Episode 128: Third Sunday of Easter | Year C
In today’s episode, we focus on details in all three of the main readings for this upcoming Third Sunday of Easter, Year C. The details that come from the first reading, which is taken from Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41, relate to the topic of justified civil disobedience, the leadership of Peter, and the Conspiracy theory. There are two details worthy of highlight in the second reading, which is Revelation 5:11-14. The related topics are the intercession of the saints and the Sacrifice of the Mass. Finally, the Gospel reading—John 20:1-19—provides us with information that refutes the Hallucination theory and supports Peter as the first pope.
Readings: Click Here
Looking for Sunday Catholic Word Merchandise? Look no further! Click Here
Hey everyone,
Welcome to The Sunday Catholic Word, a podcast where we reflect on the upcoming Sunday Mass readings and pick out the details that are relevant for explaining and defending our Catholic faith.
I’m Dr. Karlo Broussard, staff apologist and speaker for Catholic Answers, and the host for this podcast.
In today’s episode, we’re going to focus on details in all three of the main readings for this upcoming Third Sunday of Easter, Year C. The details that come from the first reading, which is taken from Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41, relate to the topic of justified civil disobedience, the leadership of Peter, and the Conspiracy theory. There are two details worthy of highlight in the second reading, which is Revelation 5:11-14. The related topics are the intercession of the saints and the Sacrifice of the Mass. Finally, the Gospel reading—John 20:1-19—provides us with information that refutes the Hallucination theory and supports Peter as the first pope.
Let’s start with the first reading, which, again, is taken from Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41. Here’s what we read:
When the captain and the court officers had brought the apostles in
and made them stand before the Sanhedrin,
the high priest questioned them,
“We gave you strict orders, did we not,
to stop teaching in that name?
Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching
and want to bring this man’s blood upon us.”
But Peter and the apostles said in reply,
“We must obey God rather than men.
The God of our ancestors raised Jesus,
though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree.
God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior
to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins.
We are witnesses of these things,
as is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”
The Sanhedrin ordered the apostles
to stop speaking in the name of Jesus, and dismissed them.
So they left the presence of the Sanhedrin,
rejoicing that they had been found worthy
to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.
The first thing to highlight is Peter’s response to the Sanhedrin, “We must obey God rather than men.” This isn’t necessarily an apologetical topic, but it does provide an answer to the question of whether it is just to disobey civil authorities. Notice, Peter’s response assumes a certain principle: whenever human law contravenes God’s law it is no longer binding.
The rationale behind this is that human law has binding force only insofar as it participates in God’s authority. There is no legitimate human authority without God. Consequently, when humans try to bind other humans with a law that contravenes God’s law, that law has no authority because it’s not participating in God’s authority.
Now, God’s law can be either natural or revealed law. Regardless, human laws have no authority if they contravene either of the two. For example, if the government were to mandate that it’s illegal to worship God by celebrating Mass, our celebration of Mass in secret would not be immoral, since such a law would be contravening revealed law.
If the government were to mandate us to kill innocent human beings, it would not be immoral to disobey such a command because such a law would violate reason, and laws are laws only insofar as they are ordinances of reason.
So, even though this detail isn’t necessarily apologetical in nature, it does provide the basis for justified civil disobedience.
Let’s now turn to the second reading, which, again, is taken from Revelation 5:11-14. Here’s what we read:
I, John, looked and heard the voices of many angels
who surrounded the throne
and the living creatures and the elders.
They were countless in number, and they cried out in a loud voice:
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength,
honor and glory and blessing.”
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth
and under the earth and in the sea,
everything in the universe, cry out:
“To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor, glory and might,
forever and ever.”
The four living creatures answered, “Amen, ”
and the elders fell down and worshiped.
There are two details that I want to highlight here. The first is John’s description of the “many angels who surrounded the throne.” This comes after John had already described the four living creatures (angels) and the twenty-four elders surrounding the throne in Revelation 5:4-8. John mentions these beings in this very passage, saying that the many angels were there surrounding the throne with “the living creatures and the elders.”
What’s the apologetical significance?
It’s one piece to a larger puzzle of seeing the twenty-four elders in Revelation 5:8 as human souls. These “many angels” that John sees seems to be the third concentric circle of beings coming out from the throne of the Lamb. The four-living creatures are described first in Revelation 5:4, then the twenty-four elders are described in Revelation 5:8. Here, the “many angels” are described. The fourth concentric circle is described in Revelation 7:9, where John describes of multitude of human souls. There seems to be a comparison of rank between the two inner groups and the outer two groups. The four angels are higher in rank than the multitude of angels, and the twenty-four elders are higher in rank than the multitude of humans.
As I point out in my book The Saints Pray for You, these four concentric circles help us discern the nature of the twenty-four elders in Revelation 5:8, who are presenting the prayers of the saints to the Lamb in the form of incense. If the comparison of rank is angel to angel for the first and third concentric circles, and we know that the fourth circle to which the second group is compared consists of human souls, then it’s reasonable to conclude that the second concentric circle of creatures, the twenty-four elders, are human souls. It makes sense that there would be a comparison of rank between two groups of angels and two groups of human souls, with the highest-ranking groups being those closest to God’s throne.
So, the twenty-four elders in Revelation 5:8 are human souls, which means there are saints in heaven presenting the petitionary prayers of Christians on earth to Jesus—that’s to say, they’re interceding. That’s biblical revelation of the intercession of the saints. For more information on this, see my book The Saints Pray for You.
The second detail that I’ll briefly comment on is John’s description of the Lamb: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.” In this passage, John references the Lamb that was slain, a reference to the crucifixion that took place the past. However, in Revelation 5:6, John describes this very Lamb, Jesus, appearing slain in heaven. He writes, “And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain.”
