(Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.)
Three times Luke, who wrote both the Gospel according to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, describes the healing of crippled people, one in the Gospel (5:17-26), two in Acts (3:1-10 [Peter], and this passage (14:5-18 [involving Paul]). Together these passages show the continuity between Jesus and his disciples after Pentecost, and the continuity between Pater and Paul.
Under Peter’s guidance the disciples successfully proclaimed the gospel to the Jewish nation. In the second part of Acts, the disciples successfully proclaim the gospel to the pagan (Gentile) world.
There is also continuity between Jerusalem, the capital where the Lord Jesus died and rose from the dead, and Rome, the capital of the Gentile world. Luke’s gospel begins and ends in Jerusalem. Luke’s Acts of the Apostles begins in Jerusalem and end in Rome.
There is continuity with the Word taught by the Lord Jesus in his lifetime on earth and the Word proclaimed and believed by the Apostles and the Word that we believe in today’s Church.