Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER: DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY (Cycle C)
Acts 5:12-16
Psalms 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
Revelation 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19
John 20:19-31
Abbreviations: NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments, and that is why we read and relive the events of salvation history in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Readings: The Forward Momentum of the
Kingdom of Christ's Post-Resurrection Church
For the past eight days, the Church has been celebrating the
Octave of Easter, the eight days from Easter Sunday to the Second Sunday of
Easter. Each Octave day is called Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, Easter Tuesday,
and so on through the following Sunday, the Second Sunday of Easter. We can
observe all the octave days as a single solemnity or the week as a single
eight-day-long solemnity. The Second Sunday of Easter is Divine Mercy Sunday in
the universal Church. As we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, we remember the
grace and mercy God is pouring out upon the Church as He calls us to continual
repentance and conversion. We should also not forget that we attain God's
merciful love to the extent that we are interiorly transformed in the spirit of
that love toward our neighbor (Mt 5:7; also see St John Paul II, Rich in Mercy 14).
During the Solemnity of the Octave of Easter, the Church re-tells the Gospel accounts of the Resurrection of the Christ. In the First Reading, the Apostles continue the miraculous works of Christ's ministry as many people come to believe in Jesus as the Davidic Redeemer-Messiah promised by the prophets and in His New Covenant Kingdom of the Church proclaimed by His Apostles and disciples. As the number of believers who joined the faith community in Jerusalem grew, the Apostles continued to heal the sick by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit's power even poured forth from St. Peter through the casting of his shadow.
The Responsorial Psalm is from the Hallel (praise God) Psalms (Ps 113-118) that the faithful sang at the liturgies of worship for great feasts, including the Feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and during the sacred meal of the Passover victim on the first night of Unleavened Bread. Psalm 118 is the last of the Hallel Psalms in which an invitation precedes a hymn of thanksgiving put into the mouth of the personified community. Following the "Thanksgiving," several short verses were either said or sung by a leader and followed by responses the people chanted as the procession of the faithful entered the Jerusalem Temple. Jesus applied verses 22-23 and 25-26 to Himself several times (Mt 21:42; 23:39; Mk 12:10-11; Lk 20:17), the crowd chanted verses 25- 26 to Jesus during His procession into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (Mt 21:9; Mk 11:9; Lk 19:38; Jn 12:13), and Saints Peter and Paul referred to 118:22 as fulfilled in Jesus the promised Davidic Messiah (cf., Acts 4:11; Eph 2:20-21 and 1 Pt 2:6-8).
In the Second Reading, many years after Jesus's Resurrection, St. John received a vision of the Resurrected Christ who identified Himself as "the first and the last, the one who lives!" John saw the Christ dressed as the priestly king of the heavenly Sanctuary, wearing an ankle-length robe with a gold sash around his chest. Jesus's long robe and sash symbolize His high priesthood (Ex 28:4, 39; 29:5; Zec 3:4) in the heavenly Sanctuary. However, instead of the embroidered sash of a priest, His sash was gold, a symbol of His Davidic royalty. In the vision, Jesus commanded St. John: Now write down all that you see and what are of the present happenings, and what is still to come. John's obedience to that command is the entirety of the Book of Revelation that records the current events of John in the first century AD, past events in Salvation History, and what was yet to come before the end of the Age of Humanity!
In the Gospel Reading, the Apostles received a visit from Jesus Christ on the day of His resurrection as He breathed His Spirit upon them and gave them the power to bind and loose sins in their authority over His Kingdom of the Church. The time was probably about 3 PM, the afternoon hour of prayer, the beginning of the afternoon liturgical Tamid worship service at the Temple, and the hour of Jesus's death on the Cross on Friday (Mt 27:45-50; Mk 15:33-41; Lk 23:44-49). The disciples were afraid because the Sanhedrin might arrest them, try them for blasphemy, and condemn them to death just as they condemned Jesus. However, in their hour of fear, the Lord came to His Apostles supernaturally. Locked doors could not stop Him. It is the same way He comes to His faithful in every generation of the Church, to share His love and divine protection with us on our journey to salvation.
The First Reading Acts 5:12-16 ~ Signs and Wonders
of the Apostles
12 Many signs and
wonders were done among the people at the hands of the Apostles. They were all
together in Solomon's Portico. 13 None
of the others dared to join them, but the people esteemed them. 14 Yet more than ever, believers in the Lord,
great numbers of men and women, were added to them. 15 Thus they even carried the sick out into the
streets and laid them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his
shadow might fall on one or another of them. 16 A large number of people from the towns in the vicinity of
Jerusalem also gathered, bringing the sick and those disturbed by unclean
spirits, and they were all cured.
