Saturday
4th Week of Easter
1st Reading: Acts 13:44-52
Paul and Barnabas Preaches to the Pagans
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[44] The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered together to hear the
Word of God. [45] But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with
jealousy, and contradicted what was spoken by Paul, and reviled him. [46] And
Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, "It was necessary that the Word
of God should be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it from you, and judge
yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. [47] For
so the Lord has commanded us, saying, 'I have set you to be a light for the
Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.'"
[48] And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the Word of
God; and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. [49] And the Word
of the Lord spread throughout all the region. [50] But the Jews incited the devout
women of high standing and the leading men of the city, and stirred up persecu-
tion against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. [51] But
they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and went to Iconium. [52]
And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
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Commentary:
45. The opposition of these Jews, who in their jealousy contradict what Paul says,
will from now be the typical attitude of the synagogue to the Gospel. It emerges
everywhere the Apostle goes, with the exception of Beroea (cf. 17:10-12).
46. Paul may have been hoping that Christianity would flourish on the soil of
Judaism, that the Jews would peacefully and religiously accept the Gospel as the
natural development of God's plans. His experience proved otherwise: he encoun-
tered the terrible mystery of the infidelity of most of the chosen people, his own
people.
Even if Israel had been faithful to God's promises, it would still have been neces-
sary to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. The evangelization of the pagan world
is not a consequence of Jewish rejection of the Word; it is required by the univer-
sal character of Christianity. To all men Christianity is the only channel of saving
grace; it perfects the Law of Moses and reaches out beyond the ethnic and geo-
graphical frontiers of Judaism.
47. Paul and Barnabas quote Isaiah 49:6 in support of their decision to preach to
the Gentiles. The Isaiah text referred to Christ, as Luke 3:32 confirms. But now
Paul and Barnabas apply it to themselves because the Messiah is "light for the
Gentiles" through the preaching of the Apostles, for they are conscious of spea-
king in Christ's name and on His authority. Therefore, probably here "the Lord"
refers not to God the Father but to Christ.
51. "They shook the dust from their feet": a traditional _expression: the Jews
regarded as unclean the dust of anywhere other than the holy land of Palestine.
Our Lord extended the meaning of the phrase when He told the disciples He was
sending them out to preach, "If any one will not receive you or listen to your words,
shake off the dust from your feet" (Matthew 10:14; cf. Luke 9:5). This gesture of
Paul and Barnabas echoes what Jesus said and amounted to "closing the case"
or putting on record the unbelief of the Jews.
Gospel Reading: John 14:7-14
Jesus Reveals the Father
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(Jesus said to Thomas,) [7] "If you had known Me, you would have known My
Father also; henceforth you know Him and have seen Him.
[8] Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied."
[9] Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know
Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show
us the Father?' [10] Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in
Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the
Father who dwells in Me does His works. [11] Believe Me that I am in the Father
and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the sake of the words themselves.
[12] "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me will also do the works that
I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father. [13]
Whatever you ask in my name I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the
Son; [14] if you ask anything in my name, I will do it."
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Commentary:
8-11. The Apostles still find our Lord's words very mysterious, because they
cannot understand the oneness of the Father and the Son. Hence Philip's per-
sistence. Then Jesus "upbraids the Apostle for not yet knowing Him, even though
His works are proper to God--walking on the water, controlling the wind, forgiving
sins, raising the dead. This is why He reproves him: for not recognizing His divine
condition through His human nature" (St. Augustine, "De Trinitate", Book 7).
Obviously the sight of the Father which Jesus refers to in this passage is a vision
through faith, for no one has ever seen God as He is (cf. John 1:18; 6:46). All
manifestations of God, or "theophanies", have been through some medium; they
are only a reflection of God's greatness. The highest _expression which we have
of God our Father is in Christ Jesus, the Son of God sent among men. "He did
this by the total fact of His presence and self-manifestation--by words and works,
signs and miracles, but above all by His death and glorious resurrection from the
dead, and finally by sending the Spirit of truth. He revealed that God was with us,
to deliver us from the darkness of sin and death, and to raise us up to eternal life"
(Vatican II, "Dei Verbum", 4).
12-14. Before leaving this world, the Lord promises His Apostles to make them
sharers in His power so that God's salvation may be manifested through them.
These "works" are the miracles they will work in the name of Jesus Christ (cf.
Acts 3:1-10; 5:15-16; etc.), and especially the conversion of people to the
Christian faith and their sanctification by preaching and the ministry of the sa-
craments. They can be considered greater works than Jesus' own insofar as,
by the Apostles' ministry, the Gospel was not only preached in Palestine but
was spread to the ends of the earth; but this extraordinary power of apostolic
preaching proceeds from Christ, who has ascended to the Father: after under-
going the humiliation of the cross Jesus has been glorified and from Heaven
He manifests His power by acting through His Apostles.
The Apostles' power, therefore, derives from Christ glorified. Christ our Lord
says as much: "Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it". "It is not that he
who believes in Me will be greater than Me, but that only that I shall then do
greater works than now; greater, by him who believes in Me, than I now do by
myself without Him" (St. Augustine, "In Ioann. Evang.", 72, 1).
Jesus Christ is our intercessor in Heaven; therefore, He promises us that every-
thing we ask for in His name, He will do. Asking in His name (cf. 15:7, 16;
16:23-24) means appealing to the power of the risen Christ, believing that He is
all-powerful and merciful because He is true God; and it also means asking for
what is conducive to our salvation, for Jesus is our Savior. Thus, by "whatever
you ask" we must understand what is for the good of the asker. When our Lord
does not give what we ask for, the reason is that it would not make for our sal-
vation. In this way we can see that He is our Savior both when He refuses us
what we ask and when He grants it.
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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.
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