[00:00:05] Hello, my name is Sally Moriarty-Flask. Welcome to: From His Word to Our Hearts, my weekly Bible study podcast. Together we will explore the readings to be proclaimed at the Catholic Mass on Sunday, May 3, 2026, the Fifth Sunday of Easter.
[00:00:22] This week's episode is entitled Great Expectations, and in these readings, we are reminded that Jesus expects all of his followers to do great things in his name precisely because he has returned to his Father in heaven. That doesn't just apply to the original Apostles… that means all of us who call ourselves Christian.
As we journey through the readings this week, consider the following:
It is true that Jesus expects much of us… we should serve others, pray constantly, love unconditionally, and live faithfully. But the Christian life is rarely easy. The disciples knew Jesus well and still made mistakes which should encourage us when we stumble to pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off, and get back to work… but what are we actively doing to fulfill Jesus’ expectations of us?
[00:01:31] So, let's begin in prayer:
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Heavenly Father, we praise you and we thank you for the heavenly home that your Son has prepared for us. Strengthen us to undertake the work we have been given in this world… to love and serve others, to pray, and to know and worship you. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, the firstborn from the dead, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now that we've opened our hearts in prayer, let's listen to what God is telling us in the Scriptures.
[00:02:13] Our Gospel this week is from John 14: 1-12.
“[Jesus said to his disciples:] ‘Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going, how can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know him and have seen him.’ Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied. Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or else believe for the sake of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.’”
[00:04:10] That passage is part of the Farewell Discourse of Jesus at the Last Supper - the longest single address of Jesus recorded in the New Testament. Jesus uses this Farewell Discourse to prepare his disciples for their life and mission when he is no longer with them. If we were to classify the farewell discourse according to biblical genres, it would be called a “testament”, which is a type of farewell address spoken by a teacher, patriarch, or father figure to those who will be left behind.
[00:04:47] There are a number of topics that are typically found in Biblical Testaments: an announcement of departure, words of consolation, final instructions, warnings of future difficulties, and plans for the future needs of the group. This particular passage opens with an excellent example of some of Jesus' words of consolation. In fact, the first half of this passage is often chosen for Funeral liturgies, which just proves that Jesus’ consoling words continue to be efficacious for his followers even today.
[00:05:32] So, let's explore how Jesus instructs his disciples in this part of John's Gospel…
[00:05:39] “[Jesus said to his disciples:] ‘Let not your hearts be troubled;’”
[00:05:45] There are those words of consolation… the NAB translates them as, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”
“believe in God, believe also in me.”
[00:05:57] That phrase could also be translated as an affirmation… “you believe in God, believe also in me.” In other words, since the disciples believe in God the Father, that should make it easier for them to believe in Jesus. And remember, he's saying those very same words to us.
[00:06:19] “In my Father's house”
Jesus means in the kingdom of heaven - God's eternal dwelling place, a heavenly sanctuary, the new Temple in the new and eternal Jerusalem.
“In my Father's house are many rooms;”
As so often happens, modern Christians are at a disadvantage because we aren't 1st century Jews… they would have understood Jesus' imagery immediately! Because he is, essentially, comparing the Jerusalem Temple to the new temple in heaven. So just as the Jerusalem Temple was divided into many different parts (courts, storage chambers, and living quarters), so too will the new Temple in heaven be divided into different rooms to accommodate all its eternal residents.
[00:07:22] “if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”
Jesus doesn't just mean the words he has spoken directly to his disciples… oh, he does mean those, but he's also reminding them of the promises recorded in the Jewish Scriptures - the Old Testament. In Matthew 25, Jesus said; “Come […] inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” But that promise was first spoken in Exodus 23, when God said: “I send an angel before you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place which I have prepared” and in Isaiah 25, the prophet declared that “On this mountain (meaning Mount Zion), the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast. Jesus is telling his disciples that he will fulfill all of those promises.
[00:08:32] “And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
[00:08:43] And it's important for us to understand that heaven is not so much a specific place as it is a state of being… it is a state of supreme joy and happiness, it is our communion - our unity - with the divine life and love of God… Father, Son, and Spirit. The location is irrelevant, the only thing that is relevant is our relation to God, our union with God.
[00:09:19] “And you know the way where I am going.”