The first reading portrays the Twelve Apostles as the leaders of the Jerusalem community of Jesus's faithful believers as they taught daily at the Temple and laid hands on the sick to heal them. As they taught and healed, people were drawn by their charismatic power, and the community of Christians continued to grow. The "signs and wonders" in verse 12 is the fourth mention of such acts (Acts 2:19, 22; 4:30 and 5:12). Verse 13 suggests that there were people who both feared and esteemed the Apostles and their amazing works in the name of Jesus the Messiah. The number of believers who joined the faith community continued to grow. The Apostles continued to heal the sick, and the power of the Holy Spirit even poured forth from St. Peter through the casting of his shadow. About this miracle, St. Bede wrote: At that time, Peter visibly relieved the infirm by the shadow of his body. Now, he does not cease to strengthen the infirm among the faithful by the invisible screen of his intercession. And because Peter is a type of the Church, it is beautifully appropriate that he himself walked upright, but by his accompanying shadow, he raised up those who were lying down. So the Church, concentrating its mind and love on heavenly things, passes like a shadow on the land, and here on earth, with sacramental signs and temporal figures of heavenly things, it renews those whom there (in Heaven) it rewards with everlasting gifts (Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, 5.15).
Responsorial Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24 ~ The LORD's
Goodness
Response: "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love
is everlasting" (Ps 118:1) or "Alleluia."
2 Let the house of
Israel say, "His mercy endures forever." 3
Let the house of Aaron say, "His mercy endures forever." 4 Let those who fear the LORD say, "His mercy
endures forever."
Response:
13 I was hard
pressed and was falling, but the LORD helped me. 14 My strength and my courage is the LORD, and he has been my savior.
15 The joyful shout of victory in
the tents of the just:
Response:
22 The stone which
the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23 By the LORD has this been done; it is
wonderful in our eyes. 24 This is
the day the LORD has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it.
Response:
The Responsorial Psalm is from the Hallel (praise God) Psalms (Ps 113-118) that the faithful sang at the worship services of the great feasts, including the worship services for the Feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and during the sacred meal of the Passover victim on the first night of Unleavened Bread. Psalm 118 is the last of the Hallel Psalms in which an invitation precedes a hymn of thanksgiving put into the mouth of the personified community. Following the "Thanksgiving," several short verses were either said or sung by a leader and followed by responses the people chanted as the procession of the faithful entered the Jerusalem Temple.
The Psalm opens in verses 1-4 with a standard liturgical formula of thanksgiving and trust in the LORD (Yahweh) sung in the Temple worship services (i.e., see Ps 106:1; 107:1 and 136). In verses 13-15, the psalmist remembers when he was in distress either because of sin or some temporal suffering, but the LORD came to his rescue and saved him. Verse 14 repeats word for word part of the victory canticle of Moses after the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus 15:2, a reminder to the people singing Psalm 118 in the Temple liturgy that Yahweh who saved them from Egyptian bondage is still their savior and Lord. Significantly, the 29 verses of Psalm 118 evoke God's holy covenant name, YHWH (Yahweh), 28 times. God's covenant name was always spoken aloud in the Temple worship service, fulfilling God's command that all generations should know Him by His Divine Name (Ex 3:15b).
"YHWH is salvation" is the meaning of Jesus's Hebrew name. In the New Testament, in Psalm 118:22-24, we proclaim Jesus the Messiah-Savoir and foundation stone of the New Covenant Kingdom of the Church. Psalms 118 has been center stage in the New Testament Scriptures from the time of Jesus's triumphal ride into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday in fulfillment of the Messiah's role as the "cornerstone" prophesied by the prophet Isaiah (see Is 28:16 also Mt 21:42; Acts 4:11; Rom 9:33; Eph 2:20 1 Pt 2:7). The crowds of people who followed Jesus on Palm Sunday as He rode into the city kept crying out and saying; "Hosanna [save us]to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest" (Mt 21:9 quoting Ps 118:26 underlined; also see Mk 11:9 and the variation in Lk 19:38a). Jesus also identified Himself with this psalm in Matthew 23:39 when He admonished Jerusalem, saying, "I promise, you shall not see me any more until you are saying: 'Blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord!'" The faithful repeat this same verse in the hymn of the Sanctus during the sacrifice of the Mass.
