Easter Monday – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 28:8-15

The women who had come to the tomb early on Sunday morning to embalm the dead body of Jesus were amazed to find the stone rolled back from the entrance and the tomb empty. Their reactions are a mixture of anxiety and joy. They are anxious that the body may have been stolen, but there is also an expectant joy. Could it be that he is alive? This is in contrast with the Gospel of Mark (16:8) where he tells us that the women “said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

And, while still wondering what could have happened, they run to tell the news to the disciples with “great joy” (obviously they were having optimistic thoughts) and, at that point they encounter Jesus, who greeted them with an Easter greeting of “Peace!” (Shalom!).

As they cling to Jesus’ feet (like Mary Magdalene in John’s Gospel, they do not want to lose him again), they are told not to be afraid, an admonition that will be heard frequently during these days, but to go to the disciples and instruct them to go to Galilee where they will see Jesus.

There are various, and to some extent, mutually conflicting versions of the resurrection story and of how and where the Risen Jesus was seen and by whom. There are basically two types of experiences. Appearances to individuals (Mary Magdalene, the Emmaus disciples, Peter and Thomas) help prove the fact of Jesus’ resurrection. Appearances to several disciples together are accompanied by a mandate to continue the work of Jesus.

In today’s reading, the women are to instruct the disciples that they will see Jesus in Galilee, their own place. Galilee is their home ground, the place where they were born, grew up and worked. That is where the Risen Jesus is to be found. And, it is in our ‘own place’ we will expect to see him, too.

Jesus is saying the same thing to us. We do not have to go to Jerusalem or Rome or Lourdes or Fatima to find him. If we cannot find him in the place where we live and work, we won’t find him in those other places either.

As well as the distinction between individual and collective post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, there are two other distinct traditions: 1) those appearances that take place in Galilee (in the north) and 2) those in Judea (at Jerusalem, in the south). Commentators have pointed out that these seeming inconsistencies provide a better witness than any artificial uniformity to the antiquity of the evidence and its historical value. The physical details are not that important; it is the meaning that is all-important.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the Jews put another twist on what is happening. They also are reporting that the tomb is empty. All sides agree that the tomb was empty; the disagreement was over the why. Obviously, they are wondering what could have happened, but cannot accept the possibility of resurrection. The guards are bribed and told to say that the disciples stole the body while they were asleep. Guards who sleep on the job would be punished, not bribed. And, if they were asleep, how did they know what happened?

But when people do not want to believe something, reason and logic can often go out the window. We see such rationalisations frequently in those who find it inconvenient to continue living a Christian life.

Those who take the Gospel seriously and try to live according to its vision have all the confirmation they need that it is the recipe for a happy and fulfilled life.

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Easter Tuesday – Gospel

Commentary on John 20:11-18

After going off to tell Peter and the other disciples about the empty tomb, it seems that Mary of Magdala went back there to grieve over her lost friend and master. She sees two angels sitting inside the tomb and asks where her Lord has been taken. When asked why she is weeping, she replies:

They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.

Then, as she turns round, there is Jesus standing before her, but she does not recognise him. This is a common experience with those who meet Jesus after the resurrection. He is the same, and yet he is not the same. In this transitional period they have to learn to recognise Jesus in unexpected forms and places and situations. He asks the same question as the angels:

Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?

This is a question we need to ask ourselves constantly. Like Mary, we may say we are looking for Jesus—but which Jesus?

She thinks the person in front of her is the gardener! How often we jump to conclusions about people, about their character and personality and true identity. Maybe this man has taken Jesus away and knows where he is.

It is also another lovely example of Johannine irony. First, that the one she took to be the gardener should know where Jesus was to be found. Second, it is John who tells us that the tomb of Jesus was in a garden (19:41). All the world’s pain and sorrow began with the sin of the Man and the Woman in a garden (Eden) and now new life also finds its beginnings in a garden. Mary was unwittingly right—Jesus is the Gardener, the one who produces life from the earth, and is the Word of his Father, the Gardener of Eden.

