NOTES for Act 2:36-41

The reaction of the Jews listening to Peter's preaching may seem strange, given that his last words spoke of their guilt. Peter, calling them to believe in Jesus Christ, is not afraid of this truth. We need to learn from him how to act when, in speaking about something or preaching, we are not afraid to tell a person the truth, even knowing that it is "against him."

And what is the reaction? "They were cut to the heart." And this happened precisely because what was said was the truth and was said with love. Besides, these people did not close themselves off or harden themselves against the truth spoken to them; they accepted it and wanted to change something. Then God responds to this readiness of heart and sends a gift: compunction of heart, something that changes the heart itself, and changes it for the better, building mercy and love for those around it. And the Lord was no exception: they came to love Him too. And what can be more wonderful than the feeling of love for God?

Christian historians and theologians have repeatedly expressed the opinion that the entire history of the fallen humanity is, in fact, nothing else than the repetition of the fall in different forms. And, maybe if to talk about the Jewish history, as about the history of the people of God, the torture of the so long expected Messiah, Who the majority of the people did not bother to notice, is the best testimony of it.

In fact, Jesus was condemned to death not for the messianic lie and even not for the religious crimes (such charges which were moved forward in Sanhedrin, were just a cover), but only because He prevented the authorities (both secular and religious) from playing their political games. And here, it seems, manifests itself the characteristic of the fallen human nature, can just be, in particular what formerly, at the dawn of the history of the humanity, became the reason of its fall: the distortion of the spiritual perspective, because of which the most important seems a trifle, not worth attention, and the least important engendered by the very man illusions and mirages - the most important. All the spiritual horror of the situation lies maybe exactly in the fact that Christ was crucified among others, thinking not at all of Him, not only as the Messiah, but even simply as man, not thinking at least in this proportion for which generally requires to think every death sentence endurable to every person without exception.

Through the Messiah, Who according to the words was so expected, just crossed, as through the barrier hindering the authorities. And indeed, the readiness to step over people, who disturb, and to go to the purpose over corpses, can be considered as the demonstration most character to the fallen human nature. But then came the day of the Pentecost, penetrated into the world the breath of the Kingdom, rang the sermon of the apostles. And those who listened to them, found themselves in the Kingdom, where the spiritual perspective is not deformed at all, as is deformed its fallen world, where all things and all situations are such, as God sees them.

And the answer to the sermon became a quite regular question in such situation: what shall we do now, when the most terrible has already happened, and we all, in various degree had taken part in it? And - such is the life of the Kingdom! - this very question became the beginning of the way of salvation. Indeed, there is nothing irreparable for God - the resurrection of Christ is a testimony of that. Only one thing is irreparable: the unwillingness of people to accept what is obvious. And, above all, one’s own sin.

As we can see, the people who heard Peter took his preaching seriously. The question "So what should we do?" did not sound by chance. In fact, if this concerns the rejection of the Messiah Himself, and a conscious one, there is no escaping the consequences of such a sin. Both Yahwism and Judaism traditionally viewed conscious sin as something whose consequences weigh over a person endlessly, even if that person deeply and sincerely repents of what he has done. And here the sin was participation in the death of the Messiah... There was something to think about and something to fear.

Peter immediately points the people listening to him to the only possible way out of the situation. It is a way out made possible precisely thanks to the One whom, according to the apostle's word, people killed and God raised. And this way out is connected with the possibility of sharing in that new life, the life of the Kingdom, which on the day of Pentecost became a reality open to everyone.

Entering the Kingdom, a person begins his life anew. From a clean slate. The consequences of all the sins he has committed remain in the former life, provided, of course, that the person does not drag them along with him. And so that this does not happen, the very conversion of which the evangelist speaks is necessary. In the Synodal translation it is traditionally called repentance, but the matter is precisely conversion: the corresponding Greek word of the original, at least, means exactly this. And conversion is not only a return to the God from whom one has turned away. And not only emotional remorse over sins committed.

It is also reflection on what one has done, awareness of the spiritual quality of one's actions, of the intentions that stand behind them. And it is a conscious rejection of those among them that are incompatible with the Torah, with the Gospel, and with the commandments given by God. Then one can truly begin a new life from a clean slate. Then the communal life described by the author of Acts could also become a reality: after all, it can exist only as long as every member of this community lives the life of the Kingdom in all the fullness available to him. As it should be in the Church with a capital C.

