Friday

4th Week of Easter

1st Reading: Acts 13:26-33

Preaching in the Synagogue of Antioch of Pisidia (Continuation)
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(Paul said to the Jews,) [26] "Brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those
among you that fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. [27]
For those who live Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him
nor understand the utterances of the prophets which are read every sabbath, ful-
filled these by condemning him. [28] Though they could charge him with nothing
deserving death, yet they asked Pilate to have him killed. [29] And when they had
fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him
in a tomb. [30] But God raised him from the dead; [31] and for many days he
appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now
his witnesses to the people. [32] And we bring you the good news that what God
had promised to the fathers, [33] this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising
Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm.

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Commentary:

16-41. Paul's address here is an excellent example of the way he used to present
the Gospel to a mixed congregation of Jews and proselytes. He lists the benefits
conferred by God on the chosen people from Abraham down to John the Baptism
(verses 16-25); he then shows how all the messianic prophecies were fulfilled in
Jesus (verses 26-37), and, by way of conclusion, states that justification comes
about through faith in Jesus, who died and then rose from the dead (verse 38-41).

This address contains all the main themes of apostolic preaching, that is, God's
saving initiative in the history of Israel (verses 17-22); reference to the Precursor
(verses 24-25); the proclamation of the Gospel or "kerygma" in the proper sense
(verses 26b-31a); mention of Jerusalem (verse 31b); arguments from Sacred Scrip-
ture (verses 33-37), complementing apostolic teaching and tradition (verses 38-39);
and a final exhortation, eschatological in character, announcing the future (verses
40-41). In many respects this address is like those of St. Peter (cf. 2:14ff; 3:12ff),
especially where it proclaims Jesus as Messiah and in its many quotations from
Sacred Scripture, chosen to show that the decisive event of the Resurrection con-
firms Christ's divinity.

Paul gives a general outline of salvation history and then locates Jesus in it as
the expected Messiah, the point at which all the various strands in that history
meet and all God's promises are fulfilled. He shows that all the steps which lead
up to Jesus Christ, even the stage of John the Baptist, are just points on a route.
Earlier, provisional elements must now, in Christ, give way to a new, definitive
situation.

"You that fear God" (verse 26): see the notes on Acts 2:5-11 and 10:2).

28. Paul does not back off from telling his Jewish listeners about the cross, the
painful death freely undergone by the innocent Jesus. They naturally find it
shocking and hurtful, but it is true and it is what brings salvation. "When I came
to you, brethren," he says on another occasion, "I did not come proclaiming to
you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing
among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:1f).

Sometimes human logic cannot understand how Jesus could have died in this
way. But the very fact that he did is evidence of the divine character of the Gospel
and supports belief in the Christian faith. With the help of grace man can in some
way understand the Lord making Himself "obedient unto death, even death on a
cross" (Philippians 2:8). He can discover some of the reasons why God decided
on this superabundant way of redeeming man. "It was very fitting," St. Thomas
Aquinas writes, "that Christ should die on a cross. First, to give an example of
virtue. [...] Also, because this kind of death was the one most suited to atoning
for the sin of the first man.... It was fitting for Christ, in order to make up for that
fault, to allow Himself to be nailed to the wood, as if to restore what Adam had
snatched away. [...] Also, because by dying on the cross Jesus prepares us for
our ascent into heaven. [...] And because it also was fitting for the universal sal-
vation of the entire world" ("Summa Theologiae", III, q. 46, a. 4).

Through Christ's death on the cross we can see how much God loved us and
consequently we can feel moved to love Him with our whole heart and with all our
strength. Only the cross of our Lord, an inexhaustible source of grace, can make
us holy.

29-31. The empty tomb and the appearances of the risen Jesus to His disciples
are the basis of the Church's testimony to the resurrection of the Lord, and they
demonstrate that He did truly rise. Jesus predicted that He would rise on the
third day after His death (cf. Matthew 12:40; 16-21; 17:22; John 2:19). Faith in
the Resurrection is supported by the fact of the empty tomb (because it was im-
possible for our Lord's body to be stolen) and by his many appearances, during
which he conversed with his disciples, allowed them to touch Him, and ate with
them (cf. Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20-21). In his First Letter to the
Corinthians (15:3-6) Paul says that "[what I preached was] that Christ died for our
sins in accordance with the scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on
the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas,
then to the twelve. Then He appeared to more than give hundred brethren."