In today's Psalms, we thank God for His enduring love (verses 2-4) and for coming to us as our deliverer and Savior in our distress (verses 13-15). The Psalm also reminds us that through God's divine plan, Jesus is "the stone the builders rejected" who "has become the cornerstone" of our faith, and we rejoice in this "the day the LORD has made" for the salvation and good fortune the Lord has granted us (verses 22-24). Jesus identified Himself as the "stone the builders rejected" in Mt 21:42, as did St. Peter in the address he gave to the religious leaders of the Jewish Sanhedrin in Acts 4:11-12 when he said: He is the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven by which we can be saved (see Eph 2:20-21 and 1 Pt 2:6-8).
The Second Reading Revelation 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19 ~ St.
John's Vision of the Resurrected Christ
9 I, John,
your brother who share with you the distress, the kingdom, and the endurance we
have in Jesus, found myself on the island called Patmos because I proclaimed
God's word and gave testimony to Jesus. 10
I was caught up in spirit on the Lord's Day and heard behind me a
voice as loud as a trumpet, 11a which
said, "Write on a scroll what you see ... [...] 12 Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to
me, and when I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one
like a son of man, wearing an ankle-length robe, with a gold sash around his
chest. [...] 17 When I caught
sight of him, I fell down at his feet as though dead. He touched me with his
right hand and said, "Do not be afraid, I am the first and the last, 18 the one who lives. Once I was dead,
but now I am alive forever and ever. I hold the keys to death and the netherworld.
19 Write down, therefore,
what you have seen, and what is happening, and what will happen afterwards.
The Second Reading is from the Prologue to the Book of Revelation. In St. John's vision during his exile on the island of Patmos, he saw the Resurrected Christ dressed as the priestly king of the heavenly Sanctuary, wearing an ankle-length robe with a gold sash around his chest. Jesus's long robe and sash symbolize His priesthood (Ex 28:4, 39; 29:5; Zec 3:4), but instead of the embroidered sash of a priest, His sash is gold, a symbol of His Davidic royalty. St. John receives the vision as a prophet. God's prophets fulfilled the role of His prosecuting attorneys, speaking God's words to the people and bringing a warning of God's impending judgment. In such visions, God commanded St. John, Write down, therefore, what you have seen, and what is happening, and what will happen afterwards (verse 19). St. John had seen the resurrected, transfigured Jesus Christ, who is the incarnate Glory of God! See the Agape Bible study on the Revelation of Jesus Christ to St. John.
9 I, John,
your brother who share with you the distress, the kingdom, and the endurance we
have in Jesus
Verse 9 is the fourth mention of St. John's name in the
first chapter. John will be named five times in the Book of Revelation
(Rev 1:1, 2, 4, 9, and 22:8).
In verse 9, John called himself our "brother" because we are
brothers (and sisters) in the blood of Christ. Covenants create families. It is
why in the Old and the New Testaments, there is only one word for "brother," no
matter what the degree of relationship. In the New Testament, it is the Greek
word "adelphos" (adelphoi plural), meaning "brother from the womb." It is the
same word used for brothers in the same family (John and James Zebedee), for the
various relatives of Jesus, for the disciples and apostles (Acts 1:15-16), for covenant
members of the nation of Judah, and the Israelites of the Galilee (Acts 2:37). Therefore,
when this word refers to Jesus's relatives, it is wrong to assume that Jesus
had natural brothers and sisters.
9b found
myself on the island called Patmos because I proclaimed God's word and gave
testimony to Jesus.
Patmos is an island off the east coast of Turkey,
thirty-five miles from the city of Miletus. It is a rocky, crescent-shaped,
volcanic island ten miles long and six miles wide at its widest point. The
Romans exiled John to the island of Patmos because of his apostolic activity. Christianity
was not one of the "approved" religions of the Roman state. Christians refused
to sacrifice to the Roman Emperor, an act in the view of the Roman authorities that
amounted to treason. But it is interesting how John phrases the reason for his
imprisonment. He doesn't say it is because of his actions but because God spoke
and Jesus testified. The testimony of Jesus Christ determines the march of
history.
10 I was
caught up in spirit on the Lord's Day and heard behind me a voice as loud as a
trumpet ...
The Greek phrase for "in spirit" is egenomen en Pneumati (IBGE,
vol. 4, page 657). This is technical, prophetic language (cf.,
Mt 22:43; Num 11:25; 2 Sam 23:2; and
Ez 2:2; 3:24). In 2 Pt 1:20-21, St.
