Easter Thursday

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Thursday, 24 April 2025 : Thursday within Easter Octave (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in our Scripture readings today we have heard more of the testimony of the Resurrection of the Lord and all the things which the Apostles and the other disciples of the Lord had experienced from the time right after the Lord has risen from the dead and how they began their ministry in proclaiming the Risen Lord to the faithful and to all others, including those who have been skeptical and refused to believe in the Lord and His truth. They have all themselves had seen and witnessed the Risen Lord appearing before them, truly risen gloriously in Body and Spirit, and He did not suffer from death, and was not merely a ghost. And it is for this faith that many of them had suffered as they endured the same persecutions and rejections that the Lord Himself had suffered from.

In our first reading today, taken from the Acts of the Apostles we heard the courageous and fiery testimony by St. Peter the Apostle before all the assembled people at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple of Jerusalem when those people were amazed by the great deed of the two Apostles who miraculously healed a man crippled from birth that had been begging there for a long time. Most importantly, the two Apostles imparted the healing through the power and authority of the Holy Name of Jesus, the Risen Lord and Saviour of the world. And at that time, the Temple authorities, the chief priests and the members of the Sanhedrin had declared forbidden for anyone to be teaching and spreading in the Name of Jesus, as well as spreading the words about His Resurrection and triumph over death.

In fact, those leaders were busy trying to suppress such news and even attempted to spread untruths and falsehoods by paying off the guards that were guarding the Tomb of the Lord that the disciples had come to steal the Body of the Lord. Amidst all those things, the two Apostles fearlessly stood up for their faith in the Risen Lord before the assembly of all the people gathered, proclaiming to all of them that it was by the power and authority given to them by the Holy and Just One, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world that the crippled man had been healed and made whole again. St. Peter also addressed how everything that happened in the suffering and death of the Lord, His rejection and persecution by the people to whom He had been sent to, all happened in order to fulfil everything that the prophets of God had been prophesying about Him.

Essentially, he told them all of the need for all of the people of God to listen to the Lord Jesus and embrace wholeheartedly all that He has taught and delivered into this world, the truth and Good News which God Himself has wanted us all to have a share in, and for us all to know the depth of His love, ever enduring and ever present towards us. God has not abandoned us all to the darkness and neither has He desired us to be condemned to eternal damnation and therefore lost to Him forever. Instead, He has crafted the perfect remedy for us through His Son, Whom He has sent to our midst, taking up our very own Human flesh and existence, to make His love, ever perfect and wonderful to be truly tangible and reachable by us, making Himself and His forgiveness and compassion to be approachable, and no longer merely a distant concept or imagination.

But many among those who opposed the Lord and His truth held on to their prejudices and biases, their misguided sense of superiority and arrogance, in thinking that they all knew it better than the Lord Himself on the matters of the Law of God, the way how the faith of the people ought to be expressed to God, and in many other issues that the Lord had patiently revealed to the people and taught to them through His words, actions and other deeds that He had performed in their midst. Yet, the Lord continued to engage with them and work with them, trying to reach out to everyone including even those who were most stubborn in resisting His efforts and advances. He has called us all into repentance and to turn away from our sins, from our pride, ego and prejudices, and all the things that can keep us away from Him.

Then, in our Gospel passage today taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the moment when the Risen Lord appeared to His disciples in Jerusalem right after He had appeared to the two disciples who were making their way to Emmaus. It was at this occasion that the Lord made His appearance for the first time among many of His disciples, the Apostles and others who were with them, after they had earlier on heard about the Resurrection from the holy women who went to the Tomb earlier in the morning. The Lord reassured them all that He was not a ghost or mere spirit, and that He was truly alive, risen from the dead just as He had foretold to them earlier. He ate the food that He asked of them to prove that He was truly there with them as ghosts and spirits cannot eat.

Through this and many other evidences of the Lord’s Resurrection, the disciples of the Lord themselves had witnessed the truth and passed them all down through the Church, as the Sacred Tradition and teachings of the Church that were kept generations after generations, and which kept the Church and the faithful strong and alive even during the harshest years and times of the persecutions, especially during its earlier years. It is inconceivable and very unlikely for so many among the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord to be so committed to their cause, even long after the Lord is no longer among them in this world, if what they had witnessed was not the truth, or if they had not actually witnessed and seen what had happened through the many signs, wonders, and all that occurred during the Resurrection and its aftermath, they would not have been willing to suffer and die for the sake of their faith in God.