32-37. Paul gives three pertinent quotations from Scriptures--Psalm 2:7 ("Thou art
my Son"), Isaiah 55:3 ("I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David") and
Psalm 16:10 ("thy Holy One"). All refer to aspects of the Lord's Resurrection.
Taken together, they help support and interpret one another, and to someone fa-
miliar with the Bible and with what ways of interpreting it then current they reveal
the full meaning of the main texts concerning the promises made to David. Paul's
interpretation of Psalm 2 and 16 gets beneath the surface meaning of the texts
and shows them to refer to the messianic king who, since He is born of God, will
never experience the corruption of the grave.


Gospel Reading: John 14:1-6

Jesus Reveals the Father
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(Jesus said to His disciples,) [1] "Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God,
believe also in Me. [2] In My Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so,
would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? [3] And when I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where
I am you may be also. [4] And you know the way where I am going." [5] Thomas
said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going; how can we know the
way?" [6] Jesus said to him, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one
comes to the Father, but by Me."

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Commentary:

1-3. Apparently this prediction of Peter's denial has saddened the disciples.
Jesus cheers them up by telling them that He is going away to prepare a place for
them in Heaven, for Heaven they will eventually attain, despite their shortcomings
and dragging their feet. The return which Jesus refers to includes His Second
Coming (Parousia) at the end of the world (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:5; 11:26; 1 Thessa-
lonians 4:16-17; 1 John 2:28) and His meeting with each soul after death: Christ
has prepared a Heavenly dwelling-place through His work of redemption. Therefore,
His words can be regarded as being addressed not only to the Twelve but also
to everyone who believes in Him over the course of the centuries. The Lord will
bring with Him into glory all those who have believed in Him and have stayed
faithful to Him.

4-7. The Apostles did not really understand what Jesus was telling them: hence
Thomas' question. The Lord explains that He is the way to the Father. "It was
necessary for Him to say 'I am the Way' to show them that they really knew what
they thought they were ignorant of, because they knew Him" (St. Augustine, "In.
Ioann. Evang.", 66, 2).

Jesus is the way to the Father--through what He teaches, for by keeping to His
teaching we will reach Heaven; through faith, which He inspires, because He
came to this world so "that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life" (John
3:15); through His example, since no one can go to the Father without imitating
the Son; through His merits, which make it possible for us to enter our Heavenly
home; and above all He is the way because He reveals the Father, with whom
He is one because of His divine nature.

"Just as children by listening to their mothers, and prattling with them, learn to
speak their language, so we, by keeping close to the Savior in meditation, and
observing His words, His actions, and His affections, shall learn, with the help of
His grace, to speak, to act, and to will like
Him.

"We must pause here...; we can reach God the Father by no other route...; the
Divinity could not be well contemplated by us in this world below if it were not
united to the sacred humanity of the Savior, whose life and death are the most
appropriate, sweet, delicious and profitable subjects which we can choose for our
ordinary meditations" (St. Francis de Sales, "Introduction to the Devout Life", Part
II, Chapter 1, 2).

"I am the way": He is the only path linking Heaven and Earth. "He is speaking to
all men, but in a special way He is thinking of people who, like you and me, are
determined to take our Christian vocation seriously: He wants God to be forever in
our thoughts, on our lips and in everything we do, including our most ordinary and
routine actions.

"Jesus is the way. Behind Him on this Earth of ours He has left the clear outlines
of His footprints. They are indelible signs which neither the erosion of time nor the
treachery of the Evil One have been able to erase" (St. J. Escriva, "Friends of
God", 127).

Jesus' words do much more than provide an answer to Thomas' question; He tells
us: "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life". Being the Truth and the Life is
something proper to the Son of God become man, who St. John says in the pro-
logue of his Gospel is "full of grace and truth" (1:14). He is the Truth because by
coming to this world He shows that God is faithful to His promises, and because
He teaches the truth about who God is and tells us that true worship must be "in
spirit and truth" (John 4:23). He is Life because from all eternity He has divine life
with His Father (cf. John 1:4), and because He makes us, through grace, sharers
in that divine life. This is why the Gospel says: "This is eternal life, that they know
Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent" (John 17:3).

By His reply Jesus is, "as it were, saying, By which route do you want to go? I
am the Way. To where do you want to go? I am the Truth. Where do you want to
remain? I am the Life. Every man can attain an understanding of the Truth and
the Life; but not all find the Way. The wise of this world realize that God is eternal
life and knowable truth; but the Word of God, who is Truth and Life joined to the
Father, has become the Way by taking a human nature. Make your way contem-
plating His humility and you will reach God" (St. Augustine, "De Verbis Domini
Sermones", 54).
　

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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].