THURSDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER

21ST APRIL 2022

IGNORANCE CAN BE CONQUERED

ACTS 3 :11-26 PSALM 8:2-9LUKE 24: 35-48

In today’s First Reading, Peter tells the people gathered in the portico called Solomon’s that they acted in ignorance when they killed Jesus the Author of life and asked for a murderer to be granted to them. Peter also says that their forefathers acted in ignorance making us wonder if or whether ignorance can be passed from one generation to another. Let us remember that people had heard all the good teachings of Jesus and even witnessed all the compassionate actions that he performed. Did they kill him because they did not believe in these good teachings and compassionate works ?

Anytime they confronted Jesus seeking to know why he did what he did, Jesus always explained himself vividly to them. Did they kill him because they did not understand him? Did they kill Jesus out of jealousy and competition because they felt that he was attracting larger crowds than them?

Whether they killed Jesus out of lack of belief or out of lack of understanding or out of jealousy, we can make an inference that ignorance can lead to the above reasons thus leading you to act on them wrongly. Ignorance generally mean that you are supposed to know something but you do not know; no wonder it is said that, ignorance of the law is not a defence and you can end up in jail by acting ignorantly.

Peter points out their ignorance by asking them, “Fellow Israelites, why are you surprised at this, and why do you stare at us? Do you think that it was by means of our own power or godliness that we made this man walk?” According to Peter the people should not be ignorant of the fact that he and John healed the lame man outside the Temple not by their own power but in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth - Acts 3 1-10.

Peter also tells them that they are ignorant of the fact that Jesus whom they killed was holy and good otherwise they wouldn’t have killed him.Today’s First Reading gives us the opportunity to see that sometimes we engage in willful ignorance because it is useful to us . Willful ignorance occurs when individuals realize at some level of consciousness that their beliefs are probably false, or when they refuse to attend to information that would show their falsity.

If you read chapter 4 of the Book of Acts you will notice that Peter and John will be arrested yet those who instigate their arrest do not want to probe that even in the past God spoke through Moses and the prophets including Samuel to announce about the things that are happening at that particular moment in the name of Jesus.

People can sometimes be pulled out of their willful ignorance with a modicum of probing or with contradictory data. For example, you can point out to a student who believes that a test was unfair because he has low grades ,that ,the low grades might have been due to lack of revision and preparation.

Have you ever acted out of ignorance? Have you ever been misled by your ignorance? This incident in today’s First Reading gives us the opportunity to pause and evaluate our current positioning and thinking. Is your ignorance obscuring your vision of reality?

Imagine in any sphere, including spirituality, being attended to by someone ignorant of the truth of the moment of that sphere of life. More knowledge, including spiritual knowledge, is always there to be pursued and once got, to be inculcated in our lives.