Yes, many of the faithful of the early Church suffered greatly from the many persecutions that they encountered in defending their faith in God, and in the truth and Good News that He has revealed and brought unto us through His Son, Who rose from the dead and triumphed over sin and death by that Resurrection. And with this glorious Resurrection from the dead, Christ our Lord has shown us the certain and sure path out of darkness and into the light of God, into the new life that He has promised to each and every one of us, who are faithful and committed to Him. And all of us as Christians, we are all called and reminded today to commit ourselves in the same manner as how our holy predecessors had done so in being good and worthy role models, inspirations and hope for one another, in bearing the light of Christ’s Resurrection in all of us, in each and every aspects of our lives.

May the Risen Lord continue to guide us all in our journey of faith and life, empowering and strengthening us all so that we may truly be full of faith and trust in Him all throughout our lives, and in everything we say and do, in all of our actions, deeds and interactions with one another. Let us all be good and worthy bearers of the Lord’s Good News, His Resurrection and Light, the Hope and Love that He has brought into our midst, through our own exemplary deeds and works, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 24 April 2025 : Thursday within Easter Octave (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 24 : 35-48

Then the two disciples told what had happened on the road to Emmaus, and how Jesus had made Himself known, when He broke bread with them. While they were still talking about this, Jesus Himself stood in their midst. (He said to them, “Peace to you.”)

In their panic and fright they thought they were seeing a ghost, but He said to them, “Why are you upset, and how does such an idea cross your minds? Look at My hands and feet, and see that it is I Myself! Touch Me, and see for yourselves, for a ghost has no flesh and bones as I have!” (As He said this, He showed His hands and feet.)

In their joy they did not dare believe, and were still astonished; so He said to them, “Have you anything to eat?” And they gave Him a piece of broiled fish. He took it, and ate it before them. Then Jesus said to them, “Remember the words I spoke to you when I was still with you : Everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

And He said, “So it was written : the Messiah had to suffer, and on the third day rise from the dead. Then repentance and forgiveness in His Name would be proclaimed to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.”

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Thursday, 24 April 2025 : Thursday within Easter Octave (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 8 : 2a and 5, 6-7, 8-9

O Lord, our Lord, how great is Your Name throughout the earth! What is man that You be mindful of him, the Son of Man, that You should care for Him?

Yet You made Him a little lower than the Angels; You crowned Him with glory and honour and gave Him the works of Your hands; You have put all things under His feet.

Sheep and oxen without number and even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and all that swim the paths of the ocean.

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Thursday, 24 April 2025 : Thursday within Easter Octave (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 3 : 11-26

While the once crippled man clung to Peter and John, all the people, struck with astonishment, came running to them in Solomon’s Porch, as it was called. When Peter saw the people, he said to them, “Fellow Israelites, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us as if it was by some power or holiness of our own that we made this man walk?”

“The God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified His servant Jesus Whom you handed over to death and denied before Pilate, when even Pilate had decided to release Him. You rejected the Holy and Just One, and you insisted that a murderer be released to you. You killed the Master of life, but God raised Him from the dead and we are witnesses to this.”

“It is His Name and faith in His Name, that has healed this man whom you see and recognise. The faith that comes through Jesus has given him wholeness in the presence of all of you. Yet I know that you acted out of ignorance, as did your leaders. God has fulfilled in this way what He had foretold through all the prophets, that His Messiah would suffer.”

“Repent, then, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out and the time of refreshment may come by the mercy of God, when He sends the Messiah appointed for you, Jesus. For He must remain in heaven until the time of the universal restoration which God spoke of long ago through His holy prophets.”

“Moses foretold this when he said : The Lord God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people; you shall listen to Him in all that He says to you. Whoever does not listen to that Prophet is to be cut off from among his people.”

“In fact, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel onward, have announced the events of these days. You are the children of the prophets and heirs of the covenant that God gave to your ancestors when He said to Abraham : All the families of the earth will be blessed through your descendant. It is to you first that God sends His Servant; He raised Him to life to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

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Thursday, 4 April 2024 : Thursday within Easter Octave (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we continue to proceed through this joyful period of this Easter Octave, we are all continuously being reminded of what we believe in the Resurrection, that Our Lord Jesus Christ has truly risen from the dead, has not remained in the tomb, and as the Church has always preserved and taught it, that the Risen Lord has led us all to triumph against the power of sin and death by His glorious Resurrection, and we truly rejoice because of this great and triumphant victory that we have gained through the Risen Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. Each and every one of us as Christians have the important mission of proclaiming this same truth and Good News of God’s salvation to everyone all throughout the whole world, to all those whom we encounter each day and moments of our lives.