Peter wrote: No prophecy ever came from human initiative. When people spoke
for God, it was the Holy Spirit that moved them. At this moment, John's
dark cell walls faded away, and another kind of reality opened up. John, the spirit-filled
Apostle, found himself admitted to the heavenly council-chamber just as Isaiah
had experienced 800 years earlier (Is 6:1-10).
It is the same day of the week as Jesus's Resurrection and the day set aside to worship God in the New Covenant Christian communities. The origin of the term "the Lord's Day" goes back to the first Sabbath when God rested from Creation (Gen 2:2-3). The original Sabbath was the prototype of the "Day of the Lord," the Day of Judgment and re-birth. The weekly Sabbath of the Old Testament (on Saturday, the 7th day of Creation and therefore the 7th day of the week) looked forward in time to the Final Day of the Lord when Yahweh gathered the people together for judgment, forgiveness, and the proclamation of the Divine King's Word. The New Covenant creation required a new Sabbath, "the Lord's Day," Sunday, the day of the Resurrection, and the day on which occurred the 2nd great Pentecost when God the Holy Spirit came to fill and indwell the Church. Since God began the Creation event in Genesis Chapter 1 on Sunday, then it is the first day of the week, it is also the first day; it is both the first day and the eighth day. The Lord's Day, Sunday, is the day of the New Creation in Christ Jesus.
We can compare the concept of the Old Testament "Lord's Day" to the celebration of the Mass. For us, it is a Day of Judgment and forgiveness. We come before God's throne to receive forgiveness and restoration, hear His Word, and be reunited with Him in the Eucharist. In the worship of the Mass, we are all, like St. John, caught up to the throne room of God in the heavenly Sanctuary; we are all, in the celebration of the Mass, in the Spirit like St. John.
and heard behind me a voice as loud as a trumpet
Trumpets are mentioned more in the Book of Revelation than any
other Bible book. They are usually associated with the "Last Things," the
revelation of God, and judgment. The Glory-Cloud, the most basic Biblical symbol
for God's presence and His divine judgment, is generally associated with three
other images: the Spirit, the Day (or light since the daylight was initially
born from the light of the Cloud), and the Voice of God which often
sounded like a trumpet. See Exodus 19:16-19, especially verse 18: Yahweh had
descended on it (the mountain of Sinai) in the form of fire. The smoke (cloud)
rose like the smoke from a furnace. And the whole mountain shook
violently. Louder and louder grew the trumpeting.
11a which
said, "Write on a scroll what you see ...
John heard a voice that commanded him to write down his
visions in a book; that book is the Book of Revelation.
12 Then I
turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and when I turned, I saw
seven gold lampstands 13 and
in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, wearing an ankle-length
robe, with a gold sash around his chest.
These verses contain the only physical description of Jesus
in the New Testament. Notice that first John hears and then he sees.
At the end of John's revelation in Revelation 22:8, John will tell us again: I,
John, am the one who heard and saw these things. Perhaps the
verbal revelation is necessary to understand the visual revelation. The words
"son of man" in verse 13 refer to someone who had the appearance of a man. St.
John's vision recalls Daniel's vision of one who looks like a "son of man" but who
is the Divine Messiah who ascends to God to receive dominion and kingship over
all nations of the earth in Daniel 7:13-14. "Son of Man" was Jesus's favorite
title for Himself to stress His humanity (appears in the New Testament 30 times).
Still, He also used it as a unique link to Daniel's vision of the glorified
Messiah receiving all power and authority from the Father. Jesus quoted from
Daniel's vision of the divine Messiah at His trial, which led the Sanhedrin to
charge Him with blasphemy and condemn Him to death. John's vision fulfills
Daniel's vision of the glorified Christ as High Priest, Davidic king, and prophet/
judge.
I saw seven gold lampstands ... There
was a single golden lampstand with seven lamps in the Holy Place in the desert
Sanctuary and later in the Jerusalem Temple of Jesus's time. It was a copy of
the lampstand in the heavenly Sanctuary (Ex 25:39-40). But in his vision of
the heavenly Sanctuary, John saw seven golden lampstands connected to each
other in the Person who stands in their midst. Jesus Christ is the one Lampstand
who unites the seven lampstands. Jesus, who called Himself the "Light of the
world" (Jn 8:12), is surrounded by Light! It must have been an amazing vision
of Christ: clothed as the High Priest (Ex 28:4-5)
and as a King (see 1 Mac 10:89). John's vision recalls the Prophet Daniel's vision in
Daniel 10:5-11 ~ I
lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in
linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz. His
body also was like beryl, his face like lightning, his eyes were like flaming
torches (NJB). According to the first century AD Jewish
priest/historian Flavius Josephus the priest wore a linen garment woven of one
piece and a sacerdotal sash around his chest when he was at rest from his
duties (Antiquities of the Jews, iii.vii.2). Also, see the description
of the High Priest's vestments in Lev 16:4ff and Sir 50:1-21/23.
