EXPLANATION: Peter and John, on their way to the temple, met a man crippled from birth. He asked them for alms. Peter said he had neither gold nor silver, but he would give him something better. He told the man: " in the name of Jesus of Nazareth" to "stand up and walk." The man stood up and followed Peter and John into the temple, " walking and jumping and praising God " (3: 8). The people recognized the man as the cripple who used to be at the gate each day begging for alms. The crowd, full of curiosity and excitement, gathered around the Apostles and the man who had been cured. Peter spoke to the crowd and told them that it was not through their own power or holiness that they had cured this man, but through the power of Jesus.
God...our fathers: Peter emphasizes that he also is a son of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and that their God was also his God.
his...Jesus: Second-Isaiah had described the future Messiah as the Suffering Servant (Is. 52: 13-53 :12), who would be obedient to his Father unto death. The Apostles and the Christians saw in Jesus this suffering servant (see Acts 8: 32ff). Peter tells the crowd that God had glorified this servant Jesus in his resurrection.
delivered...Pilate: Peter now reminds them that a short time previously they had handed over this Jesus to the Roman governor to be crucified and had denied that he was their king or Messiah. They had forced Pilate to condemn him even though Pilate "could find no guilt in him."
Holy...One: The Suffering Servant of Isaiah was holy, righteous and innocent of any crime. Like an innocent lamb he was led to the slaughter. This was Jesus whom they, the Jews, had been forcing Pilate to condemn and crucify.
murderer...life: This refers to their choice of Barabbas, whom Pilate thought could save Jesus (Mt. 27: 20). Barabbas had committed murder and was awaiting trial. Jesus was about to give the true and everlasting life to all men.
whom God raised: God was able to undo all their wickedness. He raised Jesus from the dead. Peter and all the Apostles and disciples were witnesses of the resurrection. They had seen and spoken with him, and eaten with him after his resurrection.
acted in ignorance: His master, when nailed to the cross, had begged his Father to forgive them " for they do not know what they are doing" (Lk. 23:34). Following that example Peter says that the mob that howled for the death of Jesus, as well as the leaders who incited it, acted in ignorance. They did not know that Christ was God, nor did they believe him to be the promised Messiah. They had a built-in prejudice against his claims and were unable rightly to judge.
God foretold: The Jews were acting as God's agents in carrying out what he had foretold concerning Jesus.
repent...blotted out: The Jews must return to God; they had drifted away from him through their pride and prejudices. If they but return to God, abandoning their prejudices and pride, Peter now tells them that they will obtain forgiveness for all of their sins.

APPLICATION: In the early days of the Church in Jerusalem the resurrection was the topic of conversation among the friends and enemies of Jesus. The latter did their best to deny the fact, but in vain; the followers of Jesus kept claiming that it was a fact, and worked miracles in proof of that claim. In today's reading the cure of the cripple-from-birth is one such miracle. Peter worked this miracle " in the name (that is, the person and power) of Jesus of Nazareth (3: 6), whom the God of the Jews had glorified and had raised from the dead." If Christ had been an impostor, as the Pharisees and scribes had stated (Mt. 27: 63), God would not have raised him from the dead and glorified him. Before a large gathering in the temple precincts in Jerusalem, Peter makes this claim only a few weeks after Christ's death on the cross. The people were impressed. In spite of the opposition of their leaders the number of Jews who became followers of Christ increased daily, "the total number of whom had now risen to something like five thousand" (see 4: 4, the same day this miracle took place). This was a large percentage of the inhabitants of Jerusalem at that time.

No true Christian can have the slightest doubt about the fact of the resurrection of Jesus. The growth of the infant Church in Jerusalem and in Gentile lands is sufficient proof of it. Men and women do not attach themselves to one who has failed, nor do they take on a new and demanding form of life without sufficient conviction. Yet, there are men and women who, like the leaders of the Jews, still refuse to open their eyes to the light and who shut their minds against the most convincing evidence. Such people need help. One of the best ways of showing how grateful we are for the true faith is a willingness and eagerness to spread that faith to our fellowman. Christ became man for them too, he died on the cross for their sakes, and God the Father raised him from the dead so that they too may rise in glory one day. As true Christians, and true lovers of Christ, it is our duty to give a helping hand to those brothers of ours who are sorely in need of help.

However, you may say: "What can we do; we are not missionaries nor preachers? We are not theologically equipped to enter into dialog and convince unbelievers." The fact is, that without becoming missionaries, preachers or theologians every Christian can act as a missionary, or preacher, or theologian without leaving his home and employment and without opening a book. The Christian who prays often and fervently for his fellowman and who lives his Christian life to the full, is a preacher and a missionary wherever he lives and works. In his daily actions he is showing forth Christ. His abounding faith and charity, his unshakable hope in the eternal future which awaits him, will do more to enlighten the mind and will of unbelievers than all the skill of preachers and all the theology of great writers.

Are we not grateful to God and Christ? We are convinced that heaven is the pearl of great price compared with which everything this world has to offer is but as a grain of sand to the desert. We know that God wants all his adopted children in heaven. For that purpose we know that Christ humbled himself even to the death of the cross. We know also that Christ is counting on us to help him to bring them to heaven. Would we refuse him this return for all he has done for us? Would we be true Christians who love God above all things if we did not love our neighbor as ourselves? We want heaven for ourselves; we must want it for them too. Through the grace and mercy of God our prayers and the good example of our Christian lives will be the means of converting many sinners and unbelievers to Christ. He in turn will reward them and us with eternal life.