Then Jesus speaks: “Mary!” Immediately she recognises his voice, the voice of her Master. It reminds us of the passage about Jesus the Shepherd:

He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out…and the sheep follow him because they know his voice…I know my own, and my own know me… (John 10:3-4,15)

Immediately she turns and says to him in Hebrew, Rabbouni! This is a more formal address than just Rabbi and was often used when speaking to God. In this case, Mary’s exclamation is not unlike that of Thomas in the upper room:

My Lord and my God! (John 20:28)

We should also note that earlier she had already turned to face Jesus, so this turning is different. It is an interior turning from strangeness to recognition, from sadness to joy, from a sense of loss to a close bonding, from doubt to faith.

With a mixture of joy and affection and partly out of fear of losing him again, she clings on to him tightly. But Jesus tells her to let him go, because:

…I have not yet ascended to the Father.

Perhaps it is possible that this sentence be better read as a rhetorical question: “Have I not ascended to my Father?”

In John, the glorification of Jesus takes place on the cross at the moment of death. At that moment of triumph, Jesus is raised straight to the glory of the Father. In that sense, it is the glorified Jesus who now speaks with Mary, not the Jesus she knew earlier. This Jesus cannot be clung to. In fact, there is no need. From now on:

I am with you always… (Matt 28:20)

Next, he says:

I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.

This phrase echoes a sentence in the Book of Ruth (1:16):

…your people shall be my people
and your God my God.

The Father of Jesus now becomes the Father of his disciples as they are filled with the Spirit that is both in the Father and the Son. Thus they will be re-born (John 3:5) as God’s children and can be called “brothers and sisters” by Jesus.

Mary, and all the others, have to learn that the Risen Jesus is different from the Jesus before the crucifixion. They have to let go of the earlier Jesus and learn to relate to the ‘new’ Jesus in a very different way.

So she is told to do what every Christian is supposed to do: she goes and tells the other disciples that she has seen the Lord and she shares with them what he has said to her. And so:

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and she told them that he had said these things to her.

She is not just passing on a doctrine, but sharing an experience. That is what we are all called to do.

It is significant that it is a woman who is the first person in John’s Gospel to see and to be spoken to by the Risen Jesus. Not only that, if she is the same person mentioned by Luke as one of Jesus’ women followers (Luke 8:2), she was formerly a deeply wounded woman from whom seven demons had been driven out.

Often no one is closer to God than someone who has been converted from a sinful past. We think of people like St Augustine or St Ignatius Loyola. We remember the example of the sinful woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:36-50). Of her Jesus said:

Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven loves little. (Luke 7:47)

So Mary, (who with Mary, Jesus’ Mother, stood by the cross of Jesus to the very end—unlike the men disciples), is now rewarded by being the first to meet him risen and glorified. She is truly a beloved disciple.

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Easter Wednesday – Gospel

Commentary on Luke 24:13-35

Today’s Gospel is one of the great passages of the New Testament. It encapsulates, in a little over 20 verses, the whole Christian life. It is still Easter Sunday as the passage opens. In Luke, all the resurrection appearances take place in the vicinity of Jerusalem and on Easter Sunday.

It begins with two disciples on the road leaving Jerusalem. For Luke, the focal point of Jesus’ mission is Jerusalem. It was the goal to which all Jesus’ public life was headed, and from there the new community would bring his Message to the rest of the world.

They are on their way to a place called Emmaus, about 7 miles (11 km) from Jerusalem. Although the exact location is not now known, it does not really matter—and that is the point. They were on the ‘road’—they are pilgrims on the road of life. Jesus is the Way, the Road. The problem is that at this moment, they are going in the wrong direction.

The Risen Jesus joins them as a fellow traveller:

…but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

Why was that? Was it their presumption that he was dead? Was it their pre-conceived idea of what Jesus should look like?

Seeing their obvious despondency and disillusionment, Jesus asks what they are talking about. With deliciously unconscious irony they say,

Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?