Apostle Peter's first sermon on the day of Pentecost led many people to be "pricked in their heart" and to ask the question:"what shall we do?" Everyone, who receives the Gospel, asks this same question. And here is the answer, that God proposes us through His Church.

Firstly: repent. We have already spoken several times about repentance here. Let's simply remember that: it is a turn-out of the spirit, the recognition of the fact that we are not self-sufficient, that we are sinful and our invocation to God as source of life and love. Secondly: be baptized. It is about complete ablution as sign of repentance and beginning of a new life. In the name of Jesus Christ means trusting Him and obedience to Him, for the sake of union with Him in His death and resurrection. Thirdly: the gift of the Holy Ghost. It isn't enough to be purged from sin, it is necessary to be filled with righteousness; it isn't just enough to begin a new life, but it should be a life dwelt in the Holy Spirit. And all this is given to us as a gift, and we only have to accept, cultivate and keep the gift.

The Church is young and full of strength, strength breathed into it by the Spirit of the Lord. Those being saved are added by the thousands, many signs are performed, all the believers have received the gift of the Holy Spirit and remain in the fear of God; their life is a model of the full life of a Christian (see Acts 2:42). Not life at all, but a dream... But a dream is still something mostly unattainable, something invented to ease the conscience. People say: this is an ideal incompatible with reality. But what the first Christians live by is precisely the real reality, more real than what we live in now.

And in His conversation with Nicodemus, the Lord speaks exactly about this new being, about the Kingdom of God that is within them and among them (see Luke 17:21, Matt. 18:20). Through repentance, through baptism by water and the Spirit, through birth from above, we can enter, or more precisely, we give Christ the opportunity to bring us into this other life (see John 3:13). We may not yet have noticed it ourselves, but He has already done everything. What remains for us is only to believe this as we believe nothing else, to believe so that we gradually become aware of what has happened to us...

Today's reading tells us about that triumph of the Kingdom which Jesus promised His disciples. And this triumph proved to be nothing other than the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, described by the evangelist in such detail (vv. 1-4). At first glance, this description contains all the traditional elements characteristic of the Old Testament prophetic tradition: in ancient times the action of the Spirit of God at times manifested itself as the blowing of wind (2 Sam. 5:22-24), and the presence of God, usually called "glory" in the Bible, often resembled fire or light (Exod. 40:34-38). But now this presence touches not only those who were in the room. It spreads also to those who listened to the apostles in the streets of Jerusalem. And they perceive the apostles' preaching as though the apostles were speaking in the native languages of the pilgrims who had come to Jerusalem for the feast from many different countries (vv. 5-13).

The point, of course, is not that the apostles suddenly acquired some supernatural ability with foreign languages. Even if this had been so, in the streets of Jerusalem during the feast of Shavuot (Pentecost) so many nations and languages were represented that the apostles would not have been able to preach to everyone at once, even if each of them had actually begun speaking some foreign language: in the list given by the evangelist, which is plainly incomplete, there are clearly more than twelve. The point, it appears, is that those who listened to the apostles also found themselves in the Kingdom, where there are no language barriers. Here meanings are perceived not through the word but directly, from heart to heart, while their embodiment takes place already in the listener's soul, which naturally expresses what has been received in the words of its native language. Thus the Savior's words about the Kingdom and the Spirit, spoken to the apostles during the Ascension, were fulfilled (Acts 1:8).

But Pentecost was only the beginning of the history of the Kingdom entering the world, and now the apostles understood this perfectly. Thus Peter, on the one hand, speaks of the end of time, which has already come (vv. 14-21), and on the other hand, of the new era that began after the Savior's resurrection (vv. 25-36). The main meaning of his preaching is that it is still not too late to turn and accept the crucified and risen Messiah; although the last day has already arrived, the gates of the Kingdom are still by no means closed. On the contrary, they are thrown wide open for everyone who is ready to enter (vv. 37-40).

Such witness was extremely unusual: according to traditional ideas, only judgment was associated with the end of time, and there was no talk of conversion; it was thought too late to repent on the day of judgment. But now it turned out that the history of salvation was, in essence, only just beginning, and that everyone had a chance for it, even those who were directly or indirectly involved in the death the Savior had to die on the cross (vv. 36-38). Thus earthly history ended and the history of the Kingdom entering the world began.