Faith

When enemies make strange bed fellows- Saturday- Octave of Easter- Acts 4:13- 21

A trial of sorts is on and Peter and John stand accused of an act of kindness. It has taken the might of Jewish Sanhedrin to come together.  Politics they say make strange bed fellows, and so this incident should not raise eyebrows in surprise.

We are told that Peter and John have healed a cripple in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. A frenzied crowd sees in this act, not the hand of God, but the wonders of humans. Peter gives all the glory to Jesus of Nazareth and calls for a repentance of sin, which leads to the second mass conversion of five thousand people; this time in the very temple of Jerusalem.

Prompted by jealousy, the might of the Sanhedrin gets together; yet as I said it’s a strange assembly for among Peter and John’s accusers, are groups of people who would not get under one umbrella on even the stormiest day; yet they now stand side by side.

Take for example the Pharisees who now stand beside the Sadducees. One understands why the Sadducees were jumping up and down protesting against Peter and John, for John and Peter were preaching a resurrected Christ. The Sadducees denied the belief in the resurrection and angels, something that the Pharisees held close to their heart. Yet while they could never see eye to eye on anything, they now choose to stand hand in hand against the apostles.

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Faith

Preaching not from might but what is right- Friday, Octave of Easter- Acts 4:1-12

For most of us, the heightened spiritual season of Lent gives way to a more relaxed season of Easter. We feel that we have ‘achieved’ much and ‘endured’ much through Lent, and so the Easter season is a period of ‘spiritual reward’! While we may take comfort in such thoughts today, it was certainly not the reality for the early Church.

The early Church under the apostles lived the first fifty days post resurrection, in fear of losing their own lives. However, once they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they were working twenty four seven; now with certain risk to their lives. There was no time for the apostles to sit back.

Chapter four and five of the Acts of the Apostles gives us an insight into the life and trials of the Apostolic Church; a trial that sprang up out of jealousy, for it was a “good deed done to someone” that got the authorities all riled up. One could see the pretext being made out of no apparent context. It sounds a bit amusing that the preaching of two uneducated fishermen was enough to stir the entire Jewish establishment, bringing together the whole shebang to call for a trial.

We are told that at this ‘trial’, a formal session of the Jerusalem Sanhedrin was called. It consisted of the “rulers, elders and scribes along with Annas the High Priest, Caiaphas, John and Alexander and all of the high priestly family. From the historian Josephus, we know that Annas was high priest in 6-15 AD., and his son-in-law Caiaphas was high priest at this time (18-36 AD.; John 11:49; 18:13). The identities of John and Alexander (4:6) are unknown, but some manuscripts read “Jonathan” instead of John. (Jonathan was the name of Annas’s son, who became high priest in 36-37 AD).

There are three takeaways from today’s readings. The first is that this is the third recorded speech or homily recorded in the Acts of the Apostle. In each case, Peter uses the opportunity presented, to preach Christ. Evangelization does not need an organized forum, a pulpit or a stage; it needs a willing heart that is never afraid to preach Christ, and preach the truth. Peter, in proclaiming that it was Jesus who healed the cripple, also blames the ‘supreme council’ of the Jews for crucifying Jesus.

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Easter, a call to repentance! Thursday, Octave in Easter- Acts 3:11-26

The first miracle in the Acts of the Apostles is followed by a homily; a homily not made by choice but by necessity. Peter and John are besieged by a throng of people in Solomon’s Portico, who attribute the miracle to the human hands of Peter and John, and not to the divine. 

So Solomon’s Portico became the setting for Peter’s second homily. According to Josephus, Solomon’s Portico was a double-columned porch on the east side of the Temple near the court of the Gentiles. It was about 23 feet wide and the columns were about 40 feet tall. Josephus the historian claimed they were white marble with cedar-panels for a ceiling.

Peter and John take absolutely no credit for the cripple’s healing; that glory belongs to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The patriarchs mentioned in this text would certainly have not gone unnoticed, for every Jew would harken to these names while calling on YHWH (The Jews never called God by name and so never even wrote the vowels in His name, making His name impossible to be taken). Curiously Peter also adds another line, “the God of our ancestors has glorified His servant Jesus.”

