GOD EXALTED HIM - 3RD SUNDAY OF EASTER (5/1/2022)

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

May 1, 2022

Acts 5:27-32, 40-41
Psalm 30
Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-19

GOD EXALTED HIM

Easter is about victory! God the Father raises his Son Jesus from the humiliation and apparent defeat of the cruel death by crucifixion. Jesus is raised to a new life in the resurrection. Jesus is then raised from the earth to heaven in the ascension. God exalts Jesus to his right hand, where he pours out the Holy Spirit upon his followers, and from thence he will come to judge the living and the dead. God exalted him...let us exalt Jesus as well!

ACTS

Our first reading today is from chapter 5 of Acts. In this chapter, the apostles are arrested and incarcerated. An angel frees them from prison. They went right back to doing what they were doing before their arrest - preaching about Jesus in the temple.

When they were brought in again for questioning, Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men."

What are they preaching? The basic apostolic kerygma: "The God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."

The apostles endure a beating but rejoice that they were worthy to suffer "for the sake of the name" - the name of Jesus. The Responsorial, Psalm 30, is expressive of the trust of the apostles in the Lord's power to rescue them.

GOSPEL

Today's gospel from John 21 features St. Peter. When Jesus appears on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, there is a miraculous catch of fish after the apostles had worked all night and caught nothing...reminiscent of the first call of the apostles in Luke 5.

Jesus cooks a breakfast of bread and fish and asks three times if Peter loves him, reminiscent of Peter's threefold denial of Jesus. With each response that Peter makes, Jesus gives him a particular commission: "Feed my lambs...Tend my sheep...Feed my sheep." ( A side note: one of the most beautiful sites along the Sea of Galilee is the one commemorating this event, known as the "Primacy of Peter.")


Today's gospel concludes with Jesus speaking prophetically of Peter's eventual arrest and martyrdom.

REVELATION

There are several passages in Revelation that tells us what is going on in heaven. Our second reading describes one of them. John, the author, hears the voices of many angels around the throne, as well as living creatures and the elders. They cry out in a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing." 

Then all creatures everywhere cry out: "To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever. The four living creatures answered, 'Amen,' and the elders fell down and worshiped."

We are privileged to join our own praise to that of the angels and saints for the great victory of the Lord's exaltation!

GOOD NEWS AMIDST BAD NEWS

We don't have to look very far to find bad news. It seems there is a lot of it around us. In today's readings, however, we hear about the great good news of salvation in the name of the risen Jesus; the activity of angels; the zeal and courage of the apostles; heavenly praise and worship; the miraculous catch of fish; the breakfast cooked by Jesus himself; the poignant exchange between Jesus and Peter. This good news provides a heavenly antidote to the steady diet of bad news we face daily.