INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE

Year C - Second Sunday of Easter 

 

ACTS 5:27-32.     This incident must have taken place relatively soon after the resurrection. It illustrates the opposition to the preaching of the Gospel by the same religious authorities who had opposed Jesus and arranged his execution at the hands of the Romans.

         

In disobeying the orders of the Sanhedrin, the high council of Israel's religious establishment, the apostles claimed to have a higher, divine authority for what they did. Christians have always faced such challenges to their loyalties and are forced to choose.

 

PSALM 150.     In six short verses this liturgical psalm summons praise to God eleven times. It also presents us with answers to four questions: where, why, how and who is to offer this praise. A shout of praise, "Hallelujah!" (in English "Praise the Lord!") frames these exhortations so appropriate for the Easter season.

 

REVELATION 1:4-8.     John addresses seven brief letters in 1:9-3:22 to the churches in the province of Asia (now western Turkey). The sacred number seven, the symbol for wholeness, represents the fullness of God's activity and power. The passage also celebrates the crucifixion, resurrection and return of Jesus to the messianic community, the Church. As such it was intended as a capsule summary of the whole gospel proclaimed by the apostles.

 

JOHN 20:19-31.   The story of Thomas' doubt about Jesus' resurrection has a very relevant message for us who still wrestle with our faith. The passage probably ended the original Gospel of John. Chapter 21 was added at a later date to deal with questions arising from the death of the Apostle John whose oral witness may lie behind the gospel.

 

 

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

 

 

ACTS 5:27-32.    This incident must have taken place relatively soon after the resurrection. It illustrates the opposition to the preaching of the Gospel by the same religious authorities who had opposed Jesus and arranged his execution at the hands of the Romans. Christians have always faced such challenges to their loyalties and are forced to choose.

 

At first, the apostolic community regarded itself as a Jewish sect presenting a new interpretation of the messianic tradition. They used Solomon's Portico, an open, columned area completely surrounding the temple precincts as their centre of activity. There they proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus. This gave them maximum exposure to the general public who came to the temple to worship and offer their sacrifices. This made the party of the Sadducees extremely jealous. Not only was the high priest chosen from this party to represent the authority of God in Israel, they also rejected all belief in resurrection of the dead.

         

So the apostles were thrown into prison from which they were miraculously delivered. (5:17-21.) This incident became part of the tradition reported by word of mouth for a generation or more before being written down by Luke, the presumed author of this book. It illustrates the opposition to the preaching of the Gospel by the same people who had been so hostile to Jesus. Furthermore, In Luke's day, perhaps as long as fifty or more years after this incident, the hostility between the Jewish authorities and the Christian community had become even stronger. The Pharisees had replaced the Sadducees as the religious establishment among the Diaspora after the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 70. Soon afterward, the Sadducees disappeared from Jewish religious history. By the time Acts was written in the 80s CE, Christians had taken their place in the enmity between the rival sects of Judaism. This would have been well-known to Luke's Gentile audience because of Paul's ministry among them.

 

In disobeying the orders of the Sanhedrin, the high council of Israel’s religious establishment, the apostles claimed to have a higher, divine authority for what they did. Christians have always faced such a challenge to their loyalties and are forced to choose. Today, with the negligible influence of the church in society, a similar situation pertains.

 

 

PSALM 150.     As a fitting conclusion to the Psalter, in the short space of six verses, this liturgical psalm summons us to praise God eleven times. It also presents us with answers to four questions about this praise: Where is it to be offered? Vs.1b "in his sanctuary" - i.e. the temple. Why?  Vs. 2 "For his mighty deeds." God's activity is always located in a historical context. How? Vss. 3-5 With musical instruments of all kinds. One can hear the symphony of celebration as the instruments are named.  Who? Vs. 6 "Everything that breathes."  Every living creature in its own way joins in the paean of praise for the Creator.

 

A shout of praise, “Hallelujah!” (in English “Praise the Lord!”) frames these exhortations. Even more intriguing is the ever increasing crescendo conveyed by the hymn until the final verse. There the root word in Hebrew is neshamah which refers to a powerful blast of wind. Only under divine control could this become the "breath" of living creatures and the source of human inspiration. Perhaps Handel was onto something with his Hallelujah Chorus.

