"We must obey God rather than men.”

 

Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Thursday of the Second Week of Easter | USCCB

In our first readings from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear of the ongoing persecution of the apostles as they continue to proclaim that Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. They faced imprisonment and harassment for proclaiming the Risen Lord.

The apostles persisted in preaching the Risen Lord and so serve as an example of how we are to live out our faith in Jesus Christ. When challenged by the religious leaders (who could not bring themselves to mention Jesus' name), Peter famously says, "We must obey God rather than any human authority" (Acts 5:29). There will always be people in our families and friends that may say to us, “…to stop teaching in that name.” People simply don’t want to hear about Jesus and the fact that he is Lord and Messiah. But we must be persistent in our sharing our faith in Jesus Christ. It doesn’t need to be as dramatic as with the apostles where we may be arrested and thrown in jail. Or we may not be called to stand on the street corner with bible in hand preaching Jesus. But we are called to live out our lives in a way that people will know that we are followers of Jesus Christ. We are called to preach Jesus by loving God and loving our neighbor. Like the apostles, we are to be counter-cultural in living out our Christian Faith, which is contrary to how society sees things.

Frequent attendance at Daily and Sunday mass, regular time for daily prayer and treating people with love and respect is how we are to preach Jesus Christ to a world that may reject who the Lord is. But, like the apostles we are to be persistent in our faith in the Risen Lord. We are to place God first in all our actions.

The Lord has Risen, indeed he has Risen from the Dead.