Revelation 1:17-19 ~ Prologue Conclusion
17 When I saw him, I
fell at his feet as though dead, but he laid his right hand on me and said, "Do
not be afraid, I am the first and the last, 18
the one who lives. Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever
and ever. I hold the keys to death and the netherworld. 19 Write down, therefore, what you have
seen, and what is happening, and what will happen afterwards."
What would your reaction be to a vision of the glorified
Christ? The prophet Daniel had a similar experience, and his response was: I
fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. Then behold, a hand touched
me and set me trembling on my hands and knees .... And when He had spoken this
word to me, I stood up trembling (Dan 10:9-11 NJB). And then, the person in
the vision spoke words of love and encouragement to Daniel, saying, "Do
not be afraid " (Dan 10:19 NJB). These are the same
words Jesus spoke to John in Revelation 1:17 as He laid His hand gently on him,
comforting him.
17 Do not be afraid, I am the first and the last, 18 the one who lives. Once I was dead,
but now I am alive forever and ever. I hold the keys to death and the
netherworld.
A more literal translation is: It is I, the Alpha and the
Omega; I am the Living One. I was dead and look, I am alive forever and ever, and
I hold the keys of death and of Hades. Verse 17 is the second time Jesus
identified Himself to St. John as the "Alpha and Omega" (first and the last; see
1:8). The Old Testament references to the phrase "Alpha and Omega," "the first
and the last" are found in the second section of the Book of Isaiah, often
called "The Book of the Consolation of Israel," in which Isaiah prophesized the
coming of the Messiah and the salvation of God's people:
Jesus also refers to another Old Testament title for God in the passage: "the Living One," which recalls Deuteronomy 5:26, For what creature of flesh could possibly live after hearing, as we have heard, the voice of the Living God speaking from the heart of the fire? Also, see Josh 3:10; Ps 42:2; and Jer 10:10. St. Paul was probably thinking of this title in his letter to the Romans when he wrote: [Christ]...having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death is no longer master over Him (Rom 6:9).
I hold the keys to death and the netherworld. A more literal translation is I hold the keys of death and of Hades. The Greek word Hades means the "abode of the dead." The Hebrew word is Sheol, the grave, but it was also a place of purification (CCC 633). We use the Latin word Purgatory for the transformed Sheol from which Jesus liberated the righteous dead, which then became a place for those destined for Heaven but still in need of purification from venial sins or forgiven mortal sins for which further atonement was needed (CCC 1030-32). The Roman Empire claimed to have all authority, even over life and death/the grave. But in His resurrection, Jesus Christ defeated sin and death. He is now the Lord of all lords, and He holds the keys to life and death/the grave; it is an authority He also gave to St. Peter, His Vicar, and Peter's successors in Matthew 16:16-20. With these keys, the Church, led by Christ's Vicar (Prime Minister), will have the mission of rescuing the elect from death's dominion (from the death of the soul) to lead the souls of the righteous into the Kingdom of Heaven just as Jesus rescued the dead souls trapped in Sheol/Hades (the grave) after His resurrection. See 1 Pt 3:18-19 and Jn 5:26-28; for Old Testament references for Sheol see Gen 37:35; Num 16:33; Dt 5:26; 52:6; Is 14:9; 38:18; 1 Sam 2:6, 8:19; Ps 6:5; 16:10-11; 49:15; 88:4-5, &11-12; 89:6; 115:17; Ez 32:17-32; Amos 9:2; 2 Mac 12:38f; Wis 3:4-5 and CCC 633.
19 Now
write down all that you see and what are of the present happenings, and what is
still to come.
John received three commands to write:
There is perhaps a parallel here to how Jesus first identified Himself to John as "the One who was and who is and who is to come, the Almighty" (Rev 1:8). John's obedience to that command is the entirety of the Book of Revelation that records the current events of John's life in the first century AD, past events in Salvation History, and what is yet to come!