 

 

REVELATION 1:4-8.     This passage forms the address of the whole book, but more particularly to the seven brief letters to the churches in the province of Asia (now western Turkey) which follow in chs. 2-3. In one sense it is also a summary of the teaching of the apostolic church at the end of the 1st century CE.

         

Seven, the symbol for wholeness, was regarded as a sacred number representing the Spirit of God in the fullness of God’s activity and power. John may also have had in mind the sevenfold spirit with which Isaiah 11:2 had said the Messiah was to be endowed. Also, in Zechariah 4:2 the prophet sees a candelabra with seven lamps representing the eyes of Yahweh "which range through the whole earth." The traditional Jewish menorah is similarly designed to hold seven candles. Throughout Revelation, John makes extensive use of the OT images which, according the late Professor George Caird, of McGill and Oxford Universities, are the keys to his visions.

        

The passage also celebrates the crucifixion, resurrection and return of Jesus to the messianic community, the Church. Vs. 5 clarifies this in no uncertain terms. The greeting of grace and peace comes not only from the Eternal God "who is and was and is to come," but from the whole church created by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and here represented by the seven spirits. Jesus is called "the faithful witness" (cf. 1 Timothy 6:13) and "the first born of the dead," two striking Pauline phrases. He is also called "the ruler of the kings of the earth," an adaptation of the messianic phrase of Psalm 89:27.

         

Once again reference to the crucifixion arises in vs. 5b in the loving sacrifice of the cross which gives freedom to the faithful and creates a royal priesthood serving God as Israel was intended to be in the covenant established on Mount Sinai. (Exodus 19:6 cf. 1 Peter 2:9-10.)

         

The expectation of the Parousia comes to the fore on vss. 7-8. Many interpreters assume that when the crucified Jesus returns triumphantly, those who did not first believe will lament their prospective doom (vs. 7b). Professor Caird believed that the lament will not be for themselves, but for him because they caused his wounds. His coming will be the coming of God, the familiar "I am" of both the OT and John's Gospel. The omnipotence he will demonstrate will not be "the unlimited power of coercion but the power of invincible love."  (Caird, George B. A Commentary on The Revelation of St. John the Divine." London: Adam and Charles Black, 1966.)

 

 

JOHN 20:19-31.     The story of Thomas’ doubt about Jesus’ resurrection has a very relevant message for us still. As vss. 30-31 suggest, it probably ended the original Gospel of John. Chapter 21 was added later to deal with questions arising from the death of the Apostle John whose oral witness may lie behind the gospel.

 

The appearance of Jesus in the room though the doors of the house were locked and the showing of the wounds in his hands and side has been used - perhaps too much - as evidence of the unusual nature of Jesus' resurrection body. We must remember, however, that John was telling this story to a Gentile community some sixty years after the actual event. Like all people of the Hellenistic culture, they believed in the miraculous and in permeable boundaries between the spiritual realm and the real world. The whole point of the story for John's community is in vs. 29.

 

In vss. 21-23, Jesus endows the apostolic community with the Holy Spirit and appears to give them the authority to forgive sins. But then, how and when did Thomas receive the Holy Spirit?  Some commentaries regard this incident as a variant of Matthew 18:18 added at a later date. Others regard it as the church's mandate ordained by Christ and exercised through the priesthood. William Barclay adopts a genuinely Reformed view: "This sentence lays down the duty of the Church to convey forgiveness to the penitent in heart, and to warn the impenitent that they are forfeiting the mercy of God."

 

For many modern church members, Thomas is the great hero of the resurrection appearances. He wanted facts, undeniable proof, not the word of other witnesses. Such incredulity misses the real point of this pericope. When presented with the opportunity, Thomas does not need the evidence. Jesus lives for him as Lord and God as a matter of faith without observing the pierced hand or thrusting his hand into Jesus' wounded side. John drives the point home by assuring the members of his own community at the end of the 1st century CE that those who have not seen, yet believe, are the truly blessed.

 

The final words of the original Gospel acknowledge the existence of other events which he had not reported. "Other signs," John called them, continuing his basic theme of signs. Throughout his gospel John used these signs – actually words and deed of Jesus – to point to Jesus as Israel’s true Messiah and the Son of God. He concludes with one last reference to a fundamental motif of the whole Gospel: faith in Jesus as the Messiah/Christ gives life to the believer.

 

 

Preaching Points:

 

 

 

 

          http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14658b.htm 

 

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_the_Apostle.

 

 

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