Reading, Writing, and Jesus

You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. Acts 3, 15.

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Reading, Writing, and Jesus was written and read by James Banks. Acts chapter 3, verses 15 through 24. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see. Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer.

Repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah who has been appointed for you, even Jesus. Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. For Moses said, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people. You must listen to everything he tells you.

Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people. Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days. Reading, writing, and Jesus. Moses with horns? That's the way he's depicted in Michelangelo's masterpiece sculpture completed in 1515. Two horns protrude from Moses' hair just above his forehead. Michelangelo wasn't alone. Many Renaissance and medieval artists depict Moses that way.

Why? It has to do with the Latin translation of the Hebrew Bible available at the time, which described Moses' radiant face after being in God's presence. The original language uses a word related to horns to describe beams of light shining from Moses' face, and the Latin Vulgate Bible translated it literally. Moses was misread.

Have you ever misread someone? After a man unable to walk from birth was healed by Peter in Jesus' name, the apostle told his fellow Israelites that they had misread Jesus. You killed the author of life, he said pointedly, but God raised him from the dead. He continued, this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer.

Peter even said Moses had pointed to Christ. It was by faith in the name of Jesus, a faith that comes through him, that the man's life was transformed. No matter how we've misunderstood him or what our past contains, Christ welcomes us when we turn to him.

The author of life stands ready to write new beginnings for us. Let's pray. Thank you, Jesus, for loving us even before you saved us and knowing how we would sin, saving us anyhow. It is in your name that we pray. Amen. As you go about your day, reflect on these questions. How have you misread Jesus? What will help you understand him even better today?