Ever since Easter, the first readings at Mass have been taken from the Acts of the Apostles. The Acts of the Apostles is the second volume of Luke’s comprehensive presentation of the Gospel. For Luke, the account of God’s saving work in Jesus Christ cannot be separated from the life and ministry of the Christian community that is animated by the Holy Spirit. For Luke, there is an intimate connection between the Gospel and the response of discipleship and witness to it. Acts continues the proclamation of God’s saving work by focusing on the life of the church as it bears witness to Jesus by responding to his exhortations and squarely facing the hostility of the world. Amid these challenges, Acts places special emphasis on the power of the Holy Spirit that directs and protects the Christian community.
The narrative in Acts is divided into two sections: an initial section that focuses on the growth of the church in and around Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria; and a second part in which the church grows among the Gentile populations. As the narrative transitions between these two focal points, several key figures and events emerge. Within the first part of the narrative, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit forms the basis of the missionary activity of the early church among Jews of every nation, and this takes place in Jerusalem. From Jerusalem we begin moving outward “to the ends of the earth”. This expansion pivots on the story of Stephen’s martyrdom. Following his death, which is preceded by a lengthy speech on the connections between the Christian Gospel and the stories of Old Testament figures, the Gospel is received by those outside Israel: first by the Samaritans and then by the Ethiopian eunuch. These two stories provide a transition to the focal point in the second part of Acts—the growth of the church among the Gentiles.
Luke emphasizes the importance of Paul (Saul) in the second part of Acts, but the transition to his story is signaled long before he becomes the focus of the narrative. We initially see Saul at Stephen’s stoning, and we hear of his persecution of the Christian community. These persecutions are interrupted by the stories of the expansion of the church outside of Judea, but then we rejoin the story of Saul, who is stopped by the power of Christ and called by the risen Christ to become a missionary to the Gentiles, even though the conditions for the Gentile mission had not yet been established. These conditions, namely that Gentiles were exempted from adopting strict Jewish practices, are established with the story of Peter and Cornelius and are confirmed in the meeting at Jerusalem. Yet the full opening of the Gentile mission will await the Council of Jerusalem in which it is affirmed that Gentiles have no obligation with regard to Jewish practice (including circumcision), only the obligation of the so-called Noahide prohibition against eating blood and eating meat sacrificed to idols. They are also instructed to avoid porneia, a Greek word, the meaning of which is somewhat indeterminate but has something to do with sexual impropriety or illicit marriage.
Meanwhile the missionary exploits of Paul begin to replace the stories of Peter, so that after Barnabas and Paul are commissioned as missionaries by the church in Antioch, there follows a consistent narrative of Paul’s missionary exploits. From this point forward, the focus remains almost exclusively on Paul as he brings the Gospel to the far corners of the earth. The closing chapters of Acts narrate Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem, his appeal to the emperor, and his journey to Rome. Paul’s appeal to the emperor, a right he enjoyed as a Roman citizen according to Roman law, nicely parallels the opening of Luke’s Gospel. In both scenes Roman law and the emperor play an unwitting role in God’s plan of salvation—by calling for a census and directing Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem in Luke and by bringing Paul to Rome and beyond to preach the Gospel “to the ends of the earth” in Acts.
The end of Acts brings the narrative around and forms what is often called an inclusio (an intentional repetition) with the words of Jesus at the Ascension in Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!