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Acts 5: 27 - 33 |
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27 |
And when they
had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest
questioned them, |
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28 |
saying,
"We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have
filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man's
blood upon us." |
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29 |
But Peter and
the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men. |
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30 |
The God of our
fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. |
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31 |
God exalted
him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel
and forgiveness of sins. |
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32 |
And we are
witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to
those who obey him." |
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33 |
When they
heard this they were enraged and wanted to kill them. |
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Psalms 34: 2, 9, 17 - 20 |
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2 |
My soul makes
its boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and be glad. |
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9 |
O fear the
LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no want! |
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17 |
When the
righteous cry for help, the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their
troubles. |
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18 |
The LORD is
near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit. |
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19 |
Many are the
afflictions of the righteous; but the LORD delivers him out of them all. |
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20 |
He keeps all
his bones; not one of them is broken. |
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John 3: 31 - 36 |
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31 |
He who comes
from above is above all; he who is of the earth belongs to the earth, and
of the earth he speaks; he who comes from heaven is above all. |
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32 |
He bears
witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony; |
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33 |
he who receives
his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. |
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34 |
For he whom
God has sent utters the words of God, for it is not by measure that he
gives the Spirit; |
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35 |
the Father
loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. |
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36 |
He who
believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him. |
1. As a
big irony the judges became judged. That came true by the power of the
apostles’ word. Peter, as the first among them, took the word and truly
invited the authorities to judge whether it was fair to obey men rather than
God. In judging this they were compelled to judge themselves.
2. All
the strength of the apostles came from this very word: “we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God
has given to those who obey him.” All their force and all their power
consisted just in this: they were witnesses, as the Holy Spirit himself is
witness. The harmony and agreement between the voice of the inner witness,
who is the Spirit, and the voice of the external witness, who is the apostle,
is what bears strength and power enough to transform lives.
3. Without the inner voice conversion is not
possible. The chief priests had the external voice, that is, the words from
the apostles but they did not want to receive the inner witness, and so they
made themselves blind to the heavenly light. This is why “they were enraged and wanted to kill”
the apostles. No human reasoning, no human oratory, no visible sign can
replace the work of the Spirit.
4. Now, the gospel today is linked with the first
reading on the theme of witnessing, as John the Baptist speaks of Jesus as a
witness, someone who “bears witness to
what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony.” This
intimacy expressed by the verbs “see” and “hear” tells us that we can rely on
Christ’s testimony and that his words are not to be put simply along any
other words. They come, as near as we cannot even say, from God, and so they
bear the definite witness, in such a way that it is impossible to avoid Jesus
without actually avoiding God.
5. On the contrary, we do know that “He who believes in the Son has eternal
life.” Near to Jesus we are abiding with God and drawing from him the
grace, force and light that will transform all what we are.
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