The Gospel Reading John 20:19-31 ~ The Resurrected
Christ Visits the Apostles
19 On the evening of
that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them,
"Peace be with you." 20 When he
had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced
when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus
said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send
you." 22 And when he had said
this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive [the] Holy Spirit.
23 Whose sins you forgive are
forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." 24 Thomas, called Didymus [twin], one of the
Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25
So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord." But he
said to them, "Unless I see the marks of the nails in his hands and put my
finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." 26 Now a week [Greek text = okto = eight meaning
eight days]* later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with
them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and
said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then
he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand
and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe [become
not unbelieving]." 28 Thomas
answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God! [the Lord of me and the
God of me]." 29 Jesus said to him,
"Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have
not seen and have believed." 30 Now
Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not
written in this book. 31 But these
are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of
God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.
The ancients counted without the concept of a zero-place-value, which wasn't introduced out of India until about the year AD 1000 (Mapping Time, E.G. Richards, Oxford University Press, pages 77-79; Calendar, David E Duncan, Avon Books, page 189). Therefore, the days from the first day of the week that was the day of Jesus's Resurrection to the next first day of the week (Sunday to Sunday) counted as eight days. For this same reason, the Bible records that Jesus was in the tomb for three days from Friday to Sunday, and St. John records that Jesus's dinner in Bethany on Saturday to the Passover on Thursday was six days in Jn 12:1. [...] = literal Greek translation.
It is Sunday afternoon of the day Jesus rose from the dead. The next day for the Jews began at sundown, so evening was in the mid-to-late afternoon for the Jews. The time is probably about 3 PM, the time of the afternoon hour of prayer, the beginning of the afternoon liturgical Tamid worship service at the Temple, and the hour of Jesus's death on the Cross on Friday (Mt 27:45-50; Mk 15:33-41; Lk 23:44-49). The disciples are afraid because the Sanhedrin may arrest them, try them for blasphemy, and condemn them to death just as they condemned Jesus. In their hour of fear, the Lord comes to His Apostles supernaturally. Locked doors cannot stop Him.
Jesus's greeting to the disciples, "Peace be with you," is the customary greeting of the Jews. These are the very words the priest uses at Mass as he stands in "persona Christi," in the Person of Christ, as he greets the congregation. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord; in this greeting, Jesus has reassured the Apostles, who must have been feeling ashamed of their conduct since His arrest on Friday, and He has lovingly re-established the intimacy they had previously enjoyed with Him. He showed them His wounded hands and His pierced side to dispel any impression that they were seeing a ghost or imposter. They saw the risen, glorified body of Jesus Christ. For those concerned with whether the nails were in Jesus's hands or wrists, Fr. Raymond Brown (The Gospel According to John) points out that both the Greek and Hebrew words for "hand" include the wrist as part of the hand.
21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father
has sent me, so I send you." 22 And
when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy
Spirit.
With these words, Jesus
pronounced the ordination of the Magisterium of the Universal Church. He is
sending them with the power and the authority of God the Father (verse 21). In
the Greek text, Jesus's words "Receive the Holy Spirit" are missing the article
"the." He gave His Apostles the gift that the rest of the New Covenant Church would
receive at the Feast of Pentecost 50 days later. But why dif Jesus breathe on
them? What was the significance of that act? It was an action that recalls the
breath of life God breathed into Adam and Eve in the first Creation. In Hebrew
and Greek, the word for "breath" or "wind" is the same as "spirit." God first
breathed His Spirit into Adam to give him physical life, and now Christ breathed
His Spirit into the Apostles to provide them with spiritual life. He was sending
them forth, in the power of the Holy Spirit: the Person of the Most Holy
Trinity who makes all things "new" again just as He did in the first creation (see
Gen 1:2). The prophet Ezekiel envisioned this day when he wrote of the
Messianic restoration of Israel: He said to me, "Prophesy to the spirit [breath];
prophesy, son of man and say to the spirit [breath], 'the Lord Yahweh says
this: come from the four winds, breath; breathe on these dead, so that they
come to life!' I prophesied as he had ordered me, and the breath entered them;
they came to life and stood up on their feet, a great, an immense army'" (Ez 37:9-10 NJB).
Man, formally dead to sin, has been resurrected in Christ.
This faithful remnant of the Old Israel has become the nucleus of the New
Israel, the New Covenant Universal [Catholic] Church that will become an
immense army of disciples converting the world through the spread of the
Gospel.
