Reflections
Come back to communion Readings Between the Lines Father Glenn LeCompte
“Now those, therefore, who received his (Peter’s) word were baptized and there were added on that day about 3,000 souls. They were devoted to the teaching of the apostles, and to communion, to the breaking of the bread, and to the prayers. And there came to be in each soul fear; wonders and signs came to pass through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and belongings and they divided them accordingly as each had need. Each day they devoted themselves to being together in the temple, breaking bread in each one’s home, partaking of food with joyful and generous hearts. They praised God and had favor with the whole people. And the Lord added to those being saved each day, to that very group” (Acts 2:41-47, translation by Father Glenn LeCompte). This summary passage from Acts immediately follows Peter’s Pentecost Speech (2:14-39), Luke’s summarization of other things Peter said (2:40) and a report that as a result of Peter’s speech about 3,000 souls were baptized that day (2:41). In Acts 2:42-47, Luke paints an ideal portrait of the life of those who are baptized in response to Peter’s speech. Peter demonstrates that his assertion about Jesus in 2:36, “God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified,” was anticipated by the prophets. Therefore, Jesus’ death and resurrection represent the climax of God’s plan of salvation. When the audience asks Peter how they should respond he tells them to “repent and be baptized” (2:38).
LAWRENCE CHATAGNIER/BAYOU CATHOLIC
Acts 2:42-47 paints a picture of the lives of these people consequent upon their repentance. Luke outlines four results of their repentance: 1) they are devoted to the apostles’ teaching, 2) they share communion with one another, 3) they break bread, and 4) they pray. Communion. The characteristic of “communion” (koinōnia in Greek) underlies all the other characteristics. While each of the hearers of Peter’s speech repents individually, once they have done so there is an interconnection among them that demands a unity of heart and mind among these new individual believers. They are not meant to live their new lives of faith in isolation, but as a group sharing in a commonly-held belief. The audience’s understanding in their native languages the apostle’s utterances under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2:6-12) represents a reversal of the confusion of languages in the Tower of Babel incident (Genesis 11:1-9). This confusion of languages also points to divisions among people of different nations, cultures and races. The gift of the Spirit and the people’s coming to faith reverses the confusion and division, and makes believers one. The Teaching of the Apostles. The unity of this newly born community is in part rooted in their common acceptance of the apostles’ teaching. Since the early Christians understood themselves to be Jews, the Scriptures
14 • Bayou Catholic • Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux • August 2021
and Jewish Oral Tradition (unless you were a Sadducee!) remained normative for them. The apostles would have explained how Jesus gave new interpretations to the Jewish Law and, as Father Raymond Brown, S. S. (An Introduction to the New Testament, p. 289) points out, “became the nucleus of a special teaching.” For example, In Luke 6:1-11, Jesus points out that he, as Son of Man, is Lord of the Sabbath, and therefore able to permit his disciples to pluck heads of grain on that day. Also, he maintains that it is a more righteous deed to help a destitute person on the Sabbath than not to do so to avoid violating the Sabbath rest law. The apostles’ teaching provides for the community a foundation of faith which, because they embrace it together, makes them of one heart and mind. The Breaking of the Bread. If the early Christians gathered to break bread they must have heard from the apostles a story such as that of the two disciples who encounter the risen Lord in the breaking of the bread at Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), and that Jesus commanded his disciples to drink of the cup of wine-become-his-blood, and of the bread-become-his-body in memory of him (Luke 22:17-20). From such apostolic preaching they would have been moved to gather together to share the Eucharist. Again, the partaking of the eucharistic meal was an activity that they understood had to be done as a community
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