Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹² When Peter saw this, he said to them, “Men of Israel, why are you surprised? You are looking at us as if it were our own power that made this man walk. Do you think this happened because we are good? No! ¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, gave glory to Jesus, his servant. But you gave him up to be killed. Pilate decided to let him go free. But you told Pilate you did not want Jesus. ¹⁴ He was pure and good, but you said you did not want him. You told Pilate to give you a murderer^[a] instead of Jesus. ¹⁵ And so you killed the One who gives life! But God raised him from death. We are witnesses to this. ¹⁶ It was the power of Jesus that made this crippled man well. This happened because we trusted in the power of Jesus. You can see this man, and you know him. He was made completely well because of trust in Jesus. You all saw it happen!

¹⁷ “Brothers, I know you did those things to Jesus because you did not understand what you were doing. Your leaders did not understand either. ¹⁸ God said this would happen. He said through the prophets that his Christ would suffer and die. And now God has made these things come true in this way. ¹⁹ So you must change your hearts and lives! Come back to God, and he will forgive your sins.

An Evening Prayer

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A song of David.

We Are God’s Children

3 The Father has loved us so much! He loved us so much that we are called children of God. And we really are his children. But the people in the world do not understand that we are God’s children, because they have not known him. ² Dear friends, now we are children of God. We have not yet been shown what we will be in the future. But we know that when Christ comes again, we will be like him. We will see him as he really is. ³ Christ is pure. And every person who has this hope in Christ keeps himself pure like Christ.

⁴ When a person sins, he breaks God’s law. Yes, sinning is the same as living against God’s law. ⁵ You know that Christ came to take away sins. There is no sin in Christ. ⁶ So the person who lives in Christ does not go on sinning. If he goes on sinning, he has never really understood Christ and has never known him.

⁷ Dear children, do not let any person lead you the wrong way. Christ is righteous. To be like Christ, a person must do what is right.

Jesus Appears to His Followers

³⁶ While the two followers were telling this, Jesus himself stood among those gathered. He said to them, “Peace be with you.”

³⁷ They were fearful and terrified. They thought they were seeing a ghost. ³⁸ But Jesus said, “Why are you troubled? Why do you doubt what you see? ³⁹ Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me. You can see that I have a living body; a ghost does not have a body like this.”

⁴⁰ After Jesus said this, he showed them his hands and feet. ⁴¹ The followers were amazed and very happy. They still could not believe it. Jesus said to them, “Do you have any food here?” ⁴² They gave him a piece of cooked fish. ⁴³ While the followers watched, Jesus took the fish and ate it.

⁴⁴ He said to them, “Remember when I was with you before? I said that everything written about me must happen—everything in the law of Moses, the books of the prophets, and the Psalms.”

⁴⁵ Then Jesus opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. ⁴⁶ He said to them, “It is written that the Christ would be killed and rise from death on the third day. ^47-48 You saw these things happen—you are witnesses. You must tell people to change their hearts and lives. If they do this, their sins will be forgiven. You must start at Jerusalem and preach these things in my name to all nations.