23 "Whose sins you
forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained. If
you forgive anyone's sins they are forgiven; if you retain anyone's sins, they
are retained."
The Sacraments of the Church are visible signs instituted by
Christ to confer grace. In this verse, Jesus institutes the Sacrament of
Penance (Reconciliation). Under the Old Covenant, the sinner placed his hands
on the animal, confessed his sins before the priest, and the animal died in his
place. Now Christ is the Lamb of sacrifice (Jn 1:29) who offered His life in
place of ours, but we must still have confession and repentance before sins can
be forgiven and communion with God restored. In verse 23, the priests of the New
Covenant carry the Son of God's authority to forgive or retain sins. The
concept of private confession of transgressions has never been part of the
sacramental system of the Old or New Covenant. Although it is a healthy
spiritual practice to confess our shortcomings to God in our daily prayers, it
is necessary to bring those venial sins (unintentional sins) before the Lord in
the Penitential Rite of the Mass to receive forgiveness. One must confess mortal
sins in the Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation to an ordained priest of the
New Covenant Church who is a successor of the first ministerial priesthood in
Christ, to whom we confess as though we are confessing to Christ Himself.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that Jesus is the physician of our souls and our bodies. He healed the sick and forgave their sins, and He has willed His Church, in the power of God the Holy Spirit, to continue His work of healing and salvation. In the Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation, the sinner places himself before the merciful judgment of God, who heals and purifies hearts and souls. CCC#1422: Those who approach the Sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God's mercy for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer labors for their conversion. Also, see CCC# 1423-1498.
You may ask the question, how do we know Jesus meant for us to confess to a human priest and not just to Him? You will agree that in verse 22, in speaking to the Apostles, Jesus has given the Church the power to forgive or retain individual sins. How can the Church exercise this power to make decisions about particular sins unless they are openly confessed to Christ through His priesthood? We must confess specific sins for the Church to exercise this power granted by God!
24 Thomas, called
Didymus [twin], one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples said to him, "We have
seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the marks of the nails in
his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side,
I will not believe."
There are only eleven Apostles since the death of Judas
Iscariot, but St. John refers to the "Twelve" as a "perfect unity" of Apostles.
Poor St. Thomas is always remembered for this remark which must have come from
his discouragement and fear. He seems not to receive credit for his courageous
statement in John 11:16 when he declared he was prepared to die with Jesus, and
he did indeed suffer martyrdom for his faith in Christ. According to the
history of the Church, Thomas suffered martyrdom at the altar of his Church in
India. He had faithfully carried the Gospel to what was then the end of the
earth!
How many times have we been guilty of the same unbelief when we reject the teaching of Mother Church in favor of expediency, self-interests, or secular values and morals? How many Catholics in government have used the excuse that the Church must be separate from the State since the law of the State allows abortion? How can they stand against it? Do they need to see the nails in His hands? How many of us question the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist or the perpetual virginity of His blessed mother? Do we need to see the wound in His side? To believe in the name of Jesus Christ is to accept all that He taught and be obedient to His Church's teachings. There is no such animal as a "liberal Catholic." Liberal and conservative are political terms. There are orthodox, true doctrine Catholics, or there are bad Catholics. Catholicism is not a cafeteria-style religion. It is an all-or-nothing religion. Place your finger in His wounds and, like Thomas, cry out, "My Lord and My God!
26 Now a week later [Greek = okto, meaning eight days]
his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although
the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here
and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be
unbelieving, but believe." 28 Thomas
answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!" [the literal
Greek is become not unbelieving and the Lord of me and the God of me.].
Eight days from the previous Sunday, which was the day of the
Resurrection, makes this day the following Sunday (as the ancients counted
without the concept of a zero-place-value). The 7th day of Creation
was Saturday. Sunday is both the 1st and the 8th day. The
number 8 in the symbolism of numbers in Scripture represented salvation,
regeneration, and redemption and became the number of the New Covenant people. Most
early churches were built with eight sides; this includes the early church that
was Peter's house in Capernaum and all the Byzantine Churches of the 4th-6th
centuries. Whenever archaeologists find an ancient foundation with eight sides,
they know they have found a Byzantine-era Christian Church marking a holy site
associated with Christ.