The disciples know - on some level - that Jesus is going to the Father, but as far as directions go… maybe they don't know that part just yet! And we see that from what follows.
[00:09:37] “Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?’”
[00:09:45] Only Thomas possessed both the courage and the honesty needed to speak up! And understand, Thomas is being very literal… Jesus, not so much! That goes back to what I said about the kingdom being less of an exact location that can be reached following a set of physical directions and more about it having to do with our relationship to God, our union with God. And that distinction is borne out in Jesus’ next words.
[00:10:24] “Jesus said to Thomas, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life;’”
[00:10:33] Jesus is firm with Thomas here, but he is also gentle! And this is the sixth out of Jesus' seven “I AM” statements in John's Gospel. The Apostles have heard these enough times to know Jesus means - listen up, this is important! So, what exactly does Jesus mean by that statement? When Jesus says: “I AM the way” he means that we can only reach the Father by going through Jesus himself… that we can only have a relationship with the Father by first establishing a relationship with Jesus. Jesus is the one mediator chosen by God to bring humanity into God's glory. Then Jesus says: “I AM the truth” and by that he means that he completes the fullness of divine revelation, everything we have been told in Sacred Scripture culminates in Jesus - our understanding of Scripture will continue to progress through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but revelation regarding God is complete in Jesus. Finally, Jesus says: “I AM the life” meaning that only Jesus can lift humanity up to share in the divine life and the Resurrected, Transformed, Glorified humanity of Jesus will be precisely how all humanity will come to dwell with the Father.
[00:12:25] “no one comes to the Father, but by me.”
[00:12:28] Jesus is unbelievably clear there. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus… there's no substitute, there's no shortcut, there's no alternate route… only Jesus will get us to the Father… only unity with Jesus will lead us into unity with the Father so that we can enter into the place prepared for us by Jesus in the kingdom of heaven.
“If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know him and have seen him.”
Jesus talks repeatedly about his relationship with the Father… in John 1, he says: “No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is at the Father's side, has revealed him’: in John 12, Jesus says: “whoever sees me sees the one who sent me”; in John 8, Jesus says: “if you knew me, you would know my Father also”; in Matthew 11, he says: “no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him”; and finally, in John 7, Jesus says: “I know the Father, because I am from him, and he sent me.”
[00:14:02] So, it's not as if the Apostles haven't been told a lot about Jesus and his relationship to the Father.
[00:14:11] “Philip said to him,”
Perhaps Thomas' boldness has inspired Philip to speak up as well.
[00:14:19] “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied.”
[00:14:24] That is reminiscent of Moses' request to God in Exodus 33: “Please let me see your glory.” Philip, however, seems to have missed everything Jesus has been saying about the Father… now, it's quite possible that he heard what Jesus said, but didn't yet understand what Jesus meant.
[00:14:52] And Jesus will assure the Apostles very soon, in John 16: “the Spirit of truth will guide you to all truth.” Meaning that - after the Resurrection - the Holy Spirit will help the Apostles understand more fully all that Jesus taught them during his earthly life. But they haven't yet received the Holy Spirit, so they're still relying solely on their own human understanding.
[00:15:24] “Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip?’”
Again, Jesus is being firm but gentle! Jesus has been with the Apostles for three years; he has been teaching them this entire time, he has been revealing the full truth about himself and the Father all along… they just aren't ready to put all the pieces together yet.
“He who has seen me has seen the Father;”
[00:15:58] Jesus is saying that he is the visible image of the invisible God.
[00:16:06] “how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?”
[00:16:15] Again, Jesus has taught the Apostles all about his relationship to the Father, but clearly Philip hasn't yet been able to understand everything he's heard… and that probably applies to the rest of the Apostles as well.
[00:16:32] “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”
The Father established Jesus’ mission in the first place and Jesus is accomplishing the task the Father set before him in his Incarnation.
[00:16:56] “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me;”
[00:17:02] Again, Jesus has already said this to the Apostles… we're in chapter 14 of John, but in chapter 10, Jesus said: “the Father and I are one” and “the Father is in me and I am in the Father” - Jesus is simply restating those things here.
“or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves.’
