Acts 2:37-47; Deut 30:6, 32:5; Joel 2:28-32; Ezekiel 36:26-27
There are probably no homilists who have not yearned for the kind of response that followed Peter’s sermon on that first Christian Pentecost—it was both deep and dramatic. Luke explains the heartfelt response of the crowd, tells us of the huge number that turned to Christ, and then goes on to speak with enthusiasm of the early Christian community to which they were joined. Here is our passage for this week, in which we hear about all of this:
Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the *fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2:37-47)
Why was it that the effect was so immediate and so profound? First, we can say that this is God’s great fulfillment of the OT feast of Pentecost, which was an ingathering of the harvest. For centuries, the Jewish people had been foreshadowing this day that God had in mind, when He would recall His people to His side. As the old English scholar, the Venerable Bede, explains, “On the fiftieth day of Passover, when the law was given, Moses indeed ordered the festival of first-fruits to be introduced. Now, however, with the coming of the Holy Spirit, it is not sheaves of grain but the first-fruits of souls that are consecrated to the Lord” (Bede, Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 2.41). This, then, was God’s own harvest, catalyzed by His Word, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, by whose power the apostle Peter (and the other disciples) spoke.
Consider, also, the demeanor of Peter. In his sermon, he had spoken hard words to the crowd, reminding them of their complicity in the murder of God’s Messiah. But he had not railed against them nor had he been harsh. St. John Chrysostom has this to say:
Do you see what a great thing gentleness is, how it stings our hearts more than vehemence? It inflicts indeed a keener wound. For in the case of bodies that have become callous, a blow does not affect the sense so powerfully, but if someone first softens them and makes them tender, then a stab is effective. Likewise here one must first soften, and that which softens is not wrath, not vehement accusation, not reproach, but gentleness . . . . For notice how he gently reminded them of the outrages they have committed, adding no comment. He spoke of the gift of God, he brought in the grace that bears witness to the event, and he drew out his discourse to still greater length. They stood in awe of the gentleness of Peter, because he was speaking like a father and caring teacher to them who crucified his master and breathed murder against himself and his companions. They were not merely persuaded; they even condemned themselves. They came to a sense of their past behavior. (Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles 7).
God’s power and man’s gentleness and humility, working in synergy, bring in the harvest. And it is not simply a token thing. The people are cut to the heart, actually changed within, even before they are baptized. Here is the fulfillment of that great promise of Ezekiel, where the Lord said, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God” (Ezekiel 36:26-27). Now, finally, the injunction from Deuteronomy, that people be “circumcized in the heart” (Deut 30:6) can be fulfilled! All this has been prepared through the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Now the Spirit can be poured out upon all flesh, regardless of age, ethnic background, or sexual differentiation as male and female.
Peter has already explained this to the people in his sermon regarding the speaking of strange languages, when they wondered what was happening. In his sermon, he quoted Joel 2:28-32: “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions… Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. And I will show wonders … And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” Those who were there are* the crucifixion saw some of those wonders, when the sky darkened, and when, shockingly, those who had died in previous generations roamed the streets of Jerusalem for a while after Jesus’ resurrection. But now more signs and wonders will be seen, performed by the apostles themselves, by the power of the Spirit poured out upon the entire company. And Peter explains to the crowd that this promise is for whoever calls upon the Lord, that they will be saved, and filled with the Spirit. There is a way to glory, then, and out of the “perverse generation” that would not recognize Jesus. And, at Peter’s admonition, some take that way gladly—many do, in fact!
Thus is born the holy community, stretching now beyond the apostles and earliest followers of the LORD. The early Church demonstrates within itself the very nature of our loving Triune God, holding everything in common, and dwelling together, despite their different backgrounds. They even continue worship at the Temple, which still stands intact, following in the habit of Jesus Himself, who taught daily there. Just as He, the very one who was the Temple of God incarnate, visited His ancient house, so His people also frequent this place, now holding within themselves and in their midst the Holy Spirit. They, like Jesus, are the very embodiment of the Temple, the Temple made not by human hands, but by God Himself.
As 1 Peter puts it, because of Jesus, “the living Stone,” we are “living stones” “built into a spiritual house” (1 Pet. 2:5) and by loving each other, we offer back to God all things that have been given to us. This aspect of interconnection is seen in our teaching, in our life together, in our worship, in our prayers for each other, in our witness to others, in our dwelling as a single body, brothers and sisters, present and past. Consider that little vignette of the early Church given by Luke in Acts 2: the early disciples “gave themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communion of the apostles.” Luke even paints for us a word-picture here, placing the word “of the apostles” between the words for teaching and communion. It was not simply that the early Christians gave mental assent to a body of doctrine that the apostles had borrowed from Jesus and consolidated. No, they attached themselves to the apostles and to each other, and so learned about life, faith and worship, Jesus-style. And there was even more. They gave themselves also to “the breaking of the bread and the prayers of the bread.” The Spirit of the Lord was upon them, so that the communion that they had with God and with each other was different from anything humanity (including Israel) had ever experience before. The community, living together, is devoted, then, to four very important things:
• The Teaching of the Apostles
• The Koinonia (communion) of the Apostles
• Breaking of the Bread
• and the Prayers
Just as the phrase the apostles is in the middle of the words for teaching and communion (koinonia), so the phrase the bread is placed between the words for breaking and the prayers. The early Christians were to learn about Jesus by the teaching that the apostles had received and were passing on; they also entered into their identity, their life with Jesus, by means of the communion of the apostles; they expressed their solidarity with each other and Jesus, taking in His very life, by breaking the bread, and by prayers concerning that bread.
To be apostolic meant, then, to listen to the apostles’ words and to cling to their community, to be one family with them. This first description is supplemented and paralleled by a second feature of the new community, portrayed in identical word order and syntax. They also dedicated themselves to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. The definite article (“the”) tips us off: it is not just any eating, not just any prayers. No, it was the breaking of the bread that was so important to them, and it was the prayers. Following Jesus’ example during His life, the act of breaking this bread must have involved a thanksgiving, a blessing, or both. Indeed, these four things to which the early community dedicated itself, “the teaching and communion of the apostles” with “the breaking and prayers of the bread,” show the very same elements of worship that we enter into today. Here, even before the book called the Didache, where ancient worship is described more fully, we see the early community doing what Christians have historically done throughout the ages when they come together:
The service of the Word (A “coming together” around the apostles for teaching)
AND THEN
The service of the Sacrament (involving bread and prayers)
Here we see the earliest Christian community living and worshipping together in continuity with the people of Israel, and also in continuity with the Old Covenant. But there is also a change. Some of those who heard Peter did not join them. But those who did gathered around Jesus as they prayed, and around His apostles physically, rather than centering everything that they did upon the Temple and the Law. The Spirit is with them wherever they go—in homes as well as in the Temple, in the upper room, but now also in the streets of Jerusalem. And soon, they will fulfill Jesus’ words to bring this good news beyond Jerusalem and Judea, to the ends of the earth. They are “living stones,” made now with hearts of flesh, and many more will join them. For, as Peter said, “the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself.” These early hearers of Peter were in awe when they saw the signs and wonders of the apostles. We, too, can be in awe when we realize that we are part of that very same body, giving ourselves to the apostles’ teaching and communion, to the breaking and prayers of the bread. And Christ Himself feeds us by both the word and the sacrament, knitting us into the communion of saints.
Edith M. Humphrey 