From: Acts 3:13-15, 17-19
Peter’s Address in the Temple
[17] “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance as did also your ru-
lers. [18] But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ
should suffer, He thus fulfilled. [19] Repent therefore, and turn again, that your
sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence
of the Lord.
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
13. “Servant”: the original Greek word (”pais”) is the equivalent of the Latin “puer”
slave, servant) and “filius” (son). By using this word St. Peter must have in mind
Isaiah’s prophecy about the Servant of Yahweh: “Behold, My servant shall pros-
per, He shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. As many were as-
tonished at Him — His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and His form beyond that of the sons of men — so shall He startle many nations”
(52:13-15).
Peter identifies Jesus with the Servant of Yahweh, who, because He was a man
of suffering and sorrow, the Jews did not identify with the future Messiah. That
Messiah, Jesus Christ, combines in His person suffering and victory.
14. St. Peter, referring to Jesus, uses terms which Jews can readily understand
in a messianic sense. The _expression “the Holy One of God” was already used
of Jesus as referring to the Messiah in Mark 1:24 and Luke 4:34. It is reminiscent
of Old Testament language.
The “Righteous One” also refers to the Messiah, whom the prophets described
as a model and achiever of righteousness (cf. Acts 7:52). “Holy”, “righteous” and
“just” all have similar meaning.
15. When St. Peter reminds his listeners about their choice of a murderer (Barab-
bas) in place of Jesus, the Author of Life, we might usefully consider that he was
referring not only to physical life, but also to spiritual life, the life of grace. Every
time a person sins—sin means the death of the soul — this same choice is being
made again. “It was He who created man in the beginning, and He left him in the
power of his own inclination. If you will, you can keep the commandments, and to
act faithfully is a matter of your own choice. He has placed before you fire and wa-
ter: stretch out your hand for whichever you wish. Before a man are life and death,
and which he chooses will be given to him” (Sirach 15:14-18).
16. The original text, structured in a very Jewish way, is difficult to understand.
One reason for this is the use of the word “name” instead of simply identifying
who the person is. In this passage “name” means the same as “Jesus”. Thus
the verse can be interpreted in this way: through faith in Jesus, the man lame
from birth, whom they know and have seen, has been cured; it is Jesus Himself
who has worked this complete and instantaneous cure.
17-18. The Jewish people acted in ignorance, St. Peter says. Indeed, when He
was on the cross Jesus had prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do” (Luke 23:34). The people did not know that Jesus was the Christ,
the Son of God. They let themselves be influenced by their priests. These, who
were familiar with the Scriptures, should have recognized Him.
God’s pardon is offered to one and all. St. Peter “tells them that Christ’s death
was a consequence of God’s will and decree. [...] You can see how incompre-
hensible and profound God’s design is. It was not just one but all the prophets
who foretold this mystery. Yet although the Jews had been, without knowing it,
the cause of Jesus’ death, that death had been determined by the wisdom and
will of God, who used the malice of the Jews to fulfill His designs. The Apostle
does not say, “Although the prophets foretold this death and you acted out of
ignorance, do not think you are entirely free from blame”; Peter speaks to them
gently: ‘Repent and turn again.’ To what end? ‘That your sins may be blotted out’.
Not only your murder but all the stains on your souls” (Chrysostom, “Hom. on
Acts”, 9).
The Second Vatican Council tells us how Christians should treat Jewish people
and those who follow other non-Christian religions—with respect and also a pru-
dent zeal to attract them to the faith. “Even though the Jewish authorities and
those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ (cf. John 19:6), nei-
ther all the Jews indiscriminately at that time, nor Jews today, can be charged
with the crimes committed during His Passion. It is true that the Church is the
new people of God, yet the Jews should not be spoken of as rejected or accur-
sed. [...] Jews for the most part did not accept the Gospel; on the contrary, ma-
ny opposed the spreading of it (cf. Romans 11:28-29). Even so, the Apostle Paul
maintains that the Jews remain very dear to God, for the sake of the Patriarchs,
since God does not take back the gifts He bestowed or the choice He made”
(Vatican II, “Nostra Aetate”, 4). We must not forget this special position of the
Jewish people (cf. Romans 9:4-5) and the fact that from them came Jesus as far
as His human lineage was concerned, and His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary,
and the Apostles — the foundation, the pillars of the Church — and many of the
first disciples who proclaimed Christ’s Gospel to the world.
Moved by charity, the Church prays to our Lord for the spiritual conversion of the
Jewish people; “Christ, God and man, who is the Lord of David and his children,
we beseech You that in keeping with the prophecies and promises, Israel should
recognize You as Messiah” (”Liturgy of the Hours”, Morning Prayer, 31 Decem-
ber).
19. One result of sorrow for sin is a desire to make up for the damage done. On
the day of Pentecost many Jews were moved by grace to ask the Apostles what
they should do to make atonement. Here also St. Peter encourages them to
change their lives and turn to God. This repentance or conversion which Peter
preaches is the same message as marked the initial proclamation of the King-
dom (cf. Mark 1:15; 13:1-4). “This means a change of outlook, and it applies to
the state of sinful man, who needs to change his ways and turn to God, desirous
of breaking away from his sins and repenting and calling on God’s mercy” (Paul
VI, “Homily”, 24 February 1971).