[00:17:27] Earlier in John's Gospel, Jesus cured a man at the Pool of Bethesda who had been ill for 38 years, and when he did so, he told the Apostles: “My Father is at work […] so I am at work”, he said that: “I cannot do anything on my own” and that “[the Father] will show [you] greater works than these, so that you may be amazed.” Remember, the Apostles are still trying to figure out how to put all these puzzle pieces together.
[00:18:06] “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.”
[00:18:21] Notice, Jesus say” “because”… because he goes to the Father. Clearly, Jesus expects the Apostles to continue his work and because he goes to the Father they will do even greater works! That may seem strange to us, but it really shouldn't… the works performed by the Apostles will be accomplished through a spiritual union with the Risen Jesus - their work will reveal who Jesus is, therefore revealing who the Father is.
[00:19:07] And if we stop to consider the scope of what has been accomplished, we really should be amazed. Jesus - in his earthly life - spoke to thousands of people, absolutely… but the Church speaks to billions; Jesus traveled hundreds of miles spreading his message, the Church has evangelized the world.
[00:19:40] Jesus said that he expects a lot of his followers, that means us, too. So, what works are we allowing Jesus to accomplish through us? What are we doing to fulfill Jesus’ expectations of us?
[00:20:02] That takes us to our First Reading, which is from Acts 6: 1-7.
[00:20:10] “[I]n these days when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists murmured against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. And the Twelve summoned the body of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.’ And what they said pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Proch’orus, and Nica’nor, and Ti’mon, and Par’menas and Nicola’us, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands upon them. And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.”
[00:21:35] We hear from the Acts of the Apostles throughout the Easter season, because it teaches us about the early Church. So far in Cycle A, we've been presented with the image of a Church that is fairly unified - with this passage we start to see something different. And let's face it, if human beings are involved, there will eventually be conflict of some sort… but what we see here is more than just human nature asserting itself.
[00:22:13] After all, what are the devil's favorite tactics? Division from within and persecution from without. So, as the early Church grew, as the good works being accomplished became more and more of a threat to the devil, conflicts were initiated within the nascent Church in response.
The Apostles were responsible for maintaining unity within the Christian community. That responsibility has been passed down to the successors of the Apostles - the Bishops in the Church today. And yes, Bishops still have the responsibility of bringing unity to the Church… but they do not accomplish that by dictatorial methods. Rather, they consult Scripture, they listen to the concerns of the faithful, they consult other relevant authorities when necessary, and they pray. In fact, Pope Francis said that the primary task of a bishop is to pray.
[00:23:33] So let's observe how the Apostles set the standard for their future successors…
[00:23:42] “[I]n these days when the disciples were increasing in number,”
[00:23:46] Interestingly enough, this is the first time the word “disciples” appears in Acts.
“the Hellenists murmured against the Hebrews”
[00:23:59] Now, the Hellenists were Greek speaking Jews, while Hebrews were Aramaic speaking Jews. But why was one group murmuring against the other?
[00:24:14] “because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.”
[00:24:20] Remember, widows were particularly vulnerable - they relied upon the generosity of others for their very survival. So, if a particular group of widows were being neglected when charitable distributions were dispersed, that became an issue of concern for the entire community. Why was this neglect happening?
[00:24:47] We don't really know and Acts doesn't specify… it could have been a certain amount of prejudice, it could have been an oversight, it could have been the result of overwork, or it could have simply been bad luck or misperception. We just don't know.
[00:25:14] “And the Twelve”
That number represents the Eleven Apostles plus Matthias.
[00:25:22] “the Twelve summoned the body of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve at tables.’”
And no, they do not mean acting as waiters in a restaurant – “serving at tables” is how the RSV described the daily charitable distributions to the needy.
“Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute,”
[00:25:55] Meaning that the Apostles sought input from the community - they listened to the concerns expressed by the faithful and asked those same faithful how to address the situation. That's usually the best course of action - to let those who are most directly impacted by a problem suggest a solution to that problem.
[00:26:27] The apostles specified, however, that the men chosen should be…
“full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty.”
[00:26:40] So often we hear the term grace builds on nature, right? Meaning that the men who were chosen should possess admirable qualities to begin with, so that the Holy Spirit could in turn guide them and make them even better.
