Third Sunday of Easter A April 6, 2008

Luke 24:13-35 In the first letter of Peter, from which today’s second reading is taken, reference is made to Mark who wrote the first gospel as a member of Peter’s ministerial team. Luke was on Paul’s ministerial team. There was contact between the two teams. Mark, for one, associated with both groups from time to time. Luke had a copy of Mark’s gospel when he wrote his gospel and copied large sections of it, rewriting to put the language into a more refined style of Greek. Luke also added material not included in Mark’s gospel. This text is a good example. Mark 16:12-13 very briefly mentions the appearance of Jesus to two disciples on the way to the country. Luke fills out the account. In doing so, he mentions the name of Cleopas, one of the two disciples going to Emmaus. The majority of people who pass through the gospel accounts are not named, so it is logical to assume that, when named, their names mean something to the readers. Was Cleopas a member of Paul’s team? Had the people to whom the gospel was initially addressed heard his personal testimony of the appearance of Jesus on that Easter day?

This is one of three post-resurrection appearances of Jesus mentioned in the gospels in which those to whom he appeared could not identify him by either visual or voice recognition. They knew it was Jesus by what he said and did. May our personal testimony to Jesus, in the long line of Christians including Cleopas who have dedicated their lives to proclaiming the message, make the same Jesus present by what we say and do.

Reading 1, Acts 2:14, 22-33 These verses are taken from Peter’s Pentecost proclamation as the apostles have, just moments previous, been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and broken out of their hiding to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ for the first time. During the fifty days following the Jesus’ resurrection the apostles knew they were in a time of transition. Jesus had told them about the mission for which he had prepared them. We can assume they talked over everything they could remember of what Jesus had said and done during the time they were together. “Remember when he said…now I understand what he meant when he told us…just how did that healing take place again?” Peter, James and John could now tell the others about what they had witnessed on the mountain of transfiguration (recall Jesus had told them not to tell anyone until after the Son of Man rose from the dead). Others shared their own personal moments with Jesus. In the process the message of the Good News emerged, the message Peter was the first to share publicly.

Reading II, 1 Peter 1:17-21 Here we have a written word from the same Peter who gave his first public testimony to Jesus at Pentecost as recounted in our first reading. How many years had intervened? How many times had Peter proclaimed the fundamental message of Jesus Christ? How had Peter’s own understanding and proclamation of that message deepened as he continued to reflect on its meaning? We don’t know for sure when the letter was written. Peter refers to the time of persecutions, a “trial by fire” occurring among the faithful to whom he writes. Peter was martyred for the faith between 64 and 67 A.D. in Rome. The letter is addressed to many regions where Peter had brought the gospel message. At the end of the letter Peter sends greeting from the church at “Babylon” (a reference to Rome during the time of the persecutions) and from “Mark, my son”. This Mark is not Peter’s child but John Mark, the writer of the first gospel who likely wrote that gospel as a member of Peter’s ministerial team. Some linguistic experts question Peter’s authorship of the letter, noting that its style is more refined than that of a simple fisherman who spoke Greek as a second language. The letter indicates that Peter was writing “through Silvanus” (5:12). As with Paul, Peter had people on his team with good literary skills through whom he wrote his letters. Silvanus, Mark and others had worked with Peter to establish Christian communities and maintain contact with them. Now close to the end of his life, Peter writes a general letter of encouragement to all the communities touched by his ministry.