Acts 2: 29 33, 36 – Jesus The Messiah

Target year level: Year Eight

Scripture text

Introduction

The text Acts 2:29-33, 36 is in that section of Acts titled – The Jerusalem Church (Acts 1:12-5:42). This section of Acts has a Jewish setting and narrates events related to the life of the first Christian communities and the conflicts with Jewish authorities that these Christian communities experienced. The Acts of the Apostles is itself the second part of a larger work, Luke-Acts, attributed to a common author, Luke, whose sophisticated and elegant Greek writing is much admired by scholars. Book One, the Gospel of Luke, has as its primary focus the ministry of Jesus to the Jews culminating in Jerusalem, the centre of Judaism. Book Two, the Acts of the Apostles, has as its primary focus the ministry of Jesus’ disciples beginning in Jerusalem and moving out to the Gentile world culminating in Rome, the centre of the Roman Empire.

For further information, see the Teacher Background information, Who wrote the Gospels and when? and the The New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), Introduction to Acts.

World behind the text

As indicated above, the Acts of the Apostles continues the narrative of the Jesus Movement of the followers of Jesus as it developed beyond its predominantly Jewish setting in Jerusalem to the countryside, towns and cities of the Greco-Roman World. The Greco-Roman World was dominated by the politics and power of the Roman Empire and characterised by religious, linguistic and cultural diversity.

World of the text

Acts Chapter 2 emphasises the work of the Holy Spirit at the birth of the Church at Pentecost (2:1-4) and in Peter’s address to the assembled crowd (2:17-18, 33-34). When Luke gives his readers an account of the first conversions to the Jesus Movement he has Peter sum up the essentials of becoming a Christian: “Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven: and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38). In Acts 2:29-33, 36 Peter urges his fellow Israelites, his Jewish audience, to recognise Jesus as the Messiah, the one prophesied in psalms attributed to David. This Jesus is the authentic inheritor of David’s spiritual authority. David died and his tomb is venerated by the People of Israel. Jesus, however, was raised by God from the dead to a place of honour at the right hand of God. Peter is implying that if his fellow Jews accept Jesus as Messiah and repent of their sins they too can be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ and receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. If they do this they will be faithful to their Jewish heritage and to their venerated spiritual ancestor, David.

For a more detailed commentary on Acts 2:29-33, 36 go to Michael Fallon 50 (pdf).

World in front of the text

Jews formed the majority in the earliest communities of the followers of Jesus. For the most part these earliest communities of the Way of Jesus were seen by outsiders as members of a Jewish sect formed around the person and teaching of a crucified Jewish rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth. In time, these communities of Jesus’ disciples came to be called Christians and their communities became increasingly Gentile or non-Jewish. Conflicts about the interpretation and significance of Jesus Christ and the ongoing relationship between Judaism and Christianity led over the centuries to a virulent anti-Semitism among significant numbers of Christians. As a consequence, baptised Christians have been guilty of prejudice against Jews and have engaged in persecution of Jewish individuals and communities. The Holocaust, or Shoah, with its terror, violence and gratuitous killing of Jewish people is one example of many in the course of history. Our focus text is set in the context of Acts 2 and the Pentecost event in which Peter, the leader of the disciples of Jesus, reaches out in a spirit of dialogue and reconciliation to those gathered from many nations and religions. It is this spirit of dialogue and reconciliation that Christians need to continue in our times.