[00:27:04] “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
[00:27:10] By that we are to understand that the Apostles will be responsible for the spiritual needs of the community – which, of course, continues to be the primary task of bishops and priests - while these chosen men will be responsible for the practical and everyday needs of the community.
[00:27:34] “And what they said pleased the whole multitude,”
[00:27:39] So, the solution the Apostles proposed was acceptable to everyone.
[00:27:45] “and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Proch’orus, and Nica’nor, and Ti’mon, and Par’menas, and Nicola’us, a proselyte of Antioch.”
The seven men chosen to serve all had primarily Greek names, which suggests that the Apostles were striving to achieve fairness within the community - the Hellenists (the Greek speakers) voiced the initial complaint, therefore, their concerns were addressed by men who were themselves of Greek origin. And regarding our last candidate – proselyte, of course, means convert and the text tells us that he was from the Greek city of Antioch.
[00:28:51] “These they set before the apostles,”
The chosen were presented to the Apostles - just as candidates for the priesthood or the diaconate are presented to Bishops today.
[00:29:07] “and they prayed and laid their hands upon them.”
The laying on of hands remains a well-recognized gesture of consecration and commission in the Church today - and as such is used in Christian Initiation as well as the Sacraments of Confirmation and Anointing of the Sick.
[00:29:33] However, the laying on of hands by a Bishop takes on additional significance in in Ordinations as it indicates the conferral of the Holy Spirit. That gesture remains the essential sign of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Ordinations are still conducted in much the same way in the Church today, although the Rite of Ordination has been significantly codified with specific gestures and prayers unique to each level of ordination - from deacon to priest to bishop. The seven men listed here in Acts became the first to be dedicated specifically for service to the community, meaning they were ordained as deacons. In fact, the Greek word diakonia means service or ministry. In the Catholic Church today, deacons primarily serve the diocesan bishop whenever and wherever they are needed, but they also assist at parish liturgies and proclaim the Gospel. As part of their duties, they may perform baptisms and witness marriages, but their primary purpose, their primary responsibility is to devote themselves to works of charity and acts of service in the community.
[00:31:19] “And the word of God increased:”
The NAB translates that a bit differently… it says: “continued to spread” - because remember I said revelation about God was complete in Jesus, so it's not as if Sacred Scripture continued to grow in size. That's not what this means. It does mean that God's word was spread to others. So, the word of God continued to spread is really a better translation.
[00:31:56] “and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem,”
Meaning that as the authentic message of Jesus continued to be proclaimed, more and more people responded and became disciples, became followers of Jesus.
“and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.”
[00:32:23] That line can be easily misinterpreted because people tend to think of Catholic priests when they hear that, but there was no order of Catholic priests at the time. What Luke is saying (and of course, Saint Luke is the author of Acts), but what he's referring to is the temple establishment: the Levites, Sadducees, and Essenes that had converted to Christianity.
[00:32:57] And remember, the Levitical priesthood had previously served as the principal mediators between God and his people. Now Jesus is that principal mediator, so the role of the Levitical priesthood could change for those who accepted the message of Jesus.
[00:33:21] And in the modern Church, every Baptized Catholic is a priest, right? We are all anointed priest, prophet, and king at our Baptism - Catholic Christians call that the common priesthood of the faithful - and it is a participation in the one priesthood of Jesus.
[00:33:50] The ministerial priesthood of the Church is also a participation in the one priesthood of Jesus, but it differs in essence from the common priesthood of the faithful because it is at the service of the common priesthood of the faithful. So many times, Catholics get that backwards! We think we're supposed to serve our priests in some way or another, but it's actually the other way around - priests serve the faithful.
[00:34:31] So when we are anointed priests at our Baptism, what then is our primary responsibility? Well, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it is to live a life of faith, hope, and charity, according to the Holy Spirit. Okay… beautiful, lofty words - but what does that mean for us, practically speaking? How does that help us fulfill the expectations Jesus has of us?
[00:35:06] Unfortunately, there's no short and easy answer to that question, but that does mean that there are lots of things we can do - every day! And it should always start with regular participation in the Mass - the source and summit of every everything we do as Catholic Christians. We should partake of the Sacraments of the Church, especially the Eucharist, we should pray for others, our lives should witness to Jesus' teachings every single day - whether anyone is watching us or not, and we must follow Jesus' example of service… we, too, must serve others - not just the Church, but the world as well.
