Acts 2:14,22-33; Psalm 15(16):1-2,5,7-11; Matthew 28:8-15
Before readings Acts 2, as the Liturgy asks us to do this week, we should remind ourselves of Acts 1. In Acts 1, and in the prologue, we find Luke’s way of leading us from the New Testament into the New Church. Where the Gospel of Luke hinges on the revelation of the historical Jesus as the Messiah of Israel, the Acts of the Apostles establishes Jesus as the source of the new Church, the body of Christ. The two form one continuum and should be read as such. The church described by Acts is the proper destination of God’s journey with Israel. [Richard J Dillon in Jerome] Thus, for example, in the prologue Luke records how another apostle was chosen so that the number of apostles should once again be 12 – the same number as the 12 tribes of Israel.
Today’s reading from Acts, provides an explanation of the happenings around Pentecost, using a literary style in which the message intended is recorded as a piece of oratory. The message being that of the Risen Christ has now received the Holy Spirit as promised in the old testament, and that this spirit is being poured out on the people of God – with the signs alluded to of speaking in tongues, spiritual healing and physical cures (Acts 2 1-13).