Christ and Doubting Thomas, Andrea del Verrocchio, 1476-83, Bronze 230 cm (7.5 ft) at Orsanmichele, Florence

Prime Timers

The Prime Timers were a Bible study group at St. Martin's for eight years. One of the goals of our founder Jackie Rose was to have a weekly web page for the group and all the pages are still online here. The group disbanded but the readings below are being kept up to date.

Lectionary readings

The Readings for Sunday, April 19 are from the Lectionary Year A Second Sunday of Easter: Acts 2:14a,22-32; Psalm 16; 1 Peter 1:3-9 and John 20:19-31. The text is from the Bible Study Tools - New International Version.

Acts 2:14a,22-32

¹⁴ Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: ²² “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. ²³ This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. ²⁴ But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. ²⁵ David said about him:

    “ ‘I saw the Lord always before me.
         Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
     ²⁶ Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
         my body also will rest in hope,
     ²⁷ because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
         you will not let your holy one see decay.
     ²⁸ You have made known to me the paths of life;
         you will fill me with joy in your presence.’

²⁹ “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. ³⁰ But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. ³¹ Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah,

     that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead,
         nor did his body see decay.

³² God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.

Psalm 16

¹ Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.
    ² I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
      apart from you I have no good thing.”

³ I say of the holy people who are in the land,
     “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”

⁴ Those who run after other gods
     will suffer more and more.

I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods
     or take up their names on my lips.

⁵ LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup;
     you make my lot secure.

⁶ The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
     surely I have a delightful inheritance.

⁷ I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
     even at night my heart instructs me.

⁸ I keep my eyes always on the LORD.
     With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
     my body also will rest secure,

¹⁰ because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
     nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

¹¹ You make known to me the path of life;
     you will fill me with joy in your presence,
     with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

1 Peter 1:3-9

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

John 20:19-31

¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

²⁴ Now Thomas (also known as Didymus ), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” ²⁸ Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

³⁰ Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. ³¹ But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Thanks to Bible Study Tools for today's text.