Jesus plays them out a little more with a totally innocent-sounding, “What things?” He wants to hear their version of what happened. To them, the death was the failure of Jesus’ mission. They refer to him as a “prophet” as if, after the debacle of his death, they could not see in Jesus, the Messiah they had earlier acknowledged.

…we had hoped [Greek, elpizomen, sperabamus] that he was the one to redeem Israel.

Again, the delicious irony of their own words is lost on them. To them, “redeem Israel” meant liberation from the tyranny of foreign domination, and perhaps the inauguration of the Kingdom of God as they understood it.

They are puzzled also by the stories of the women describing an empty tomb and angels—but there is still no sign of Jesus. More irony—they are addressing these very words to Jesus!

Jesus then gives them a lesson in reading the Scriptures, and shows them that all that happened to him—including his suffering and death—far from being a tragedy, was all foreordained. Luke is the only writer to speak clearly of a suffering Messiah. The idea of a suffering Messiah is not found as such in the Old Testament. Later, the Church will see a foreshadowing of the suffering Messiah in the texts on the Suffering Servant in Isaiah.

This story emphasises that all that happened to Jesus was the fulfilment of Old Testament promises and of Jewish hopes. All through Acts, Luke will argue that Christianity is the fulfilment of the hopes of Pharisaic Judaism and its logical development. In many respects, Matthew’s Gospel has a similar theme.

As they reach their destination, Jesus makes as if to continue his journey. However, they extend their hospitality to the stranger. They say:

Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.

This echoes in Matthew’s Gospel:

…I was a stranger and you welcomed me… (Matt 25:35)

So Jesus goes in to stay with them—wonderful words. But it would not have happened if they had not opened their home to him.

As they sat down to the meal, Jesus, the visitor unexpectedly acting as host, took the bread, said the blessing over it, broke it and gave it to them. And in that very act, they recognised him. This is the Eucharist, where we recognise the presence of Jesus among us in the breaking of bread. Not just in the bread, but in the breaking and sharing of the bread, and in those who share the broken bread.

Then Jesus disappears, but they are still basking in the afterglow.

Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?

In the light of these experiences, they turn around (conversion!) and go back along the road to Jerusalem from which they had been fleeing. There they discover their fellow-disciples, excited that the Lord is risen and has appeared to Simon. And they tell their marvellous story and:

…how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

All the ingredients of the Christian life are here:

• Running away from where Christ is to be found—we do it all the time.
• Meeting Jesus in the unexpected place, or person, or situation. How many times does this happen and we do not recognise him, or worse, mistreat him?
• Finding the real meaning and identity of Jesus and his mission in having the Scriptures fully explained. Without the Scriptures we cannot claim to know Jesus. Yet, how many Catholics go through life hardly ever opening a Bible?
• Recognising Jesus in the breaking of bread, in our celebration of the Eucharist. The breaking and sharing of the bread indicates the essential community dimension of that celebration, making it a real ‘comm-union’ with all present.
• Responding to the central experience of Scripture and Liturgy by participating in the work of proclaiming the message of Christ and sharing our experience of it with others, that they may also share it.
• Recognizing the importance of hospitality and kindness to the stranger. “I was hungry… and you did/did not feed me…” Jesus is especially present and to be found and loved in the very least of my brothers and sisters.

The scene is also a model of the Mass:

Those walking together on the Road gather together and meet Jesus. First, they meet him in the Liturgy of the Word as the Scriptures are broken open and explained. Second, he is present in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, where what Jesus did for us through his suffering, death and resurrection is remembered with thanksgiving. The bread that is now his Body, and the wine that is now his Blood, are shared among those who are the Members of that Body to strengthen their union and their commitment to continuing the work of Jesus.

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Easter Thursday – Gospel

Commentary on Luke 24:35-48

We pick up from yesterday’s story of the disciples going to Emmaus. Back in Jerusalem they share their experience of the risen Jesus with their comrades who have also heard that Jesus has appeared to Simon Peter.