This title “servant” would have not been lost on the Jews listening to Peter. They were familiar with the servant Psalms of Isaiah (Chapter 42, 49, 50, 52 and 53). Now that Peter has their attention, he proceeds with his sermon whose theme and content is modelled on similar elements in his Pentecost homily. Christ was rejected, handed to Pilate, put to death but raised from the dead.

But to the reader familiar with Peter, one can see a change from the apostle in the Gospels as compared to the apostle in Acts. No longer is Peter impetuous, for there is a marked temperance in his thought. Now he speaks also with compassion, for according to him, the murder of the “author of life” was also an act of ignorance on the part of the people and rulers.

Perhaps what should strike the reader the most in this homily, is the recurring theme of repentance. It is a repentance of sin that was called for in Peter’s Pentecost homily, and that won the Church three thousand converts, and the same theme recurs in the homily given in Solomon’s Portico which will win the Church five thousand converts.

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Faith

Beggar to believer- Wednesday in the Octave of Easter- Acts 3:1-10

The narration of the healing of the crippled beggar by Peter and John, and the subsequent address by Peter in Solomon’s portico will be taken up by the lectionary in two parts. Today we will hear the miracle, and tomorrow the homily. These actions on the part of Peter and John will lead to the first persecution in the Church.

While in chapter two we hear in a generalised way “that many signs and wonders were done”, here is the first recorded miracle performed by the apostles. If you look at the pattern of this healing story, it is typical of a miracle story in the life of Jesus. It is interesting to note how the Church follows Christ, as it should be.

We are told that Peter and John enter the temple at three pm which was one of the three hours of prayer for a pious Jew, and it is here that they see a man who was lame from birth being carried in. We are told that the cripple is laid at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful gate.

Let us talk a bit about this gate which Josephus the historian records. He says this gate was called the ‘Nicanor’ gate and was seventy five feet high and made out of Corinthian bronze. It was a gate that separated the court of the woman from the court of the men or Israel. Fifteen steps led to the court of the women, and it was here that the cripple was placed.

Scripture also tells us that this man was begging from people ‘entering the temple’; technically he is ‘outside the temple’. He has not come as a worshipper but as one seeking charity. He asks Peter and John for alms and so we can surmise that he was not looking for a healing, he was looking for a hand-out.  Interestingly after his healing he ‘enters’ the temple as a worshipper and a man of faith.

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Faith

Transformation not Information- Tuesday, first week of Easter- Acts 2:36-41

The first homily delivered in the newly established ‘Church’ on Pentecost was delivered by Peter. Far from being a pepped up one, it seems to be a very long theological discourse which quotes the Psalms as reference. To the modern reader, this may seem barely intelligible if not boring, and yet the results are spectacular.

The Jews listening to Peter are ‘cut to the heart’ and ask Peter and the other eleven apostles what should they do? This “cutting to the heart” is a conversion by conviction. Imagine if every homily preached from the pulpit ended with our congregations asking, “What should I do?” We would have a long line in the confessional for those already baptized!

Peter holds nothing back and immediately demands two actions that would bring about a change – that they repent, be baptized. The goal of Peter is not merely to dispense information, but to lead the Jews to make application and bring them to transformation. This baptism of repentance would absolve them of their sins and they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, thus being saved ‘from this corrupt generation’.

The first thing that strikes you is the desire of those listening to Peter to set things straight. Setting things right involves repentance (metanoeō), which calls for a new way of thinking. It also calls for baptism for the forgiveness of sins; so the neophytes had to look at Christian living as a new way of living which involved the renunciation of sin. Thus guided by the gift at baptism, the gift of the Holy Spirit, they would be able to make a right choice to reject the corrupt generation of Satan. 

Perhaps the words of Peter sound all too familiar and you are right, for the words that we read in  vv. 38-40 recall Luke’s description of John the Baptizer, someone else who preached imminent judgment (Luke 3:3-18).

For some, this message of Easter almost smacks of the theme of Lent, namely repentance. The greatest gift of joy that we could ever receive, is the grace to be repentant of our failings, for the blessings received are shared by us and our household. The gift of the Holy Spirit for all who repent, is a gift promised to the person, to their children, and for all who are far away, and for everyone whom the Lord God calls to Him.

Fr Warner D’Souza

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