WORD 2day - Friday, Last week in the Eastertide
May 17, 2024 - Acts 25: 13-21; John 21: 15-19
Paul, would have never even imagined about going to Rome to bear testimony, but the Spirit of the Lord makes him aware of that call: you shall bear witness to the Lord in Rome, just as in Jerusalem. But how he would get there, and how he would be enabled to bear witness, all that is worked out by the Spirit of the Lord. Paul need not have appealed to Ceasar, Festus needs not have consented to it or need not have taken the efforts to reach Paul to Rome, but it all happens and the rest is history. We know, though in house arrest, Paul preached and bore witness to the Risen Lord, in a powerful manner and wrote such inspiring letters from the custodial stay.
Peter, never would have imagined that he would be reinstated as "the Rock" that he was meant to be! He knew what a treacherous defaulter he had been. But Jesus seems to pay no attention to that bitter past; he seems to be looking elsewhere, at the future, at the path ahead! Jesus asks Peter, if he really loved him, not because Jesus wanted to know, but because Jesus wanted Peter to know that what really mattered was the real love that he had in the depth of his heart for Jesus! And with that love, he wanted Peter to get over his self remorse and self pity, and walk towards caring for the others and strengthening his brothers. To us too, this is what Jesus asks: that we become mindful of the love we have for Christ and show that in action by loving others. Thus we shall be raised into witnesses, powerful witnesses.
Let us remember, we are raised as witnesses and when we place ourselves in the wings of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit shall raise us, raise us as witnesses, as powerful witnesses!
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