A Call to Repentance (3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time)

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St. Peter’s sermon in Acts 3 comes right after his healing of the lame beggar in front of the Jerusalem temple gate. He declared that the man was healed by the power of Christ Jesus (v. 16), who had been crucified by the same people to whom he was preaching not that long ago.

In his sermon, he holds the Jerusalem crowd responsible for rejecting their Messiah and handing Him over to be crucified.¹ He refers to Jesus as the “Author or Life,” which is both an affirmation that He is God, as well as a declaration that it is through faith in Christ that one may receive eternal life. Perhaps he is here recalling Christ’s words in the upper room: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). He proves that Christ is truly their Saviour from the fact that 1) the Old Testament prophets foretold His suffering beforehand, and 2) they were witnesses to this fulfillment.

Despite their guilt in crucifying Jesus, however, they are not beyond redemption. Peter tells the crowd that they may still receive forgiveness and eternal life if they repent and believe upon that same Christ whom they had previously rejected. If they do this, he declares, their sins will be wiped away. While we are not told how many in that crowd came to faith, we know that the Church continued to grow after that, which means his words must have had an impact on the crowd.

Peter’s message gives hope to all of us because it shows that, no matter how many times we sin and betray Christ, forgiveness is offered to us. If we confess and turn away from our sins, St. John tells us, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us of all uncleanness (1 John 1:9). Let us, then, make use of this opportunity to avail ourselves of God’s mercy.

J. Luis Dizon

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