Once again, Jesus did not use the doors to enter the room. The inspired writer's testimony proves that Jesus was not prematurely pronounced dead and later revived. The laws of physics do not bind him! The literal Greek become not unbelieving in verse 27 gives us a better sense of Thomas's spiritual condition. He had not yet fallen into unbelief, but his doubt about the Resurrection put him in danger of falling into unbelief. What you believe matters! Thomas responded to Jesus's challenge by acknowledging Christ as His Lord and God. The literal translation is "the Lord of me and the God of me." Both Peter and Thomas knew how to humble themselves and repent. Judas was lost because he would not repent and turn to Christ. Thomas' profession of faith is one of the most powerful statements affirming the deity of Jesus in Sacred Scripture!
29 Jesus said to
him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who
have not seen and have believed."
Hebrews 11:1 records that Faith is the assurance of things
hoped for, the conviction of things unseen (NJB). Thomas's faith
would have had more merit if he had accepted the testimony of the other
Apostles instead of the exceptional proof he received through seeing and
touching Jesus's wounds. St. Paul wrote to the Church in Rome: So faith
comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes from the preaching of Christ (Rom 10:17). That same preaching of Christ passed from the Apostles down the
generations to us in the Church today. When we accept the testimony of the Apostles,
we must not only profess belief but actualize our beliefs through our actions. Jesus's
statement, "Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed," is
a benediction our Lord pronounced on all the future generations of believers!
30 Now Jesus did
many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this
book. 31 But these are written that
you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that
through this belief you may have life in his name.
The Gospel of John testifies that other signs are not
recorded in this book but in other books. Notice that John used the word
"signs" instead of "miracle." "Signs" is a major theme in St. John's Gospel. Jesus
performed supernatural acts that had a greater significance beyond the miracle.
Each miracle was a sign that pointed to theological truths, and John built his
Gospel around seven theologically significant public signs that point to Jesus's
divinity and His claim that He is the Redeemer-Messiah:
| #1 2:1-11 | The sign of water turned to wine at the wedding at Cana |
| #2 4:46-54 | The healing of the official's son |
| #3 5:1-9 | The healing of the paralytic |
| #4 6:1-14 | The multiplication of the loaves to feed the 5,000 |
| #5 9:1-41 | The healing of the man who was born blind |
| #6 11:17-44 | The raising of Lazarus from the dead |
| #7 20:1-10 | The Resurrection of Jesus |
Jesus performed eight miracles in John's Gospel, six of which do not appear in the Synoptic Gospels. The eighth miracle was a private revelation for the Apostles when Jesus walked on the water of the Sea of Galilee and calmed the storm.
Jesus's final and most significant public "sign" of His divinity was, of course, His Resurrection, the critical event of Christian faith:
"Finally, Christ's Resurrection and the risen Christ Himself is the principle and source of our future resurrection: 'Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep...for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.' The risen Christ lives in the hearts of His faithful while they await that fulfillment. In Christ, Christians 'have tasted...the powers of the age to come' and their lives are swept up by Christ into the heart of divine life, so that they may 'live no longer for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised'" (Catechism of the Catholic Church 655).
Catechism references (* indicates Scripture is quoted
or paraphrases in the citation):
Acts 5:12 (CCC 699*)
Psalms 118:14 (CCC 1808); 118:22 (CCC 587*, 756*)
Revelation 1:17 (CCC 612); 1:18 (CCC 625, 633*, 635, 2854)
John 20:19 (CCC 575*, 643*, 645*, 659*); 20:20 (CCC 645*); 20:21-23 (CCC 1087*, 1120*, 1441*); 20:22 (CCC 730*, 788*, 1287); 20:23 (CCC 1461*, 2839*); 20:24-27 (CCC 644*); 20:26 (CCC 645*, 659*); 20:27 (CCC 645*); 20:28 (CCC 448); 20:30 (CCC 514*); 20:31 (CCC 442*, 514)
Appearances of the risen Christ (CCC 448*, 641*, 642*, 643*, 644*, 645*, 646*)
Sanctifying the presence of the risen Christ in the liturgy (CCC 1084*, 1085*, 1086, 1087*, 1088*, 1089)
The Sunday Eucharist (CCC 2177, 2178*)
Our new birth in the Resurrection of Christ (CCC 654*, 655*; 1988)
"I believe in the forgiveness of sins" (CCC 976*, 977*, 978-980, 981*, 982*, 983, 1441*, 1442*)
Communion in spiritual goods (CCC 949*, 950, 951*, 952*, *953, 1329,* 1342*, 2624*, 2790*)
Christ the "Living One" holds the keys of death (CCC 612*, 625*, 635*, 2854*)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2013; revised 2022 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.