What’s the significance? This shows that Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross has an eternal aspect to it. It’s not restricted to the historical event in the past. There’s a continued aspect of it being made present in the heavenly throne room to the Father. And it’s made present in an unbloody manner.
This provides the biblical basis for our understanding of the Sacrifice of the Mass. Catholics believe that the Mass is the re-presentation, the making present, of the single sacrifice of Jesus in an unbloody manner.
Now, whether the Catholic claim is true is one thing. But given this biblical revelation, a Christian at least shouldn’t have a problem with the theology. If Christ’s sacrifice can be made present in heaven in an unbloody manner without undermining the sacrifice on the cross in time on Golgotha, then, surely, it could be made present on earth under the appearances of bread and wine in the Mass without undermining the historic sacrifice. To state it differently, if a Christian has a problem with the theology of the Mass as the one sacrifice of Christ made present in an unbloody manner, then they would have to have a problem with John’s description of Jesus appearing in heaven as slain.
Now we turn to the Gospel reading, which is John 20:1-19. Rather than read the entire passage, I’ll simply highlight the relevant sections that I want to comment on.
The first is John’s report of Jesus having breakfast with the apostles. He writes:
Jesus said to them, “Come, have breakfast.””
And none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?””
because they realized it was the Lord.
Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them,
and in like manner the fish.
This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples
after being raised from the dead.
The relevant topic this information relates to is the bodily nature of Jesus’ resurrection. In order to account for the alleged postmortem appearances of Jesus, some skeptics pose the idea that perhaps the early Christians hallucinated. But this passage for our gospel reading proves otherwise.
Notice, Jesus “took bread and gave it to them and in like manner the fish.” And Jesus didn’t just do this for a single person, but all of them who were present. Hallucinations don’t take food and give it to multiple people. Nor do they eat the food with them.
Moreover, John says, “this was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples after being raised from the dead.” This implies that Jesus appeared to them in different circumstances for each of the three times. It’s a bit of stretch to say that the apostles all simultaneously hallucinated the same thing for the first time, another thing at a different time, and yet another thing at a third time.
The details of Jesus’ interaction with the apostles just doesn’t fit the hallucination scenario. Therefore, we can reasonably reject the hallucination theory as a reasonable alternative explanation of the postmortem appearances.
These details also refute the spiritual resurrection theory, which suggests that Jesus didn’t rise bodily but merely “rose” in the hearts of the early disciples, or that merely his spirit lived on in the afterlife. Such a theory simply cannot explain the above details.
The next thing that is worthy of highlight in this Gospel reading is Jesus’ exchange with Peter concerning Peter’s love for Christ (vv.15-17). We read,
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,
“”Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?””
Simon Peter answered him, “”Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.””
Jesus said to him, “”Feed my lambs.””
He then said to Simon Peter a second time,
“”Simon, son of John, do you love me?””
Simon Peter answered him, “”Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.””
Jesus said to him, “”Tend my sheep.””
Jesus said to him the third time,
“”Simon, son of John, do you love me?””
Peter was distressed that Jesus had said to him a third time,
“”Do you love me?”” and he said to him,
“”Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.””
Jesus said to him, “”Feed my sheep.
For Catholics, the exclusive command to feed Jesus’ sheep clearly signals Peter’s unique role as leader of Jesus’ Church. As in Matthew 16:18-19, where Jesus singles out Peter and makes him the visible foundation of his Church, here Jesus singles out Peter again and makes him the shepherd of his flock—a universal charge that extends to both the young “lambs” (Greek, arnion) and the old “sheep” (Greek, probaton).
And notice the sheep of Jesus that Peter is to shepherd include the other apostles present there, revealing that Peter has authority over the other apostles. This reveals that Peter is to be the universal shepherd. In other words, he’s the pope, since that’s all we mean by “pope”.
Now, our Protestant friends have several comebacks to counter this line of reasoning. For information on those comebacks and how to respond, check out my book Meeting the Protestant Response: How to Answer Common Comebacks to Catholic Arguments.
Conclusion
Well, my friends, that does it for this episode of the Sunday Catholic Word. The readings for this upcoming Third Sunday of Easter, Year C, provide us with a treasure chest of information for doing apologetics:
- We have material that relates to justified civil disobedience,
- We have material that helps us prove that the 24 elders in Revelation 5:8 are human souls, which in turn reveals the intercession of the saints,
- We have material that reveals the perpetual and eternal aspect of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, which in turn provides a biblical basis for the Catholic understanding of the sacrifice of the Mass, and
- Jesus’ interaction with the apostles on the seashore disproves the hallucination theory and the spiritual resurrection theory, and
- Jesus reveals Peter to be the universal shepherd of his flock, including the other apostles.
That’s quite a bit, and all worth thinking through.
As always, I want to thank you for subscribing to the podcast. And please be sure to tell your friends about it and invite them to subscribe as well through any podcast platform that they use. You can also access the archived episodes of the Sunday Catholic Word at sundaycatholicword.com.
You might also want to check out the other great podcasts in our Catholic Answers podcast network: Trent Horn’s The Counsel of Trent, Joe Heschmeyer’s Shameless Popery, Jimmy Akin’s The Jimmy Akin podcast, all of which can be found at catholic.com. And if you want to follow more of my own work, check out my website at karlobroussard.com
One last thing: if you’re interested in getting some cool mugs and stickers with my logo, “Mr. Sunday podcast,” go to shop.catholic.com.
I hope you have a blessed Third Sunday of Easter, Year C. Until next time, God Bless.