Acts 2:14, 22-33
Chapter 2
Fellow Israelites, listen to what I have to say:
Jesus of Nazareth was a man commended to you by God with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs among you, as you are well aware.
You handed him over to sinners to be crucified and killed, fulfilling God’s purpose from the beginning.
But God raised him from the dead and freed him from the pain of death because it was impossible for him to be held by it.
David says concerning him:
I saw the Lord before me at all times;
he is by my side so that I will not be shaken.
Therefore, my heart was glad
and my tongue rejoiced;
my body, too, will live in hope.
Because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor allow your Holy One to experience corruption.
You have made known to me the paths of life,
and your presence will fill me with joy.
Friends, I don’t need to prove that the patriarch David died and was buried; his tomb is with us to this day.
But he knew that God had sworn to him that one of his descendants would sit upon his throne and,
as he was a prophet, he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah. So he said that he would not be left in the realm of the dead, nor would his body undergo corruption.
This Messiah is Jesus, and we are all witnesses that God raised him.
He has been exalted at God’s right side, and the Father has entrusted the Holy Spirit to him; this Spirit he has just poured upon us, as you now see and hear.
Commentaries
Peter, Witness of the Resurrection.
Boldness and daring best describe the new Peter emerging from Pentecost. He speaks with authority, takes on leadership of the newly formed people of God, and his words spark a period of witnessing that will spread worldwide. His message combines condemnation and hope. The prophecies have been fulfilled in Jesus, whom God has named Lord and Messiah (36). The impact of his testimony is immediate. “What shall we do, brothers?” (37), many of those present exclaimed. This is the question everyone who hears the Gospel must ask themselves. Luke concludes that about 3,000 people were converted that day. The key figures in the book of Acts have been introduced: the Holy Spirit, the Word of God delivered by missionary witnesses to all nations, and the community born of the Word and Spirit as the new People of God.