Suddenly, Jesus himself appears in their midst. The fact that he comes suddenly, although the doors were locked, indicates that his presence is now of a different kind.

He wishes them peace. It is the ordinary Jewish greeting of Shalom, but one which has special meaning in this Easter context. Before his Passion Jesus had told his disciples,

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. (John 14:27)

The peace of the Risen Jesus is fully a Messianic blessing.

In spite of what they had heard, they are terrified and think they are seeing a ghost. Jesus asks them:

Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?

He shows them his pierced hands and feet. The Greeks mocked the idea of bodily resurrection, but Luke emphasises the physical reality of Christ’s risen body, that is, the wholeness of the person of the risen Jesus.

He invites them to come and touch him. Ghosts do not have flesh and bones. As he shows them the wounds in his hands and feet, their fear turns to a mixture of joy and utter astonishment. They can’t believe their eyes. Jesus has to ask them to give him something to eat. Ghosts don’t eat and Jesus is no ghost; he is no disembodied soul. There is also an emphasis that death is not an ‘escape’ from the body, but that the whole person goes into the next life.

Jesus then goes on to explain, as he did with the Emmaus disciples, how all that had happened to him was fully in harmony with, and the fulfilment of, the Law, the prophets and psalms. Mentioning the three constituent parts of the Old Testament, Jesus indicates that the Messiah was foretold through the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures.

And out of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection comes the mission to proclaim reconciliation with God through Jesus to the whole word. Jesus tells them:

You are witnesses of these things.

It is their mission to carry on the establishment of the Kingdom throughout the world. Or, as it is put here:

…that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in [the Messiah’s] name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

The Kingdom is being realised when people go through that process of radical conversion and change of life (i.e. ‘repentance’—metanoia) which brings about a deep reconciliation of each one with God, with all those around them, and with themselves—when all divisions fall away, when fear and hostility are replaced with a caring love for each other.

If we have not yet done so, let us become part of that great enterprise today.

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Easter Friday – Gospel

Commentary on John 21:1-14

Today we have a resurrection story which is unique to John and is in his final “extra” chapter, which may be a kind of appendix added on later by another author following the Johannine tradition. The text contains some peculiarities which are closer to Luke’s style, but others which are Johannine. It bears close resemblance to a similar story about a catch of fish in Luke (5:1-11), and another in Matthew (14:28-31), where Peter gets out of the boat to go to Jesus. Although it seems added to the original text, the chapter appears in all extant manuscripts of John.

Like most of John’s accounts, it is a story full of symbolism. We see a group of disciples, seven altogether, seemingly at a loose end with nothing to do. The seven are Simon Peter, Thomas the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons (James and John) and two other disciples.

Nathanael, who is only mentioned in John’s Gospel, appears in chapter 1 of John as one who was called by Philip. This is the only mention of James and John in John’s Gospel, although they have a central role in the other three Gospels. Some speculate John may be the second of the two disciples called by Jesus in John 1 (the one named is Andrew), but he could also be the ‘Beloved Disciple’ (the “disciple whom Jesus loved”), not yet ready to be so called.

Of the two other disciples in the boat, one is presumed to be the Beloved Disciple who appears very soon in the story. The number seven suggests the fullness of the community. John likes the number seven—he records seven signs performed by Jesus, and seven ‘I AM’ statements.

Peter, the leader, decides to make a move and says, “I am going fishing.” It is what he knows best, and the others go along with him. Is there an implication that the great enterprise that Jesus began is over and they return to their old way of living?

After a whole night on the lake they get nothing. (Aristotle tells us that night-time was favoured for fishing.) Is there also an echo of words spoken at the Last Supper, “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5)?

As the light of dawn breaks Jesus is standing on the shore, but as usually happens in these post-resurrection scenes, they do not recognise him. He asks the question fishermen do not like to be asked:

Children, you have no fish, have you?

Reluctantly they have to admit, “no”. He then gives them some suggestions. On a natural level, it is possible he could see a movement of fish that was not visible from the boat, but the real meaning is deeper. He will lead the fish to them as he will lead people to them later on.

