The
peoples of the nations, all of heaven and earth, are included in the new
command to love one another.
This first reading
tells how Peter took the gospel to the nations.
The whole passage
(10:1-11:18) relates, with repetitions, Simon Peter’s experience with the
household of the Roman army officer, Cornelius. Our reading repeats the essentials of Peter’s
story told in chapter 10. Judean
disciples back in Jerusalem
Peter had a vision
that told him to treat all animals as
clean for dietary purposes. Peter
resists such conduct, which would be sacrilege for a Judean. God insists, however, telling him, “What God
has made clean, you must not call profane” (verse 9, NRSV ). This declaration has radical implications for
Judean practice; it abolishes the food laws of Leviticus
11
(According to Mark
7:1-23 this step had been taken by Jesus himself. Luke had omitted that entire episode from his
Gospel, knowing that in the circuit of his churches, God would work directly
through Peter to make the Judean food laws obsolete for Christians. In actual history, Paul discovered that Peter
did not consistently hold such a view; see Galatians 2:11 -14.)
When Peter went to
Caesarea – the capital city of the Roman province
of Judea
This coming of the Holy Spirit is taken by
Peter and his companions as divine proof that uncircumcised people are intended
by God to be included in the Jesus community.
Peter recalls Jesus’ words that John baptized with water but the
followers of Jesus will be baptized by the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit was given to these
non-Judean folks, Peter says, “who was I that I could hinder God?” (verse
17). His previously critical circumcised
believers are convinced and acknowledge that God “has given even to the Nations
the repentance that leads to life.”
This episode of
Peter with Cornelius is one of the more deliberately
constructed passages in the book of Acts.
The mature Luke, late in the first century, is putting a spin on some Caesarea
traditions to make Peter the first apostle to the non-Judean people. This writer wants to present Paul, to whom
the last half of Acts is devoted, as following
and paralleling the work of Peter, and thus presents Peter as the first
“apostle to the nations.”
(Acts elsewhere
indicates that the first acceptance of non-Judean disciples probably happened
in Antioch Cyrene Cyprus Acts
11:20-24 .)
The point of this
reading during the Easter season is that it was the Spirit of the Risen Jesus
who expanded the work of the gospel to include all the nations – the nations
who, therefore, belonged with Israel
Psalm
148.
This psalm is used several times
in the Lectionary as a grand Hallelujah psalm. I give here my comments from one of the
earlier occasions of this reading.
This psalm is an exuberant and
delightful summons to heaven and earth to praise the Lord, to “hallelu”
(the plural form) God. The craft
exhibited by the composer is not complicated but is pleasing to watch as it
unfolds.
There are two large sections
elaborating those called upon to praise, those in heaven and those on
earth.
The call to heavenly things
(verses 1-4) repeats in rapid sequence seven imperatives to praise, moving from
one aspect to another of the heavenly realm:
from the heavens, in the heights, all God’s angels (messengers), all
God’s host (army), sun and moon, all lighted stars, and supremely, the heaven
of heavens enclosed by the cosmic waters.
These seven imperatives are followed by an exhortation: “Let them praise …,” which in turn leads,
finally, to a reason for the praise:
because all these summoned entities were “created” by God and fixed forever.
The strategy of the second section
(verses 7-13) is not to repeat the call to praise each time, but to elaborate
more fully those to whom it is addressed.
The imperative “Praise ye …” is given only once at the beginning, then
followed by a chain of earthly things included in this imperative: the earth; sea monsters and deeps; lightning
and hail, snow and frost, storm winds (all weather elements kept in
ends-of-the-earth storehouses); mountains and hills; fruit trees and huge
cedars; and, moving toward the human world, animals wild and domestic, crawling
creatures and winged birds; and finally the varieties of people – kings and
clans, princes and judges, young men and maidens, old folks and kids. The long enthusiastic enumeration intends to
be exhaustive – all are addressed by the command to “Praise the Lord [hallelu
Yah].” Again, the imperative chain is
followed (verse 13) by an exhortation, “Let them praise the name of the
Lord.” And, finally again, a reason
for the summons to praise is given:
because “his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and
heaven.”
Does this reason for praise seem
too general, too vague? The poet’s basic
structure is completed, but both creative art and faith erupt in a final
declaration, a final proclamation of why God is to be praised: “He has raised up a horn for his people, …for
Israel
Yet, this psalm is not about this
horn, this pillar of strength to empower the people; it is about the universal
praise that this new act of God prompts throughout the cosmos.
The Epistle
readings continue from the book of Revelation.
However, we leap forward, skipping the great middle sections
about the times of Tribulation and the Millennium, and go to the grand climax
when the heaven and earth are made new.
When there is a
new heaven and earth, there will no longer be any Sea (21:1). This does not mean earth will not have its
great bodies of bounded water; it means the ancient enemy of an ordered cosmos,
the Sea (Psalm 93:3-4; Psalm 74:13-14; Isaiah 51:9-10 )
will be finally and conclusively defeated and banished.
The main element
of this vision, however, is the coming of the New Jerusalem. The seer beholds it descending as the bride
(which in the prophets is the restored Zion NRSV !]
will be no more. Mourning and weeping
will be no more because “the first things have passed away” (verse 4).
The seer is
commanded by God from the throne to write
down this vision, because the words he has heard “are trustworthy and true”
(verse 5). And though there is more for
the seer to learn about the great New Jerusalem, God now says, “It is
done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
beginning and the end.”
And as if the real
end is a gentle touch of care and mercy, “To the thirsty I will give water as a
gift from the spring of the water of life” (verse 6).
The Gospel reading
is the beginning of Jesus’ talk about going away from the disciples, a
topic that continues in John’s Gospel for several chapters.
First, we may note
here a strange juxtaposition between betrayal and glorification. Jesus has just identified his betrayer (for
those who have eyes to see) by giving him a piece of bread. That act liberates the traitor to perform his
treacherous deed. “So when he had dipped
the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan
entered into him. … So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went
out. It was night” (John 13:26 -30, NRSV ).
Betrayal. But immediately Jesus’ talk is about he and
God being glorified in each other. The
beginning of our reading is, “When he [Judas] had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now
the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him’” (verse
31). Apparently being betrayed IS being
glorified! Submitting to the
rampage of evil in the world IS making the glory of God evident in the
world. A more than usually ironic touch
in this subtle Gospel!
The main burden of
this part of this Gospel is Jesus’ departure.
“…As I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you
cannot come’” (verse 33). But when Jesus
himself is gone, his disciples will have a mark that identifies them in the
world. “By this everyone will know
that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (verse 35).
This is probably
one of the places where one passage in John needs to be expanded and
interpreted by another. The full version
of this “new” command is given in 15:12 -15. “This is my commandment, that you love one
another as I have loved you. No one has
greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends…. I do not
call you servants any longer, …but I have called you friends, because I have
made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.”
Put in the language
of the old heavenly court where God and God’s Anointed preside over an
entourage of servants, messengers, and armed forces, this means that you, the
disciples, are no longer servants and errand boys sent on specific tasks, but
you are now part of the inner council of the risen Lord himself. You are Friends of Jesus, sent into the world
to love one another to the point of giving one’s life for each other.
When these disciples live in the world this way, they are truly witnesses
to the risen heavenly Lord.
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