Why the Apostles Needed Pentecost In Addition to Easter
"By what power or by what name have you done this? How have you healed this crippled man?" (Acts 4:7)
When Peter was asked this question by the Jewish leaders, elders, and scribes, he could have taken the easy way out again, just as he had done the night of Holy Thursday when he denied even knowing Jesus three times. But things were different now. Everything was different now. Peter had seen Jesus alive, risen from the dead; not only that, but he had also seen Jesus ascend into heaven, and even more importantly, Peter and the Apostles had received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Now, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, Peter’s days of denying the Lord were over. Now he speaks boldly, freely risking everything to tackle this question clearly and directly.
"By what power or by what name have you done this?"
Instead of running and hiding, Peter said, "This was done in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; in his name, this man stands before you healed." Peter doesn’t hold back. In fact, he goes on to say, "There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved."
It’s amazing that they didn’t find a way to kill him right then. In fact, I read ahead a few verses to get the "rest of the story" and saw where all the Jewish leaders actually debated this and said, "What are we to do with these men?" and they warned them never to speak to anyone in Jesus’ name again. But Peter and John told them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God for us to obey you rather than God, you be the judges, but it is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard."
They didn’t back off a bit, and we all know that eventually, all the Apostles were martyred except for John, whom Jesus charged with caring for his Blessed Mother.
In John's Gospel, chapter 21, the Apostles are at the Sea of Tiberias. Peter tells the group, "I am going fishing," and the other disciples said, "We’ll go with you."
Doesn’t it seem odd that after spending 3 years with Jesus, learning and being formed by his teaching, after experiencing his Passion, Death, and Resurrection, and after having already seen him alive twice after the resurrection, they would go back to their old way of life, fishing? Jesus had called them and prepared them for so much more. Were they just going to give it all up and quit?
So, they fished all night and caught nothing, and when dawn came, Jesus was there on the shore; they saw him but didn’t realize it was Jesus. He told them to cast over the right side of the boat; they did, and the catch was so great they couldn’t pull it in. At this miraculous catch, John, now recognizing it was Jesus, told Peter, "It is the Lord," and Peter jumped out of the boat and hurried to greet him on the shore. This was the third time they had seen Jesus alive after he was murdered, entombed, and had risen. I’m sure Jesus was thinking, what do I have to do to get these guys to believe and carry out all that I have told and taught them.
Contrast that with how the Apostles handled themselves in Acts, chapter 4, which came just a short time later, but after they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Now, filled with the Holy Spirit, the Apostles spoke of our Lord Jesus Christ boldly and without fear. Nothing could stop them from evangelizing the faith and spreading it far and wide.
My friends, by virtue of our Baptism and Confirmation, we too are filled with this same Holy Spirit. We too have everything we need to spread the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in our family, our community, our state, country, and world.
Of course, God calls each of us to do this in different ways and to different degrees, but the fact is, and the Church teaches, that through the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit at our Confirmation, like the Apostles, everything changed.
Our baptismal grace was increased, we were more deeply united to God the Father, and united more firmly to Christ. Our gifts of the Holy Spirit were also increased, and we were bound more perfectly to the Church. But most importantly, we were given a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross. These aren’t my words, but a direct quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Brothers and Sisters, God has given us everything we need to unite ourselves to him. Let us make this Easter season a time of change in our life. Not falling back into the familiar, but a time to seek God’s will and direction for our life, and then boldly going forth and living it.