In our first reading today, we heard the continuation of the account from the Acts of the Apostles in which St. Peter and St. John miraculously healed a crippled man from birth at the gate of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. They offered the crippled man God’s healing, His love and mercy through the power and authority of the Name of the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. Through His Name, they made the crippled man whole again, and made many people who witnessed the event to become astonished at the power of God. St. Peter and St. John as we heard in that passage from the Acts of the Apostles today testified courageously about the Risen Lord, proclaiming the salvation of God which had been accomplished through everything that His Son had done in this world, in the Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Lord.

They spoke about the events that had recently happened with the Lord’s Crucifixion, when He suffered with the persecution and oppression by the Jewish authorities, the chief priest and all those who refused to believe in Him, condemning Him to death and handing Him over to the Romans, only for Him to rise again on the third day, just as He had predicted before all those events were to happen. Those chief priests and many of the members of the Jewish High Council, the Sanhedrin, attempted to silence the Apostles and the other disciples, bribing the Roman guards and others to spread a false story of how the disciples stole the Body of the Lord from His tomb and hid the Body, and claiming that the Lord had risen from the dead. But this event showed that St. Peter and St. John, like the other disciples of the Lord, empowered and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, were no longer willing to remain silent and idle.

They therefore testified before everyone about the Risen Christ, not fearing the repercussions and oppressions that they might be facing, as they knew that the Lord was with them, and no matter what they might encounter, they were God’s chosen disciples and missionaries, to proclaim forth His truth. They called on all the people of God to heed to His call and to embrace His message of truth, His salvation and love, by walking in the path that the Lord has shown them, and turning away from their sinful ways, having the Lord Jesus, Who has risen from the dead, as their Lord and Saviour. They told the people to believe in the One Whom God has sent into their midst to save them all, firstly for the Jewish people, to whom St. Peter and St. John were addressing to at that time, and then for all the other, non-Jewish people as well.

In our Gospel passage today we then heard of the aftermath of the encounter between the Risen Lord and His two disciples who were on their way to Emmaus. The Risen Lord Himself appeared before the assembled disciples in Jerusalem who had just heard from those two disciples who hastened back on their way from Emmaus after they themselves witnessed in person the Risen Lord revealing Himself to them. The Risen Lord appeared before them miraculously, showing them that His Resurrection was indeed the truth and not a story that was brought up by those women who went to the tomb of the Lord in the early Easter Sunday morning. He showed Himself to them to remind all of them that the Resurrection is not just a myth but a reality, that had indeed happened precisely as He had predicted it.

He encouraged and strengthened them much as He had done so with the two disciples on their way to Emmaus earlier on, teaching them and reassuring them, reminding them that the prophets of God had been prophesying about all that had happened earlier on, but many were unable to see the truth of what they had preached and spoken about, that neither the disciples nor even the teachers of the Law and the chief priests were able to comprehend the fact that the Lord was indeed the One Whom God had promised to the whole world as the One through Whom everyone would be saved, and how all that entailed the suffering, the Passion and the death of the same Saviour, and ultimately through His glorious Resurrection from the dead.

All of us as Christians are reminded today that each one of us are the same witnesses of the Lord’s Resurrection, His truth and Good News much as the Apostles and disciples of the Lord then had been entrusted with this same truth and revelation. They had seen the Risen Lord, suffered and many of them died in martyrdom in defending that truth, but that never stopped them from continuing to go forth and proclaim the Risen Lord to the best of their abilities, so that by their great dedication and courage, many more had come to know of the Risen Lord and the salvation which had been given to them through the same Risen Christ. Thus, all of us have also received this same truth, and we are entrusted with the same mission as members of the same Church of God, to proclaim Him faithfully.

Let us all hence go forth and do our very best, in whatever opportunities that God had provided to us so that we may continue to do what we can in order to proclaim the Risen Lord at all times. Let us all be good role models of our lives and faith to everyone, so that by our every words, actions and deeds, we will be able to share the joy of the Resurrection to everyone, especially to our brethren who are still suffering in the darkness of sin and evil, that they too may come to see the Light of the Risen Christ. May God be with us always, and bless us all in our every good efforts and endeavours. Amen.

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Thursday, 4 April 2024 : Thursday within Easter Octave (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 24 : 35-48

Then the two disciples told what had happened on the road to Emmaus, and how Jesus had made Himself known, when He broke bread with them. While they were still talking about this, Jesus Himself stood in their midst. (He said to them, “Peace to you.”)

