Scripture Study for

Easter Sunday of The Resurrection of The Lord

Understanding the Word

By Br. John R. Barker, OFM

Peter’s speech is a response to the request of the Gentile Cornelius  to meet with him. Peter himself has had a vision in which it has  now become clear to him that the work God has done in Christ is  meant to extend beyond the ethnic boundaries of Israel (10:9–17).  The emphasis in the speech is on what Jesus did (“doing good and  healing”) and on to Jesus’ fate, which is in stark contrast to the  good he did. Yet the good Jesus was doing did not end with his  death. Now those who knew him have been sent to continue “doing  good and healing,” specifically by calling people to believe in Jesus as  God’s Messiah and to receive the gift of forgiveness, of deliverance  and release from evil forces. 

Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians about clearing out the old  yeast has a simple point: Things have changed for you, since you  are now new people in Christ, so act like it. The metaphor of yeast  is connected with the image of Christ as the Paschal (or Passover)  Lamb. In preparation for Passover, all yeast and leavened bread  is cleared out of the house; after the feast new leavened bread is  prepared. The Corinthians have failed to do the necessary “house  cleaning,” both in their own hearts and within their community, and  are therefore not properly celebrating the Paschal feast, begun with  the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb.

The report of the empty tomb proceeds in three stages that  represent a progression of belief. First, Mary discovers that the stone  has been rolled away from the tomb and assumes that Jesus’ body  has been stolen. The second stage is the discovery by the Beloved  Disciple, who enters the tomb and spies the burial cloths. The third  stage is the entrance into the tomb by Peter, who not only sees the  burial cloths but notes the detail that the head covering has been  neatly rolled up and is separate from the others, an observation  that suggests the body was not stolen, but rather that Jesus himself  has removed them. We are told that the Beloved Disciple “saw and  believed,” but that none of them yet understood that he had been  raised from the dead. What the disciple believes at this point is that  Jesus has conquered death. Only with the appearance of the risen  Lord will he and the others come to believe in the Resurrection itself. 

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