The apostles had been arrested for preaching while under orders to desist. In a tremendous gesture of defiance that has been the inspiration of the Church in all times of persecution, they replied, “We must obey God rather than men,” and they started at once to preach to the Sanhedrin, enabling Luke to give us another fragment of the primitive Christian kerygma.
The most striking feature here is the concept, highlighted in the caption to this reading, of a double witness—the apostles and the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 15:26). The Spirit and the apostolic word are both necessary.
Without the Spirit, the word becomes a dead formula, no longer speaking meaningfully to the contemporary situation, while without the word, the Spirit becomes uncontrolled enthusiasm divorced from the original witness to the Christ-event.
Responsorial Psalm: 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11-12, 13
The hope of a future resurrection is found only in some of the latest parts of the Old Testament and is absent from the psalms.
When the psalmist speaks of being brought up from Sheol and restored to life, he is using metaphorical language to describe deliverance from earthly troubles (in this case probably illness).
But Christian apologetic, followed by liturgical piety, interpreted the psalm Christologically— the “I” who speaks becomes Christ, and the deliverance becomes his resurrection.
Reading II: Revelation 5:11-14
This is John’s vision of the heavenly liturgy, of which the liturgy of the Church on earth is a reflection (see the Eucharistic preface; in the picture the four living creatures and the elders suggest the participants in the Christian liturgy of the time).
Christ is addressed as “the Lamb who was slain,” that is, the paschal lamb, a tradition going back at least to 1 Cor 5. Is this actually a fragment of the early Christian paschal liturgy?
Gospel: John 21:1-19 or 21:1-14
This story, widely regarded as an appendix to John’s Gospel but apparently composed by members of the Johannine school, is in surprisingly close contact with early tradition.
It probably goes back to the first appearance of the Lord to the Twelve by the Lake of Galilee. Here it is set in the context of a meal.
At some stage this primitive story was combined with the miraculous draught of fishes that figures in Jesus’ earthly ministry (Lk 5). Some think that the story there is a retrojection of an appearance story into the earthly life, but the current trend is to regard John 21 as a projection of the earthly miracle in a resurrection context.
The number of fish, 153, has symbolic significance, though the evangelist does not explain. Clearly it has some connection with the mission of the Church, which the apostles are commissioned to inaugurate.
In John 21:15-19 we encounter another story that goes back to very early tradition, namely, the first appearance to Peter, in which the first of the apostles is entrusted with the pastoral care of Christ’s flock (see also Mt 16:17-19 and Lk 22:31-32).
To this early tradition has been added a final paragraph containing a prediction (regarded by New Testament scholars as ex eventu) of Peter’s martyrdom (Jn 21:19). This is the earliest reference to that event and its only mention in the New Testament.
u| Preaching the Lectionary: The Word of God for the Church Today Reginald H. Fuller and Daniel Westberg. Liturgical Press. 1984 (Revised Edition), pp. 428-429. |
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from Religious Clip Art for the Liturgical Year (A, B, and C).
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