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În biserica Străjerul, predicile din cadrul slujbei de duminică au rolul de a întregi tabloul unei experienţe liturgice specifice zilei de duminică, ziua Domnului.

Predicile se realizează structurat, pe cărţi ale Scripturii. Alegerea carţilor se face în funcţie de dinamica şi de nevoile comunităţii.

Prezentăm aici câte un sumar al predicilor din duminicile anterioare, în ideea că vor fi folositoare pentru cei care le citesc, dar şi ca o expresie a viziunii şi specificului comunităţii noastre. See archive.

 

Book „Acts of the Apostles” (chap. 3:1 - 26)

True faith

The first Christian preaching, held by Peter on Whitsuntide, had as purpose the proclamation of Jesus as Lord, an identity with divine features as the prophecies in the Old Testament announced.

The following preaching of Peter has the same topic. Within a similar context (in a prayer meeting of the Jew) but caused by another pretext (the miracle of healing a paralytic), the Peter's proclamation is connected to the concept of Name which had deep meaning in the Jewish tradition. The intent of the Holy Spirit which inspired Peter is to confer to the Name of Jesus Christ the meaning and authority assigned to the Name of God.

The Christian era opens with the proclamation of the Name of Jesus Christ. If during those times of the Church, Jesus had to be received into heaven, namely to live in heaven, until the times of restoration of all things (3:21), His presence in the world remains effective. This spiritual presence, personal of the Son is invoked by all who believe by the proclamation of His Name, name which hides the secret of embodiment (Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary, son of Man) and His redemption work (Jesus Christ, Messiah, the Savior).

Interesting are the position and the rhetoric of the apostle upon the paralytic request: I will give you what I have, namely the power of faithfully uttering the Name of Jesus. Here, by the apostolic utterance, the word acquires again the meaning and efficiency. The word's era and civilization begins, the new era of the Spirit. The word is no longer inert, dry and powerless. From the Holy Spirit, the word of the Christian utterance is inextricably related to the Word Itself, to the Son of God, the Divine Logos.

In Peter's sermon, a clear meaning and a liaison between the faith in Jesus Christ, by invoking His Name and restoration of all things are presented. The apostle uses a „contrast scheme", putting in antithesis, on one side, the sinful action of people who killed the Prince of life and on the other side, the redeeming work of God who „hath raised Him from the dead (3:15). The authentic, redeeming faith is that leading to the responsible assuming of sins and repents.

The faith in Jesus Christ fulfils a behavioral rapid change (metanoia) and turning the vision towards God. This personal fulfillment has a correspondent in the universal Work of Christ of restoration of all things, which we receive by faith as well.

„The full healing” is made by means of faith. In the book Acts of the Apostles, the Greek words referring to faith: „pistis” and „pistero” may have different meanings, which show a manifestation of faith at different levels. These meanings refer to: the faith in God, in His word, acceptance of the Christian message, trust or devotion to the Person of God, faith confession or, and this is maybe one of the highest and most profound meanings, the power, the capacity whereby we are offered the possibility to change our life and acquire a new existential experience (metanoia).

The apostle Peter said about the crippled: „it was faith in Christ which gave this man perfect health and strength in full". The crippled expects from the apostles not healing but mercy. And the mercy he received was of some other nature than he expected. Here the word „pistis” does not seem to show faith in healing the crippled. The healing appears rather as a consequence of the apostles' deep faith. Thus the faith appears here as gift, charisma which was once requested by the apostles from Jesus (Luke 17:5) and given now by the Spirit's coming.

The subsequent reaction of the healed one shows that authentic faith was borne within his soul, which led to conversion, to the call of the Name of Christ and acceptance of His message.

In the Scripture's spirit, the authentic faith is not based on miracles, but upon word. The miracle had the grace to provoke, to draw the attention of a public caught in the toils of the religious, and the paralytic had the occasion to incontestably prove the authority of the Name of Jesus. The miracle of healing the paralytic has character of sign. It shows the real „healing” towards the real Work of Christ, which is redemption, restoration of man and of the world from sin, from „birth disease".

Clearly, Peter's message focus on the meaning of „pistis” which mainly indicates the existential adhesion to the Christ message and Person, with the help of whom sins forgiveness, radical straightening and change of life. Thus, the Christian proclamation centered on the call to true faith, to the faith in God.

Iassy, 4 February 2006

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