After following Jesus’ instructions, they make a huge haul of fish, so many that they cannot be brought into the boat. The exact number is given: 153. Is that an actual memory or is there a special symbolism in the number? St Augustine thought the latter and made his own speculations. St Jerome saw it as an expression of the universalism of the Christian mission, saying that the Greeks believed there were altogether 153 kinds of fish. The number is also the sum of the first 17 digits: 1+2+3…

However, that aside, the main point is to emphasise God’s generosity, recalling, for example, the amount of water changed into wine at Cana, the amount left over after feeding the crowds in the desert, the abundance of life that the Good Shepherd gives, the fullness of the Spirit, and the life-giving water that guarantees we are never thirsty. As well, the net was not broken. The net itself is, as in other texts, a symbol of the Kingdom of God.

This is all clearly a parable, a symbol of their future work as fishers of people, a work whose success will originate in the power of Jesus behind them and in their following what he tells them to do.

A similar incident had happened during Jesus’ earthly life and the “disciple whom Jesus loved” immediately saw the connection. He is the one with deeper insight into the presence and the ways of his Master. “It is the Lord!” he exclaims.

But if the “other disciple” was the one whom Jesus loved, Peter was the one who loved Jesus. And it is Peter, the impetuous one, who reacts first. He “put on his outer garment, for he had taken it off”* and jumps into the water to get to Jesus, leaving the others to bring the boat and fish to the shore. Such is his anxiety to be close to his Lord.

Says the New International Bible:

“It is curious that he put on this garment (the word appears only here in the New Testament) preparatory to jumping into the water. But Jews regarded a greeting as a religious act that could be done only when one was clothed.”

Peter is responding to the call “It is the Lord” and hears it as pointing to Jesus as someone special.

On the shore they find that Jesus has lit a fire. There is bread and some fish cooking. (Where did these fish come from? This is the kind of question we do not need to ask when reading a symbol-full passage like this.)

Jesus says to the Apostles:

Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.

“You”? Yes, literally they had pulled the fish in, but where had they originally come from? The same goes for much of what we claim to do. It is important to acknowledge God’s role in our actions, especially our successes.

In response to the command, it is Peter, the leader—now and in the future—who alone brings in the huge catch from the boat by the water’s edge. Peter alone dragging the net in is an image of the Kingdom coming (compare the parable beginning in Matt 13:47). His action also signifies the special position of Peter in the mission of the Apostles. Just now the whole group together could not haul the net into the boat.

Jesus then invites them to come and eat with him the meal he has prepared for them. Here, too, there are Eucharistic overtones. Now as they stand close to the friendly stranger, no one dares to ask “Who are you?” because they know quite well it is the Lord, the risen Jesus. Again we are being taught to find the presence of the Lord in all those who are kind to us, who do good to us in any way, and especially in those who share the Eucharistic meal with us. In the same way, we are called to be Jesus to everyone that we encounter.

If there were any questions remaining, Jesus’ identity is now confirmed by his taking the bread and the fish and giving it to them to eat. He broke bread; he celebrated a Eucharist with them.

We have here, then, some central pillars of our faith:

• recognising Christ in the kindly stranger and playing that role ourselves;
• expressing our love and solidarity with each other through our celebration of the Eucharist and breaking bread together;
• working with the power of Jesus to fill the net that is the Kingdom, becoming truly fishers of people.

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*That is, he was naked. Some of our translations use all kinds of euphemisms (e.g. ‘lightly clad’, New American Bible) to express this. Does it shock us that the first pope could go around like this? Male nakedness was much more acceptable in Peter’s society. A redeemed people should have no problem with an unclothed body. It was only after their sin that Adam and Eve became ashamed of their nakedness. Jesus reversed that by dying naked on the cross. We need to remember, too, that Peter is still under a cloud after denying his Master three times. Nakedness is only for the innocent. So, the moment he hears the person on the shore is his Lord, perhaps it is shame and guilt that make him cover himself. It is possible that all the others were naked also, but had no reason to cover themselves. Very soon, however, there will be a reconciliation between Jesus and Peter.