In their panic and fright they thought they were seeing a ghost, but He said to them, “Why are you upset, and how does such an idea cross your minds? Look at My hands and feet, and see that it is I Myself! Touch Me, and see for yourselves, for a ghost has no flesh and bones as I have!” (As He said this, He showed His hands and feet.)

In their joy they did not dare believe, and were still astonished; so He said to them, “Have you anything to eat?” And they gave Him a piece of broiled fish. He took it, and ate it before them. Then Jesus said to them, “Remember the words I spoke to you when I was still with you : Everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

And He said, “So it was written : the Messiah had to suffer, and on the third day rise from the dead. Then repentance and forgiveness in His Name would be proclaimed to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.”

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Thursday, 4 April 2024 : Thursday within Easter Octave (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 8 : 2a and 5, 6-7, 8-9

O Lord, our Lord, how great is Your Name throughout the earth! What is man that You be mindful of him, the Son of Man, that You should care for Him?

Yet You made Him a little lower than the Angels; You crowned Him with glory and honour and gave Him the works of Your hands; You have put all things under His feet.

Sheep and oxen without number and even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and all that swim the paths of the ocean.

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Thursday, 4 April 2024 : Thursday within Easter Octave (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 3 : 11-26

While the once crippled man clung to Peter and John, all the people, struck with astonishment, came running to them in Solomon’s Porch, as it was called. When Peter saw the people, he said to them, “Fellow Israelites, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us as if it was by some power or holiness of our own that we made this man walk?”

“The God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified His servant Jesus Whom you handed over to death and denied before Pilate, when even Pilate had decided to release Him. You rejected the Holy and Just One, and you insisted that a murderer be released to you. You killed the Master of life, but God raised Him from the dead and we are witnesses to this.”

“It is His Name and faith in His Name, that has healed this man whom you see and recognise. The faith that comes through Jesus has given him wholeness in the presence of all of you. Yet I know that you acted out of ignorance, as did your leaders. God has fulfilled in this way what He had foretold through all the prophets, that His Messiah would suffer.”

“Repent, then, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out and the time of refreshment may come by the mercy of God, when He sends the Messiah appointed for you, Jesus. For He must remain in heaven until the time of the universal restoration which God spoke of long ago through His holy prophets.”

“Moses foretold this when he said : The Lord God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people; you shall listen to Him in all that He says to you. Whoever does not listen to that Prophet is to be cut off from among his people.”

“In fact, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel onward, have announced the events of these days. You are the children of the prophets and heirs of the covenant that God gave to your ancestors when He said to Abraham : All the families of the earth will be blessed through your descendant. It is to you first that God sends His Servant; He raised Him to life to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

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Thursday, 13 April 2023 : Thursday within Easter Octave (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we continue to progress through the season of Easter, all of us are reminded of God’s great grace and providence for all of His beloved people, all of us, as He showed us all the hope and light of salvation in His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has shown us that He is truly Risen from the dead, and nothing can prevail against Him, not even sin, evil and death. Through what we have heard from the Sacred Scriptures, all of us are reminded that the Lord is truly Risen, and He has always been with us throughout. Through Him, His Church and His disciples, the Lord has shown His power and might, in healing us and in reaching out to us with most generous love, mercy and compassion. He has not abandoned us all to the darkness and sin, but through His love, His efforts and works, and by suffering and dying for us on the Cross, and eventually by His Resurrection, He has gathered us all into a new life blessed by God.

In our first reading today, we heard the brave and courageous Apostles St. Peter and St. John speaking to the people of God assembled who witnessed the works of the Lord in healing the crippled beggar sitting by the Temple of Jerusalem’s Beautiful Gate, as they saw how he was miraculously healed and made whole. St. Peter spoke courageously and preached about the Risen Lord Jesus, in Whose Name he has invoked healing and miracle to make the crippled man whole again. And despite the stern and strict ban against the teaching or preaching or even the mention of the Name of Jesus by the chief priests and the members of the powerful Jewish High Council, the two Apostles were fearless in their courageous proclaiming of the truth that God has brought amidst His people, in showing His power and miracles before all the assembled people, telling them that everything had been done by the same Saviour that they had just condemned to death merely moments earlier.

The Apostle also called on the people to repent from their sinful ways, and to embrace the forgiveness and mercy which God generously granted us all through His Son, the same Saviour Who had suffered and died on the Cross, and then rose in glory on Easter Sunday, the One Whom St. Peter and St. John was proclaiming about, and in Whose Name, the crippled man had been healed. All of us are reminded that our Saviour lives, and because He lives, and has risen from the dead, then we too shall overcome sin and death together with Him. We are reminded then this Easter that we are all called to a new life and existence in God, one that is free from sin and evil, and one that is truly dedicated and filled with joy of being one with God. All of us as Christians are God’s own beloved people, whom God had called and chosen from among the nations, and we have responded to that call with faith.