On another occasion Paul VI explained that the word “conversion” can be trans-
lated normally as “change of heart”. “We are called to this change and it will
make us see many things. The first has to do with interior analysis of our oul [...]:
we should examine ourselves as to what is the main direction our life is taking,
what attitude is usually to the fore in the way we think and act, what is our rea-
son of being. [...] Is our rudder fixed so as to bring us exactly to our goal or does
its direction need perhaps to be changed? [...] By examining ourselves in this
way [...] we will discover sins, or at least weaknesses, which call for penance
and profound reform” (Paul VI, “General Audience”, 21 March 1973).
*********************************************************************************************
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.
3rd Sunday of Easter
From: 1 John 2:1-5a
[1] My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin; but if any
one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
[2] and he is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins
of the whole world.
[3] And by this we may be sure that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
[4] He who says “I know him” but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the
truth is not in him; [5a] but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is
perfected.
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
1-2. In order to make sure that no one makes a wrong appeal to divine mercy so
as to justify their continuing to sin, St John exhorts all to avoid sin. It is one thing
to acknowledge that we are sinners and to be conscious of our frailty — it is a very
different matter to become completely passive or pessimistic, as if it were not
possible to avoid offending God. “Jesus understands our weakness and draws us
to himself on an inclined plane,” Monsignor Escriva explains.
“He wants us to make an effort to climb a little each day. He seeks us out, just
as he did the disciples of Emmaus, whom he went out to meet. He sought Tho-
mas, showed himself to him and made him touch with his fingers the open
wounds in his hands and side. Jesus Christ is always waiting for us to return to
him; he knows our weakness” (”Christ Is Passing By”, 75).
“My little children”: it is difficult to translate this and other similar expressions in
St John, charged as they are with tenderness and a sense of pastoral responsi-
bility. They express a deep, strong love, like that of Jesus at the Last Supper (cf.
Jn 13:33). This same Greek term appears six more times in this letter (2:12, 28;
3:7, 18; 4:4; 5:21); at other times he uses words equivalent to our “my little ones”
(cf. 2:14, 18) or “dearly beloved” (2:7; 3:2, 21; 4:1, 7, 11; 3 Jn 2, 5, 11). All these
expressions reflect how very close St John was to the faithful.
“We have an advocate with the Father”: Jesus Christ, who is the only Mediator
(cf. 1 Tim 2:5), intercedes for us. He, who has died for our sins (he is “the expia-
tion”), presents his infinite merits to God the Father, by virtue of which the Father
pardons us always. The Holy Spirit is also called Paraclete or Advocate insofar
as he accompanies, consoles and guides each Christian, and the whole Church,
on its earthly pilgrimage (cf. note on Jn 14:16-17).
“St John the Apostle exhorts us to avoid sin”, St Alphonsus says, “but because
he is afraid we will lose heart when we remember our past faults, he encourages
us to hope for forgiveness provided we are firmly resolved not to fall again; he tells
us that we have to put our affairs in order with Christ, who died not only to forgive
us but also (after dying) to become our advocate with the heavenly father” (”Re-
flections on the Passion”, chap. 9, 2).
3-6. “By this we may be sure”: a phrase that occurs often in this letter (cf., e.g.,
2:5, 18; 3:19, 24), usually to preface clear criteria for distinguishing doctrinal and
moral truth from error. In this instance, it has to do with keeping the command-
ments being a sign of true knowledge of God.
For St John, knowing God is not a merely intellectual exercise nor does he mean
that the immensity of God can be grasped by man’s limited understanding. It re-
fers to something much simpler and more important: knowing God means being
united to him by faith and love—by grace. If this letter puts so much emphasis on
knowing God (cf., e.g., 2:14; 3:1; 4:6-8; 5:20) or knowing Jesus Christ (cf. 2:13-14;
3:6), it may be because the heretics (particularly the Gnostics) were boasting of
having attained special knowledge of God, superior to that of ordinary faithful. And
so the Apostle describes what true knowledge of God consists in, using expres-
sions which complement one another—knowing him (v. 4); in him who knows God
“truly love for God is perfected” (v. 5); abiding in him (v. 6).
“Keeping his commandments” (vv. 3 and 4), “Keeping his word” (v. 5),”walking in
the same way in which he walked” (v. 6): keeping the commandments is absolu-
tely necessary, because there is no room for faith without works (cf. 1 Jn 3:17-18;
Jas 2:14ff; Gal 5:6). Similarly, one must keep the word of God, that is, accept all
revelation docilely (an idea found very often in John: cf., e.g., Jn 5:38; 8:31, 51; 1
Jn 2:14). But, above all, Christians must identify their life with Christ’s; St Prosper
comments: “Walk as he walked: does that not mean giving up the comforts he
gave up, not being afraid of the kind of trials he bore, teaching what he taught [...],
persevering in helping even those who show no appreciation, praying for one’s
enemies, being kind to evildoers, serenely tolerating the proud?” (”De Vita Con-
templativa”, 2, 21).
*********************************************************************************************
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.