| Acts 3:11-26 © |
|---|
Everyone
came running towards Peter and John in great excitement, to the Portico
of Solomon, as it is called, where the man was still clinging to Peter
and John. When Peter saw the people he addressed them, ‘Why are you so
surprised at this? Why are you staring at us as though we had made this
man walk by our own power or holiness? You are Israelites, and it is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, who has glorified his servant
Jesus, the same Jesus you handed over and then disowned in the presence
of Pilate after Pilate had decided to release him. It was you who
accused the Holy One, the Just One, you who demanded the reprieve of a
murderer while you killed the prince of life. God, however, raised him
from the dead, and to that fact we are the witnesses; and it is the name
of Jesus which, through our faith in it, has brought back the strength
of this man whom you see here and who is well known to you. It is faith
in that name that has restored this man to health, as you can all see.
‘Now I know, brothers, that neither you nor your
leaders had any idea what you were really doing; this was the way God
carried out what he had foretold, when he said through all his prophets
that his Christ would suffer. Now you must repent and turn to God, so
that your sins may be wiped out, and so that the Lord may send the time
of comfort. Then he will send you the Christ he has predestined, that is
Jesus, whom heaven must keep till the universal restoration comes which
God proclaimed, speaking through his holy prophets. Moses, for example,
said: The Lord God will raise up a prophet like myself for you, from
among your own brothers; you must listen to whatever he tells you.
The man who does not listen to that prophet is to be cut off from the
people. In fact, all the prophets that have ever spoken, from Samuel
onwards, have predicted these days.
‘You are the heirs of the prophets, the heirs of the
covenant God made with our ancestors when he told Abraham: in your
offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed. It was for you
in the first place that God raised up his servant and sent him to bless
you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.’
