walked off the
platform. - Charles Colson, The Enduring Revolution, p.28-29.
Prayer for
the Holy Spirit: Lord God, heavenly
Father, let Your Holy Spirit dwell in us that He may enlighten and lead us into
all truth and evermore defend us from all adversities; through Jesus Christ,
Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns
with You and same Spirit, One God, now and forever.
Image of the Trinity
copyright © Ed Riojas, Higher Things
Prayer for the Holy
Spirit, Lutheran Service Book © 2006, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis
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