2nd Sunday of Easter (Year: A)
Date: Sunday, April 23rd, 2017, 11:00
Old Testament: Acts 2:14,22-32
Psalms: Ps. 16
14Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.
22"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.
23This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
24But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
25David said about him: "'I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
26Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope,
27because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
28You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.'
29"Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.
30But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne.
31Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay.
32God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.
Acts 2:14,22-32 (NIV)
Epistle: 1 Peter 1:3-9
1Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.
2I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing."
3As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
4The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips.
5LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.
6The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.
8I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure,
10because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
11You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Psalms 16 (NIV)
Gospel: John 20:19-31
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you,
5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
7These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
1 Peter 1:3-9 (NIV)
19On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"
20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
22And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."
24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
25So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
26A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"
27Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
28Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
29Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
30Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.
31But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:19-31 (NIV)