As we heard in our Gospel passage today, we are reminded again of the truth about our Lord’s Resurrection, as we heard how the Risen Lord appeared to His disciples gathered in Jerusalem. He appeared to them just after He appeared to the two disciples who were journeying to the village of Emmaus, and who did not recognise Him at first until He revealed Himself to them and unveiled their eyes, allowing them to see the truth about Him. The Risen Lord appeared to all the disciples, proving to them that whatever they have heard from the two disciples and from the holy women who went to His tomb earlier that Sunday were indeed true and not fabricated news. He came to reassure them that everything which He had told them, about Him having to suffer and to be persecuted, and dying for the sake of all, then to rise again from the dead, are all indeed true.

He asked them for something to eat, and He ate the piece of broiled fish which they offered Him, which indicated to all of them that He was indeed Risen before them, appearing to them in all of His Risen glory in the flesh, and not just a Ghost or Spirit. This is because ghosts and spirits would not have been able to consume or partake any food, or do anything that He had done. The Lord showed His disciples that He was indeed with them, and never left them even though those disciples had earlier on abandoned and left Him during the time of His Passion, out of fear and doubt in their hearts. And having seen and witnessed all these, and touched the Risen Lord, all of the disciples hence were empowered and strengthened, together with the Holy Spirit that had been sent to them on Pentecost, that they went forth in great joy and with great courage to proclaim the salvation of the world in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, Who has Risen from the dead in glory.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, now, as we heard all of these words from the Scriptures, all of us are then reminded that as Christians, each and every one of us share the same mission from the Lord, for us to proclaim the Risen Lord in our various communities and in our places, in whatever we are doing and in our every interactions with each other, with people who have not yet known the Lord or His truth. Much like St. Peter and St. John who courageously proclaimed the Risen Lord before the assembled people despite the ban enforced by the Sanhedrin against them and the Lord’s teachings, all of us as Christians are also called to be the faithful disciples and missionaries of our Christian faith in our respective communities, in our schools, workplaces, among our friends and families, our relatives and even to the strangers and acquaintances we encounter each day in our lives.

Let us all therefore do whatever we can to live our lives worthily of the Risen Lord, so that in whatever we say and do, we will always glorify God and proclaim His truth, and that we may be true and genuine beacons of His light, hope and truth amidst our darkened world, filled with sin and wickedness. Not only that we should do this to all those who have not yet known the Lord, but we should do this even to our fellow Christian brothers and sisters, who have perhaps lapsed in their faith and become lukewarm in how they live their faith lives. Let us all encourage them and inspire them to renew their faith so that together with us, our faith may burn brightly with sincere love and zeal for the Risen Lord, as we commit ourselves, our time, our actions, efforts and good works and more for the greater glory of God. All of us are called to follow the Lord with conviction and commitment, as those who have been entrusted by Him with the mission to proclaim His truth and resurrection among the nations.

May the Risen Lord, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, continue to be with us and help us in our journey of faith, so that we may continue to be strong and courageous in our ministry in the Church, in whatever it is that we have been called into, in our perseverance in living our faith with zeal and in loving one another with genuine love and compassion. Let us all be the shining beacons of the Resurrected Christ and His Light, that many more people may come to believe in Him and His salvation through us and our exemplary living. May the Risen Lord bless us always, and may He bless our Easter season and celebrations, bless our loved ones always. Amen.

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Thursday, 13 April 2023 : Thursday within Easter Octave (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 24 : 35-48

Then the two disciples told what had happened on the road to Emmaus, and how Jesus had made Himself known, when He broke bread with them. While they were still talking about this, Jesus Himself stood in their midst. (He said to them, “Peace to you.”)

In their panic and fright they thought they were seeing a ghost, but He said to them, “Why are you upset, and how does such an idea cross your minds? Look at My hands and feet, and see that it is I Myself! Touch Me, and see for yourselves, for a ghost has no flesh and bones as I have!” (As He said this, He showed His hands and feet.)

In their joy they did not dare believe, and were still astonished; so He said to them, “Have you anything to eat?” And they gave Him a piece of broiled fish. He took it, and ate it before them. Then Jesus said to them, “Remember the words I spoke to you when I was still with you : Everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

And He said, “So it was written : the Messiah had to suffer, and on the third day rise from the dead. Then repentance and forgiveness in His Name would be proclaimed to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.”