Monday

3rd Week of Easter

1st Reading: Acts 6:8-15

Stephen's Arrest
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[8] And Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the
people. [9] Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen
(as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those
from Cilicia and Asia, arose and disputed with Stephen. [10] But they could not
withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. [11] Then they secretly
instigated men, who said, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against
Moses and God." [12] And they stirred up the people and the elders and the
scribes, and they came upon him and seized him, and brought him before the
council, [13] and set up false witnesses who said, "This man never ceases to
speak words against this holy place and the law; [14] for we have heard him say
that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, and will change the customs
which Moses delivered to us." [15] And gazing at him, all who sat in the council
saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

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Commentary:

8-14. From the text it would appear that Stephen preached mainly among Helle-
nist Jews; this was his own background. Reference is made to synagogues of
Jews of the Dispersion (Diaspora). These synagogues were used for worship and
as meeting places. The very fact that these Hellenist Jews were living in the Holy
City shows what devotion they had to the Law of their forebears.

No longer is it only the Sanhedrin who are opposed to the Gospel; other Jews
have been affected by misunderstanding and by misrepresentation of the Christian
message.

The charge of blasphemy--also made against our Lord--was the most serious that
could be made against a Jew. As happened in Jesus' case, the accusers here
resort to producing false witnesses, who twist Stephen's words and accuse him
of a crime the penalty for which is death.

15. St. John Chrysostom, commenting on this verse, recalls that the face of Mo-
ses, when he comes down from Sinai (cf. Exodus 34:29-35), reflected the glory
of God and likewise made the people afraid: "It was grace, it was the glory of
Moses. I think that God clothed him in this splendor because perhaps he had
something to say, and in order that his very appearance would strike terror into
them. For it is possible, very possible, for figures full of Heavenly grace to be
attractive to friendly eyes and terrifying to the eyes of enemies" ("Hom. on
Acts", 15).


Gospel Reading: John 6:22-29

The People Look for Jesus
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[22] On the next day the people who remained on the other side of the sea saw
that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat
with His disciples, but that His disciples had gone away alone. [23] However,
boats from Tiberias came near the place where they ate the bread after the Lord
had given thanks. [24] So when the people saw that Jesus was not there, nor
His disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum,
seeking Jesus.

The Discourse on the Bread of Life
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[25] When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi,
when did You come here?" [26] Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you,
you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the
loaves. [27] Do not labor for the food which perishes, but the food which endures
to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you; for on Him has God the Father
set His seal." [28] Then they said to Him, "What must we do, to be doing the
works of God?" [29] Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you be-
lieve in Him He has sent."

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Commentary:

26. Our Lord begins by pointing out that their attitudes are wrong: if they have
the right attitude they will be able to understand His teaching in the eucharistic
discourse. "You seek me", St. Augustine comments, "for the flesh, not for the
spirit. How many seek Jesus for no other purpose than that He may do them
good in this present life! [...] Scarcely ever is Jesus sought for Jesus' sake"
("In Ioann. Evang.", 25, 10).

This verse marks the beginning of the discourse on the bread of life which goes
up to verse 59. It opens with an introduction in the form of a dialogue between
Jesus and the Jews (verses 26-34), in which our Lord reveals Himself as the
bringer of the messianic gifts. Then comes the first part of the discourse (verses
35-47), in which Jesus presents Himself as the Bread of Life, in the sense that
faith in Him is food for eternal life. In the second part (verses 48-59) Christ re-
veals the mystery of the Eucharist: He is the Bread of Life who gives Himself
sacramentally as genuine food.

번역자 주: 다음의 주소에 접속하면, 아래의 제27절에 대한 해설의 우리말 번역문을
읽을 수 있다:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/navarre/b_ot_18.htm

27. Bodily food helps keep us alive in this world; spiritual food sustains and de-
velops supernatural life, which will last forever in Heaven. This food, which only
God can give us, consists mainly in the gift of faith and sanctifying grace.
Through God's infinite love we are given, in the Blessed Eucharist, the very author
of these gifts, Jesus Christ, as nourishment for our souls.

"On Him has God the Father set His seal": our Lord here refers to the authority
by virtue of which He can give men the gifts He has referred to: for, being God
and man, Jesus' human nature is the instrument by means of which the Second
Person of the Blessed Trinity acts. St. Thomas Aquinas comments on this sen-
tence as follows: "What the Son of Man will give He possesses through His
superiority over all other men in His singular and outstanding fullness of grace.
... When a seal is impressed on wax, the wax receives the complete form of the
seal. So it is that the Son received the entire form of the Father. This occurred
in two ways; eternally (eternal generation), which is not referred to here because
the seal and the sealed are different in nature from one another; what is referred
to here is the other manner, that is, the mystery of the Incarnation, whereby God
the Father impressed on human nature the Word, who is the reflection and the
very stamp of God's nature, as Hebrews 1:3 says" ("Commentary on St. John,
in loc.").
　

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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태, 출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다].