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Easter Saturday – Gospel

Commentary on Mark 16:9-15

This passage, known as the ‘Longer Ending’ of Mark’s Gospel, is a kind of summary of all that we have been reading during the past week. The end of Mark’s Gospel has verses many commentators believe are not part of the original text. Most commentators believe the original text ends with verse 16:8. However, this ending is so abrupt that many feel the original ending was somehow lost and this ending was put in its place.

Although the style shows it was not written by Mark, it has long been accepted as a canonical part of the Gospel, and was defined as such by the Council of Trent. It was known to Tatian and to Irenaeus in the 2nd century, and is found in the vast majority of Greek manuscripts.

The text consists of brief summaries of longer stories which appear in the other Gospels (Luke 24 and John 20), e.g. the appearance to Mary Magdalene, the disciples going to Emmaus, and Jesus’ appearance in the upper room.

The common theme is the incredulity of the disciples, who could not accept that Jesus was truly risen. Right to the very end of his Gospel, Mark continues to be harsh on the disciples’ lack of understanding. It is, of course, not about them he is writing, but about us.

The passage seems directed at many of the early Christians’ contemporaries who would not accept the message of Christ risen. But as we can see from the First Reading today, the disciples very soon not only found faith, but were more than ready to suffer and die for it.

In our times of doubt, let us remember their experience and their example and the fruits of their work. It is a work that still urgently needs to be done.

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Easter Tuesday – First Reading

Commentary on Acts 2:36-41

Today we see the first and immediate results of Peter’s proclamation of the gospel message.

After Peter’s proclamation his hearers:

…were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

It reflects both their belief in what they have just heard about Jesus, and regret over their former rejection.

They are told to “repent”. Repentance was important in the message of the forerunner, John the Baptist (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3), in the preaching of Jesus (Mark 1:15; Luke 13:3), and in the directions Jesus left just before his ascension (Luke 24:47).

‘Repentance’ implies not just regret for the past, but much more positively, a radical change to one’s way of thinking and behaving. It translates from the Greek word metanoia, of which the nearest English translation is something like ‘radical conversion’, a turning around to a completely new way of seeing life. This they pledge through being baptised and having their former sins forgiven and left behind, and receiving the gift of the Spirit. Each of the great apostolic addresses in Acts finishes with a call to conversion, leading to full reconciliation with God.

This is in fulfilment of the promises made by God in the past, and extended not only to the Jewish people, but also:

…for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.

We are told that on that very day—the day of Pentecost—3,000 people became followers of Jesus the Lord. Luke always likes to note the Church’s numerical growth and does so several times in Acts.

A reading like this is a call for all of us to renew our own commitment and to make the necessary conversion (metanoia) to bring us closer to Christ and his gospel message. It is also a reminder for us to share the Easter message with others. We may not have the same response that Peter got, but if we all brought one person to Christ what a difference it would make to their lives—and ours!

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Easter Wednesday – First Reading

Commentary on Acts 3:1-10

Today we see the first healing performed by Peter and John. By this, they show that the work of Jesus is continuing in them. The fact that two of them are involved in the healing also indicates that the work of Jesus is being done, not so much by individuals (although that may happen), but by the community which he left to carry on his mission.

Our reading is the beginning of a longer passage with a dramatic public healing which results in a large group of people gathering to hear Peter make a gospel proclamation. Some Sadducees, taking exception to what is being said about the resurrection of Jesus (the Sadducees denied any life after death), will have Peter and John (and apparently the cured man as well) arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin. There is also the matter of Peter and John teaching publicly in the Temple—something they had no authority to do. When Peter refuses to back down on the basis that he was speaking in a prophetic role, he and John should have been jailed. But because of healing the man who was well-known as “lame from birth”—a healing witnessed by many—the authorities retreated with just a warning.

