Sunday’s first reading comes from the sermon Peter gives on Pentecost. This sermon proclaims the same core message as Sunday’s gospel does: God has raised up Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. We hear the Christian creed forming in these passages.
The Easter event calls forth the Pentecost experience, in which people from many parts of the world receive the Spirit of Christ. The authentic Christian church must be as catholic—as diverse, whole, and universal—as the love Jesus Christ reveals through his life and teaching and through his sending of the Holy Spirit.
When we gather to remember Jesus’ death and resurrection and break bread as he asked, we celebrate and nourish our commitment to Jesus’ universal mission. Each Eucharist challenges us to embrace the world as the love of Christ embraces the world.
Peter begins preaching.
On the day of Pentecost Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice, and addressed them: “You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem! Listen to what I have to say:
“People of Israel, listen to me! Jesus the Nazorean was a man whom God sent to you with miracles, wonders, and signs as his credentials. These God worked through him in your midst, as you well know. He was delivered up by the set purpose and plan of God; you even used pagans to crucify and kill him. God freed him from death’s bitter pangs, however, and raised him up again, for it was impossible that death should keep its hold on him.
“David says of him:
‘I have set the Lord before me;
with God at my right hand
I shall not be disturbed.
My heart has been glad
and my tongue rejoiced,
my body will live on in hope.
For you will not abandon
my soul to the nether world,
nor will you suffer your faithful one
to undergo corruption.
You have shown me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
“Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God has sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, ‘He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.’
“This Jesus God raised up, and of that, all of us are witnesses. Being, therefore, exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear.”
Acts 2.14, 22-33
- How is the Spirit of God working through the Body of Christ in your midst?
- What challenges to be more catholic in your faith are you experiencing?