[00:36:07] That takes us to our Responsorial Psalm, which is Psalm 33, and the refrain is:
“Let your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.”
[00:36:20] And here are the verses:
“Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. Praise the LORD with the lyre, make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!”
“For the word of the LORD is upright; and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the mercy of the LORD.”
“Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his merciful love, that he may deliver their soul from death, and keep them alive in famine.”
[00:37:01] This week's Psalm is a very straightforward Song of Praise. It is calling an assembly of worshipers to praise God, so it may have been intended for use in a temple liturgy at some point. It extols the Lord as the God of justice and love, one who is worthy of all praise, and who provides assistance to all who trust in him.
[00:37:33] That takes us to our Second Reading, which is from 1 Peter 2: 4-9.
[00:37:42] “[Beloved:] Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God's sight chosen and precious; and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and he who believes in him will not be put to shame.’ To you therefore who believe, he is precious, but for those who do not believe, ‘The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the cornerstone,’ and ‘A stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall’: for they stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
[00:39:15] This is the fourth of five passages we will hear from 1 Peter this year - we should actually hear six passages, but because Ascension is transferred to Sunday, we don't hear the readings for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, which is when we'd get that last passage from 1 Peter. If you think back to the Second Sunday of Easter, when we heard from Peter the first time, I said that the early Church universally accepted Peter as the author of this letter, but that has been challenged by modern Scripture scholars.
[00:39:57] That is absolutely true. These modern scholars say that the Greek in which the letter was composed is too sophisticated for Peter and that there are simply too many Pauline themes woven throughout the text for it to be attributable to Peter. Those are both legitimate concerns, and if Peter is not the author, it was probably written by one of Peter's disciples in Rome who invoked Peter's authority in order to ensure its widespread acceptance.
[00:40:37] In the end, does it really matter whether Peter or one of his followers wrote this letter? No, not really. I mention it so that you are aware of the uncertainty swirling around this letter in certain circles, and you can address it if necessary, saying that most competent authorities, including the Catholic Church, still attribute this letter to Peter.
So, let's listen to what the letter has to say to us this week…
[00:41:12] “[Beloved:] Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God's sight chosen and precious;”
[00:41:23] That line is referring to Jesus - the living stone rejected by men, but chosen and precious to the Father.
[00:41:35] “and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house,”
[00:41:42] When the text says a spiritual house - it means a sort of temple, a place where God dwells, a place where God and humanity meet, the place where people worship God and offer sacrifice to him. That does not mean that such worship and such sacrifice won't be offered within a physical structure - it most likely will be. That's why we have Churches all over the world… but a building is just that. A building is just a building… a building doesn't come to full life until it's occupied.
[00:42:33] Now, Catholic Christians believe that God is always present in the tabernacle. Therefore, we see Catholic Churches always as being God's dwelling place and that we, as living stones, complete the spiritual temple where God's worship is accomplished when we enter into the physical church building ourselves.
“to be a holy priesthood,”
We just talked about that, didn't we? We are all anointed priest, prophet and king at our Baptism. Therefore, we all participate in the one priesthood of Jesus, but each in the manner appropriate to our own station.
[00:43:31] To those of us who are part of the laity, we are members of the common priesthood of the faithful. Whereas those who are members of the clergy participate in the ministerial priesthood.
“to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
[00:43:57] Our sacrifices are only efficacious if they are accepted by God. And to understand that, we need to think of the story of Cain and Abel. Abel's offering was accepted; Cain's was not. But God wasn't simply being capricious. Everything we have comes from God in one way or another. And we in turn give back the best portions of what we have in gratitude. Abel did just that, which is why his sacrifice was accepted. Cain did not, which is why his sacrifice was not accepted. And since Jesus is the one mediator between God and mankind, everything we offer must be offered through Jesus. It's not like we can make a side deal that doesn't include Jesus, we can't negotiate something under the table with God and bypass Jesus altogether, that's not how this works.
[00:45:16] We pray TO the Father, THROUGH the Son, BY the power of the Holy Spirit.
