SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTERTIDE [A]

By tradition, the Old Testament is not read in Eastertide. The readings all come from the New Testament.

The First Readings on Sundays are taken from the Acts of the Apostles, which is St. Luke’s continuation of his Gospel, and shows how the Church grew with the message of the Risen Lord.

The events described in cycle ‘A’ of the Lectionary are:

[a] a summary of the new community life of Christians (Easter 2)

[b] Peter’s Pentecost speech calling for conversion to Christ (Easter 3 & 4)

[c] the choice of the first deacons (Easter 5)

[d] the missionary work of the deacon Philip (Easter 6)

[e] the gathering of the apostles with Mary after Jesus’ Ascension (Easter 7)

Today’s reading is one of a number which St. Luke inserts into the Acts, outlining the development of the Christian community, gathered for prayer and the ‘breaking of bread’. All these first Christians were former Jews (or, more accurately, Jews who believed they had found the fulfilment of their faith in the Messiah Christ). As St. Luke makes clear, they did not therefore renounce Jewish life; they still came to the Temple to pray. However, in their own homes they then celebrated the Eucharist. Only at the end of the 1st. Century, with many pagan converts entering the Church, would the decisive split with Judaism come.

The Second Readings in Cycle ‘A’ are taken from the First Letter of St. Peter. Most scholars do not think this was actually written by Peter; the letter has been given his name to provide extra ‘clout’. This was a common practice and we need not see it as bogus. It is also generally agreed that the letter serves primarily to provide encouragement to newly baptised Christians. Bearing in mind the baptisms which take place in the Church at the Easter Vigil, and also that Eastertide is above all the great baptismal time, the Letter becomes highly appropriate for this season.

Here, the author shares the joy of the newly baptised. He tells them that trials are sure to come, just as Jesus himself underwent persecution. The converts have come to believe in a Jesus whom they cannot physically see. They now can look forward to something else which they cannot physically see: eternal life.