We are told that Peter and John were on their way into the Temple in Jerusalem for the afternoon prayers. The three stated times of prayer for Judaism were midmorning (the third hour or 9 am), the time of the evening sacrifice (the ninth hour, 3 pm), and sunset. At this early stage in the Church’s life, the disciples maintained many of their former Jewish customs and practices. They did not see themselves as breaking away from their past, still less setting up a new religion.

Peter and John are among the most prominent of the Apostles. Together with John’s brother, James, they formed an inner circle with Jesus (attending the healing of the daughter of Jairus, witnessing the Transfiguration, brought along to give support to Jesus during his agony in the garden). Peter and John will be arrested together, and later we will see them evangelising in Samaria.

For them, Jesus was the continuation and the fulfilment of God’s promises to his people. Jesus was the Messiah long awaited by the Jewish people. Later, we will see how they began to realise that Jesus had come, not just for the Jews, but for people everywhere.

As Peter and John enter the Temple, they see this man who was unable to walk being carried in by friends. It appears that they brought him every day so that he could sit at the “Beautiful Gate” and beg for alms from passers-by. This gate was the favourite entrance to the Temple court. It was probably the bronze-sheathed gate elsewhere called the Nicanor Gate. It seems to have led from the Court of the Gentiles (open to everyone) to the Court of the Women, located on the east wall of the Temple building.

When the man saw Peter and John, he begged them for money. Peter and John both fixed their gaze on the man (as Jesus used to do) and Peter said:

I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.

And Peter raised him to his feet (a symbol of resurrection and new life, also seen in Gospel healings). Again, we note that the healing is done not by Peter himself, but in the name of Jesus. Jesus himself only healed in his own name.

The man gingerly tries out his ‘new’ legs, and is next seen bounding his way into the Temple, giving praise and thanks to God for his healing. The onlookers, many of whom were familiar with the man, were struck speechless by what they saw. The miracle has a dramatic impact: it symbolises the saving power of Christ and leads the now healed man to enter the Temple, where he hears Peter’s proclamation of salvation through Jesus.

The story clearly indicates that the power of Jesus has, as promised, been transferred to his followers.

Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12)

This man who was healed can also be viewed, as in similar Gospel stories, as symbolic of each one of us. We are all permanently in need of God’s help, and we stumble in our efforts to follow him. But once healed, we immediately join him on his Way.

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Easter Friday – First Reading

Commentary on Acts 4:1-12

The next stage in the mission of the disciples now takes place—after the proclamation and healing comes the persecution and harassment, as promised by Jesus.

As in the Gospel, we see the contrasting reactions between the Jewish leaders and the people. The leaders, mostly Sadducees who did not believe in resurrection after death, are objecting to the Apostles’ teaching about the resurrection of Jesus, and put them under arrest together with the man they had healed.

Those arresting the Apostles include the priests, the captain of the temple guard and Sadducees. The priests were those responsible for the temple liturgies. The temple guard was composed of Levites, and their captain ranked next to the high priest. The Sadducees, among other things, were drawn from the priestly families and from the upper classes. The high priest was one of their members. They tended to be pro-Rome and hence found Jesus and his followers to be a dangerous element. The Sadducees were strongly opposed to and by the Pharisees.

As it is late in the day, Peter and John are thrown into jail for the night. The evening sacrifices ended about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, and the temple gates would be closed after that. Judgements involving life and death had to be begun and ended during daylight hours.

In spite of the religious authorities’ actions, many of the people who had heard Peter’s preaching did believe in his message and their numbers had swollen to 5,000, up from 3,000 on the day of Pentecost—an amazing number in such a short time.

On the following day, Peter and John are made to stand before a meeting of the top leadership, including the high priest and members of his family. They are led by Annas. He was officially high priest from AD 6-15, but deposed by the Romans and succeeded by his son, Eleazar, and then by his son-in-law, Caiaphas (whom we meet during the account of Jesus’ passion). However, Annas was still recognised by the Jews as the real high priest. The John mentioned with him may be a son, while Alexander is otherwise unknown.