[00:45:25] Now, we'll encounter the mystery of the Trinity very soon after the Easter season concludes, but that is a good reminder that the three persons: Father, Son, and Spirit - are both distinct from each other and yet inseparable. We can't pray to the Father without involving the Son and the Spirit. We can't invoke the Spirit without involving the Father and the Son. We can't ask the Son to intercede for us without the knowledge of the Father and the Spirit. That's just not how this works!
“For it stands in Scripture: ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and he who believes in him will not be put to shame.
[00:46:27] That is from Isaiah 28 and Isaiah meant that both the city of Jerusalem and the people who dwelt therein were chosen and precious, they were the foundation that stood secure in the face of foreign enemies and corruption. Peter, on the other hand, says that it is Jesus who is chosen and precious, rejected by the Jewish religious authorities, but the foundation upon which the Church is built.
“To you therefore who believe, he is precious,”
Peter means all of us who are Christians, all of us who believe in Jesus, all of us who follow his teachings.
[00:47:22] “but for those who do not believe,”
Meaning the Jewish religious authorities who rejected and crucified Jesus, certainly, but he also means those who still reject the authentic message of Jesus.
[00:47:42] “The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the cornerstone.”
[00:47:49] That is a quote from Psalm 118… and in that quote, the Psalmist meant that the people of Israel had been rejected and therefore became the cornerstone; Peter, however, is using those words to speak of Jesus who was rejected by men, but approved by God to become the cornerstone - the foundation of the Church.
[00:48:19] “And ‘A stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall’;”
[00:48:25] That is also from Isaiah, but from a different chapter (Isaiah 8). The prophet was actually talking about God, saying that he would be a sanctuary for the faithful, but to the faithless, he will allow them to experience conquest and exile. Peter uses those words to refer to Jesus, who will make unbelievers stumble and fall.
“they stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.”
Peter means that everyone is called to follow Jesus, everyone! We are all destined to follow him, but if we don't… if we are not faithful… if we are disobedient to Jesus' teachings, then we will stumble… because that is the destiny we have chosen for ourselves - by isolating ourselves from Jesus.
[00:49:34] “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people,”
[00:49:45] There are no specific quotes containing all of those exact words… although they do, in some way, relate back to Exodus which says in chapter 19: “you shall be my own possession among all the peoples” and “you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
[00:50:09] What Peter means by that, essentially, is that those who are faithful followers of Jesus are chosen and precious to God, just as Jesus is chosen and precious - that we are holy as Jesus is holy, that as descendants of Jesus, who was born of the royal house of David, we, too, are royal descendants. And that we all share in the one priesthood of Jesus, that we all belong to God, just as Jesus the Son belongs to the Father. All of those things define our identity as Christians - as followers of Christ.
“that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
[00:51:14] That means we are supposed to evangelize… we are to declare the wonderful deeds of Jesus to others.
[00:51:24] None of us exists solely for our own benefit… we never have - even though we tend to get all wrapped up in our own concerns, our own lives, our jobs, our families, and our problems. But everything doesn't start and end with us! We just sometimes think it does.
[00:51:51] Everything actually starts and ends with God! We are all called to follow God… to be missionary disciples for God.
We are called to bring others to God through Jesus, the light of the world…
We are called to bring God to others by the example of our lives, by the love we share with others, by serving others as Jesus taught us to do…
We don't, however, always do that perfectly. Sometimes we stumble, sometimes we make mistakes, sometimes we fall.
[00:52:47] In fact, the Christian life is rarely easy. But Jesus expects much of us and he will strengthen us to accomplish the work he has set before us.
He will help us SERVE others, PRAY for others and for our world, LOVE others even when it isn't especially easy to do so, and LIVE as his faithful followers.
[00:53:24] So, let's pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off, and get back to work… after all, Jesus has high expectations of us, and we must do our best to fulfill those expectations!
[00:53:41] If you would like to reach out to me with questions or comments, send me an email at
[email protected]
Thank you for spending this time with me and until next we meet, may God shower his blessings upon you like a soft and gentle rain, and may he hold you safe and secure in the palm of his hand.
From His Word to Our Hearts is produced by SFS Audio Solutions.
The content of the show was assembled by me, Sally Moriarty-Flask.
Our music was composed by Jimmy Flask and is used with the permission of the composer. All rights reserved.
Information regarding references used in preparing the exegesis for this podcast is available upon request.
Thank you for listening and God bless.
