Thursday Octave of Easter, Jesus Fulfills All!

 Jesus fulfills the law and the prophets; He fulfills creation's destiny and humanity's destiny. In Him, we find true purpose and everlasting meaning for our lives. The Risen Jesus tells us that the deepest God-given desires of our hearts are attainable in Him.

Today's first reading (Acts 3:11-26) recounts Peter's speech before an amazed crowd at the Temple after a paralyzed beggar is healed by their invocation of Jesus' Name. People would have known this person as a regular presence at the Temple's “beautiful gate.” Now he is jumping up and down, praising God. Jesus the miracle worker has been crucified and absent from the Temple. Though reports of His resurrection circulate, it is likely everything has gone back to normal. The hopes of the people must have been re-kindled when Peter stood up and announced that this mighty work had been done in Jesus' Name. Peter announces that the law and prophets, so sacred to their faith and hopes for a messiah, all pointed to Jesus. He is their fulfillment. Peter calls them to repentance, that they might receive the promises God has set out for them in His covenant with Abraham and his descendants:

“You are the children of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors when he said to Abraham, In your offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed. For you first, God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”

The response to the first reading is from Psalm 8, David's joyful recognition that we are the masterpieces of God's creation.

“O LORD, our Lord, how glorious is your name over all the earth!
What is man that you should be mindful of him,or the son of man that you should care for him?
You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him rule over the works of your hands, putting all things under his feet.”

David's words of praise take on their full meaning in light of Jesus' rising from the dead. His glorified humanity fully reveals our greatness as sons and daughters of God, made in the divine image and likeness, after Christ. With David, we can exclaim, “How wonderful is Your Name, O Lord our God through all the earth.”

Today's Gospel reading from Luke, Chapter 24 (Lk 24:35-48) witnesses to Jesus' resurrection and glorified state. This is an important testimony to what we profess in the Creed: “I believe in the resurrection of the body;” at the end of time, we will share in Christ's glorified state in our bodies.
The Gospel reading picks up where the travellers from Emmaus are recounting their meeting with the Resurrected Jesus, and how He made Himself known to them “in the breaking of the bread.” Jesus appears in their midst as the two are speaking. They all think He's a ghost. To dispel their fears, He asks for something to eat, and consumes it in front of them. Jesus is in His glorified body. His flesh is transformed, and is no longer subject to earthly laws of time and space; He appears and disappears at will. This state of transformation is the Father's pledge to those who are united to Christ as members of His body.

“While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, 'Peace be with you.' But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, 'Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.' And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, 'Have you anything here to eat?' They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.'”

Finally, Our Lord “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, 'Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.'”

The Lord Jesus, risen from the dead, fulfills all God's Covenant promises foretold by Moses and the prophets. His resurrection and glorified state show us our own destiny in Him; He alone reveals the destiny of all creation – created through Him and for Him (See Col 1:16) – which will pass away and be reborn as a new heaven and new earth. (Rev 21:1)

For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Col 1:15-20)

Jesus is Lord! He is the fulfillment of God's eternal plans for us, the fulfillment of every human life. He is our true Hope and in Him is our glorious destiny. All praise to Him who is, who was and will be forever!

Link to readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042122.cfm