What strikes one in this scene is the boldness of Peter, when compared to his behaviour during the passion of Jesus. As Jesus had promised in his lifetime, Peter is filled with the Spirit, which gives him both his courage and his eloquence to speak out boldly. What they have done, they tell their accusers, has been done in the name of Jesus:

…this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.

Quoting from Psalm 118, Peter tells them about Jesus:

The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone. (Ps 118:22)

In general, the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies was important in early Christian preaching. This is especially the case with Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus, himself, was quoted as using this text about himself.

The passage ends with:

There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.

The message is very clear. In the Roman world in the time of Acts, salvation was often attributed to the emperor, often hailed as a ‘saviour’ and a ‘god’. Peter, however, affirms that real salvation can only come from Christ.

A passage like this gives us encouragement. First, we ought not be surprised that we will be mocked and attacked for our faith in Christ and his gospel, and second, we can be assured that we will be provided with what we need when faced with hostility and even persecution.

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Easter Monday – First Reading

Commentary on Acts 2:14,22-33

We begin today reading from the Acts of the Apostles. From now until the end of the Seventh Week of Easter, the weekday First Readings will be from Acts. The Sunday First Readings will also be from Acts.

Today’s reading follows immediately on the account of the Pentecost experience. The immediate result of that experience is for Peter, filled with the Spirit and as leader of the new community, to begin proclaiming the message about Jesus Christ as Saviour to the people gathered in Jerusalem for the Jewish festival of Pentecost.

It is the first of six such kerygmas (from the Greek kerux, meaning a ‘herald’) or proclamations in Acts about Jesus as Risen Lord and Messiah-King. Five of them are attributed to Peter and the final one to Paul (to the Jews at Antioch in Pisidia, Acts 13:16-41).

Peter’s address follows a pattern that became common in the early Church: 1) an explanation of what was happening; 2) the proclamation of the death, resurrection and glorification of Jesus, the Christ; 3) an exhortation to repentance, a change of life and baptism.

Peter stood before the crowd, flanked by the Eleven (including Matthias, newly chosen to replace Judas as a witness who had been with them “during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us” (Acts 1:21). Peter spoke, then, not just in his own name, but in the name of the whole apostolic ‘college’. Right from the beginning, his special position in the group is recognised.

And he has ‘good news’ (i.e. ‘gospel’, from the old English ‘god-spell’; Greek, euanggelion) to communicate to them. His words reflect the content of the earliest apostolic preaching:

1. He gives witness of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and his being raised to glory.
2. He describes some general details of Christ’s ministry and how it was proclaimed in advance by John the Baptist, inaugurated by teaching and miracles, and completed by appearances of the Risen Christ and the giving of the Spirit to his followers.
3. The story of Jesus is put in the wider context of the Old Testament prophecies, while at the same time looking forward to a Messianic age. All—Jews and Gentiles alike—are called to a radical change of life in order to be ready for the Christ’s glorious return—believed to be in the near future.

Peter, then, reminds them that Jesus had come to live among the people—as many of his listeners were well aware—and performed signs and wonders as the credentials of his real identity. But in the inscrutable plan of God, he was “handed over” (again we have that term which is a refrain throughout the New Testament).

Sad to say, those who handed Jesus over were from among his own people, perhaps including some of those listening to Peter, and they had even delivered him into the hands of the Romans (“those outside the Law”) for crucifixion. There must surely have been some uneasy feelings among the crowd when he said that.

But Jesus was liberated from the pain of death, and death had no power over him. Peter sees in words spoken by King David, their fulfilment in Jesus, his descendant:

…you will not abandon my soul to Hades…
(In Hebrew, Hades is Sheol, the place of the dead.)

These words are seen as applying more appropriately to Jesus because David died, was buried, and the place of his tomb was known to his hearers, while Jesus:

…was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.

Instead,

This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.

We, too, are called to be witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection and his living presence among us by the way we live both individually and as a community.

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