| |
LITURGICAL
Reading
Reflection for the Catholic Liturgical Readings
[Acts 5:12-16 / Ps 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24 / Rev 1:9-11a,
12-13, 17-19 / Jn 20:19-31]
04/15/07 (usccb.org)
All reflections are posted at SensusFidelium.org.
Submit your prayers and reflections for posting to
stan@sensusfidelium.org.
Our first reading and gospel capture a wisp of time
in the early history of Christianity, specifically
those days and weeks between Jesus’ public crucifixion/resurrection
and the waves of persecutions in Jerusalem driving
His followers into hiding. The writer of Acts narrates
how Jesus’ disciples begin the work of building
a community and a church by returning to Solomon’s
Portico in the Great Temple of Jerusalem. As did most
teachers and rabbis in the Jewish tradition, Jesus
probably spent a considerable amount of time at the
portico preaching to crowds and engaging His listeners
(and critics) in a faith dialog. To get a feel for
the significance and context of what Jesus’ disciples
did in these early days, it is important to visualize
the scene. The Temple compound in Jerusalem was not
a set of buildings tucked away in the city; the walled
compound constituted 20% of all real estate in Jerusalem
and consisted of nested rings of courtyards for specific
segments of the population. From the outer ring, we
would have seen the Court of Gentiles (anyone), the
Court of Israel (Jewish men and women), the Court of
Jews (just men), the Court of Priests, and the innermost
sanctuary, the Holy of Holies.
 The Court of Gentiles alone was 30+ acres and could
easily support a crowd of 5,000 individuals. The place
where the Early Church gathers, Solomon’s Portico,
was an ornate, covered colonnade of white marble that
ran along the outer wall of the Court of Gentiles.
It was the most accessible, most public, most breezy,
and most commercial area of the Temple. Although the
disciples had been prohibited by the Temple Sanhedrin
from preaching in the name of Jesus, they gather for
many days at Solomon’s Portico to preach, dialog,
and perform charity (alms, healing) – all in
the name of Jesus and under the scrutiny of hostile
oppressors, the Roman garrison and Temple guards. From
his balcony in the Roman fortress, Pilate could have
observed Peter. The writer of Acts reports that as
a result of their courageous and public gathering at
the Temple, “the people esteemed them” and “more
than ever, believers in the Lord, great numbers of
men and women, were added to them.” Although
the community would soon be persecuted and driven into
hiding in Jerusalem, we are invited to savor that first
image of them in those first weeks – openly preaching,
debating, and doing charity in the name of Jesus. How
well do we meet the same challenges and choose to stand
witness at our local porticos?
|
