Saturday
Octave of Easter
1st Reading: Acts 4:13-21
Address To the Sanhedrin (Continuation)
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[13] Now when they (the Sanhedrin) saw the boldness of Peter and John, and
perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they wondered; and they
recognized that they had been with Jesus. [14] But seeing the man that had
been healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.
[15] But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they
conferred with one another, [16] saying, "What shall we do with these men?
For that a notable sign has been performed through them is manifest to all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. [17] But in order that it may
spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to any
one in this Name." [18] So they called them and charged them not to speak or
teach at all in the name of Jesus. [19] But Peter and John answered them,
"Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God you
must judge; [20] for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard."
[21] And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no
way to punish them, because of the people; for all men praised God for what
had happened.
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Commentary:
13. The members of the Sanhedrin are surprised by Peter's confidence and by
the way these men, who are not well versed in the Law, are able to use Sacred
Scripture. "Did not the Apostles," (St. John) Chrysostom asks in admiration,
"poor and without earthly weapons, enter into battle against enemies who were
fully armed [...]? Without experience, without skill of the tongue, they fought
against experts in rhetoric and the language of the academies" ("Hom. on
Acts", 4).
18-20. In one of his homilies [Pope] John Paul II gives us a practical commentary
on this passage, which help us see the right order of priorities and give pride of
place to the things of God: "Whereas the elders of Israel charge the Apostles
not to speak about Christ, God, on the other hand, does not allow them to remain
silent. [...] In Peter's few sentences we find a full testimony to the Resurrection
of the Lord. [...] The word of the living God addressed to men obliges us more
than any other human commandment or purpose. This word carries with it the
supreme eloquence of truth, it carries the authority of God Himself. [...]
"Peter and the Apostles are before the Sanhedrin. They are completely and
absolutely certain that God Himself has spoken in Christ, and has spoken defi-
nitely through His Cross and Resurrection. Peter and the Apostles to whom this
truth was directly given--as also those who in their time received the Holy Spirit --
must bear witness to it. Believing means accepting with complete conviction the
truth that comes from God, drawing support from the grace of the Holy Spirit
'whom God has given to those who obey Him' (Acts 5:32) to accept what God
has revealed and what comes to us through the Church in its living transmission,
that is, in Tradition. The organ of this Tradition is the teaching of Peter and of
the Apostles and of their successors.
"Over the centuries the sanhedrins change which seek to impose silence, aban-
donment or distortion of this truth. The "sanhedrins of the contemporary world"
are many and of all types. These sanhedrins are each and every person who
rejects divine truth; they are systems of human thought, of human knowledge;
they are various "conceptions of the world" and also the various programs of
human behavior; they are also the different "forms of pressure" used by so-called
public opinion, mass civilization, media of social communication, which are
materialist or secular agnostic or anti-religious; they are, finally, certain contem-
porary "systems of government" which--if they do not totally deprive citizens of
scope to profess the faith--at least limit that scope in different ways, marginalize
believers and turn them into second-class citizens...and against all these mo-
dern types of the Sanhedrin of that time, the response of faith is always the
same: 'We must obey God rather than men' (Acts 5:29)" ("Homily", 20 April
1980).
Gospel Reading: Mark 16:9-15
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene and to Two Disciples
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[9] Now when He (Jesus) rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared
first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast our seven demons. [10] She
went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. [11]
But when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they would
not believe it.
[12] After this He appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking
into the country. [13]And they went back and told the rest, but they did not
believe them.
Jesus Appears to the Eleven. The Apostles' Mission
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[14] Afterwards He appeared to the Eleven themselves as they sat at table; and
He upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not
believed those who saw Him after He had risen. [15] And He said to them, "Go
into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation."
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Commentary:
11-14. When reporting these first appearances of the risen Jesus, St. Mark
stresses the disciples' disbelief and their reluctance to accept the fact of the
Resurrection, even though Jesus foretold it (cf. Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34). This
resistance shown by the Apostles is a further guarantee of the truth of Jesus'
resurrection; they were to be direct, specially-appointed witnesses to the risen
Christ, yet they were reluctant to accept this role. They had personal, direct
proof of the truth of the Resurrection.
However, our Lord will say: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe"
(John 20:29). In the Apostles' case, they needed, in addition to faith in the risen
Christ, clear evidence of His resurrection, for they were to be the eye-witnesses,
key witnesses who would proclaim it as an irrefutable fact. In this connection
[Pope] St. Gregory the Great comments: "The reason why the disciples were
slow to believe in the Resurrection was not so much due to their weakness as
to our future firmness in the faith; what other purposes does this have (the very
Resurrection being demonstrated by many arguments to those who were in
doubt) than that our faith should be strengthened by their doubt?" ("In Evangelia
Homilae", 16).
12. Our Lord's appearance to these two disciples is reported more fully by St.
Luke (cf. 24:13-35).
15. This verse contains what is called the "universal apostolic mandate" (paral-
leled by Matthew 28:19-20 and Luke 24:46-48). This is an imperative command
from Christ to His Apostles to preach the Gospel to the whole world. This same
apostolic mission applies, especially to the Apostles' successors, the bishops
in communion with Peter's successor, the Pope.
But this mission extends further: the whole "Church was founded to spread the
Kingdom of Christ over all the earth for the glory of God the Father, to make all
men partakers in redemption and salvation ...Every activity of the Mystical Body
with this in view goes by the name of 'apostolate'; the Church exercises it through
all its members, though in various ways. In fact, the Christian vocation is, of its
nature, a vocation to the apostolate as well. In the organism of a living body no
member plays a purely passive part, sharing in the life of the body it shares at
the same time in its activity. The same is true for the body of Christ, the Church:
'the whole body achieves full growth in dependence on the full functioning of each
part' (Ephesians 4:16). Between the members of this body there exists, further,
such a unity and solidarity (cf. Ephesians 4:16) that a member who does not
work at the growth of the body to the extent of his possibilities must be con-
sidered useless both to the Church and to himself.
"In the Church there is diversity of ministry but unity of mission. To the apostles
and their successors Christ has entrusted the office of teaching, sanctifying and
governing in His name and by His power. But the laity are made to share in the
priestly, prophetical and kingly office of Christ; they have therefore, in the Church
and in the world, their own assignment in the mission of the whole people of God"
(Vatican II, "Apostolicam Actuositatem", 2).
It is true that God acts directly on each person's soul through grace, but it must
also be said that it is Christ's will (expressed here and elsewhere) that men should
be an instrument or vehicle of salvation for others.
Vatican II also teaches this: "On all Christians, accordingly, rests the noble obli-
gation of working to bring all men throughout the whole world to hear and accept
the divine message of salvation" ("ibid.", 3).
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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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