FROM THE SERVANT GENERAL
THE WAY FORWARD IN CHRIST
(Part 196)
WITNESSES OF JESUS – 5
April 9, 2021
Today’s gospel:
Acts 4:1-12
Psalm 118:1-2,4,22-27
John 21:1-14
Jesus won salvation for all through the cross. Christians are to witness to this, so that this salvation will be operative in the lives of people. “Lord, grant salvation!” (Ps 118:25a). Here is the simple but profound truth: “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” (Acts 4:12).
And so it was that Peter and the apostles witnessed to people. They “were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.” (Acts 4:2). And the power of the gospel was manifest, as “many of those who heard the word came to believe and the number of men grew to about five thousand.” (Acts 4:4).
But there will be opposition. Certainly from the evil one. Then there are those who oppose the faith, and sadly, even from religious authorities. And thus “the priests, the captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees confronted them” (Acts 4:1). We have them today as well.
- The priests. Today we have priests who favor homosexuality. They consider those Christians who stick to age-old Church teachings about the intrinsic wrongness of homosexuality to be haters, bigots and homophobes.
- The temple guard. This was composed of Levites, who took care of liturgical services. Its captain ranked next after the high priest. Today we have non-clerical Church leaders, both religious and lay, who favor aspects of the culture of death, such as divorce, contraception and LGBT.
- The Sadducees. They, a party within Judaism, drawn from priestly families and the lay aristocracy, rejected bodily resurrection. Today we have members of the Church hierarchy who claim there is no hell, or that hardly anyone goes to hell (not even Judas), or that if one dies he simply disappears into thin air.
The religious authorities “laid hands on them and put them in custody” (Acts 4:3). Seeking to intimidate and silence them, “they brought them into their presence and questioned them, ‘By what power or by what name have you done this?’” (Acts 4:7). But Peter took the opportunity to witness to Jesus. “Then Peter, filled with the holy Spirit, answered them, …. ‘it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; in his name this man stands before you healed. He is the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.’” (Acts 4:8a,10-11). In just a brief moment, Peter had proclaimed the gospel.
Here we see that witnesses to Jesus can expect persecution, but such persecution can redound to the good of the work. Note that this assembly had all the religious bigwigs assembled—“their leaders, elders, and scribes, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly class.” (Acts 4:5-6). Now rather than just hearing from others what Jesus had been saying and doing, they are hearing the gospel directly from Jesus’ top leader.
Today, especially for lay Catholics, we must proclaim the gospel, not just to other laypeople, but even to clerics and prelates, some of whom have lost supernatural faith. We are mandated by Jesus himself in this work. That mandate is to make disciples of all the nations. In a repeat of the miraculous catch of fish by the disciples, Peter and the others “dragged the net ashore full of one hundred fifty-three large fish.” (Jn 21:11a). It is curious why John put a very specific number to the fish caught. Jerome claimed that Greek zoologists catalogued 153 species of fish. Thus it is to point to the Church’s universal mission. Salvation is for all.
It is our privilege to participate in this divine work, to witness to Jesus and proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth. Indeed, “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Ps 118:26a).
