Tuesday in the Octave of Easter

 Lectionary: 262

Peter said to them,
“Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins;
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is made to you and to your children
and to all those far off,
whomever the Lord our God will call.”
He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them,
“Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”

The moment comes when we must act. The mobs of Jerusalem had sustained an odd silence since that Pasch of seven weeks ago. They could not understand what had got hold of them nor why they'd demanded the crucifixion of an innocent man. In the meanwhile, his disciples enjoyed visions of the Risen Lord but said nothing to anyone who'd not been with him since their first days in Galilee. 

Pentecost changed all that. Or rather, the descent of the Holy Spirit, for the Jewish feast of Pentecost was very old. As God had descended upon Babel and confused their languages, the Lord came to Jerusalem to inspire a new language of truth. He opened the eyes of his disciples to understand:

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”

The old familiar Pharisaic reading of the law, prophets, and psalms was reopened and reexamined in the light of what had happened to Jesus. As they listened to Peter and the disciples, the Lord's life, death, and resurrection suddenly fit the Hebrew scriptures like a key in a lock, reopening their minds. They could see their sins as well as the opportunity to save themselves from this corrupt generation. 

Rather than deny or suppress the stories of Jesus and his teaching, as they had since he died, they could embrace every word of it. Moreover, they could wrap the story around themselves like a cloak, for it thrilled their hearts as nothing ever had. It would be a mantle of salvation. 

They had only to be baptized. But, unlike the baptism of John the Baptist, this new immersion would change them utterly. A terrible beauty was born and they would join the disciples in their new assembly of Israel. If the first congregation had been born of its passage through the Red Sea, this Church was born of Baptism. Belief and baptism were more than washing; they were rebirth. 

They would eat the Lord's flesh and drink his blood and be consumed by the Love of God. They could no longer avoid the company of Jesus in a private pursuit of salvation, nor could they cling to their personal convictions about how the righteous should conduct themselves. They would learn a new way of being in a new, consecrated fellowship of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. And they could boast of nothing -- no purity, no righteousness, no standing in God's presence. They could speak only of Christ crucified and their part in his death. 

The cost is dear and many hesitate to pay. They liked the old assurances of their personal holiness, of their not being like other people. 

Many are called;

Not many are chosen. 
Run so as to win.