Do you know the peace and security of the Good Shepherd who watches over his own? The Old Testament often speaks of God as shepherd of his people, Israel. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (Psalm 23:1). Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! (Psalm 80:1) We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture (Psalm 100:3). The Messiah is also pictured as the shepherd of God's people: He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms (Isaiah 40:11). Jesus says he is the Good Shepherd who will risk his life to seek out and save the stray sheep (Matthew 18:12, Luke 15:4). He is the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls (1 Peter 2:25).

Jesus made three promises to his followers. He promised them everlasting life. If they accept him and follow him, they will have the life of God in them. Jesus also promised them a life that would know no end. Death would not be the end but the beginning; they would know the glory of indestructible life. Jesus promised a life that was secure. Jesus said that nothing would snatch them out of his hand, not even sorrow and death, since he is everlasting life itself. Our lives are safe in his hands.

The words which Jesus spoke upset many of the Jewish leaders. How could he speak with the same authority which God spoke and claim to be equal with God? He must either be insane or divine. Unfortunately some thought he was mad even though he cured a man who was blind from birth. We are faced with the same choice. Either Jesus is who he claims to be – the Son of God and Savior of the world – or the world's greatest deluder! We cannot be indifferent to his claim.  For those who accept him as Lord and Savior he offers the peace and security of unending life and joy with God. Do you know the peace and security of a life fully submitted to Christ?

Cyril of Alexander, a 5th century church father comments on Jesus as our Good Shepherd:

   “He shows in what manner a shepherd may be proved good; and He teaches that he must be prepared to give up his life fighting in defense of his sheep, which was fulfilled in Christ.  For man has departed from the love of God, and fallen into sin, and because of this was, I say, excluded from the divine abode of paradise, and when he was weakened by that disaster, he yielded to the devil tempting him to sin, and death following that sin he became the prey of fierce and ravenous wolves.  But after Christ was announced as the True Shepherd of all men, He laid down his life for us (1 John 3:16), fighting for us against that pack of inhuman beasts.  He bore the Cross for us, that by His own death he might destroy death.  He was condemned for us, that He might deliver all of us from the sentence of punishment: the tyranny of sin being overthrown by our faith: fastening to the Cross the decree that stood against us, as it is written (Colossians 2:14). Therefore as the father of sin had as it were shut up the sheep in hell, giving them to death to feed on, as it is written in the psalms (Ps. Xlviii.16), He died for us as truly Good, and truly our Shepherd, so that the dark shadow of death driven away He might join us to the company of the blessed in heaven; and in exchange for abodes that lie far in the depths of the pit, and in the hidden places of the sea, grant us mansions in His Father’s House above.  Because of this he says to us in another place: Fear not, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you a kingdom (Luke 12:32)."

Do you listen attentively to the voice of the Good Shepherd and obey his word?

"Lord Jesus, you are the Good Shepherd who keeps watch over our lives. May I be ever attentive to your voice and submit fully to your wise rule for my life.  Draw me near to you that I may always find peace and joy in your presence.”

Christ the Lord Jesus Christ was sent to the Jews to be their Messiah in accordance with God’s ancient promises to his Chosen People. Yet God was not satisfied to save only one group of people –  he wants his blessing to reach all nations, every corner of the earth. Christ the Savior, then, receives Lordship not only over the little flock of Israel and Judah but over all the flocks of the earth. In him, we all come under one Lordship, that of the Good Shepherd, who is the one pastor of the one flock. The effect of the wolf (the devil) is to catch and scatter the sheep; Christ frees and unites us. And even if the wolf attacks the shepherd himself, as he will during Christ’s Passion, the shepherd has the power both to lay down and raise up his life, so the one flock will never perish, never be scattered, never be captured. Because Christ the Good Shepherd is our Lord, the Church (the one flock) will never fail. Our membership in this flock is perhaps the greatest gift we have received from the Lord after the gift of life itself. Unfortunately, we often take them both for granted.

This is one of the most compelling reasons behind the Church’s missionary mandate. We are all called to spread the Good News of Christ, to “make disciples of all nations,” bringing everyone into this one flock. Only the Catholic Church has the divine guarantee that it will never fail (never be scattered by wolves). Other churches and other religions may have sincere believers and parts of the truth, but only Christ’s one flock gathered around his vicar’s staff is guaranteed never to fail. Building the Kingdom of the Lord, then, means building up his Church.

Christ the Teacher  The fall of Adam and Eve came about as a result of their lack of trust in God. Jesus Christ came to win back that trust. By giving up his own life to atone for our sins, he showed that the Father is worthy of our trust, that he will forgive us, protect us, and lead us to rich pastures. God will never abandon us in our need – never. The Passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ are his proof. Though the wolf (the devil) attacked and scattered Christ’s disciples on that first Good Friday, Christ did not flee; he gave up his own life, freely suffering what in truth we, because of our sins, deserved to suffer and freely obeying with the total obedience that Adam and Eve had lacked. Because of his docility in embracing the Father’s will, the Father rewarded him by raising him from the dead. Christ was faithful to his mission, even knowing what it was going to cost him. That mission consists in saving us from sin and estrangement from God. He is the Good Shepherd, the one we can trust, the one who cares more about our lives than we do ourselves, the Lord who came not be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for ours.

Note how this mission of carrying out the Father’s plan, of obeying the Father’s will, consumes Jesus and constitutes in his mind the entire meaning of his life: “The Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again… and this is the command I have been given by my Father.” This is how Christ, the perfect man, lived out his human existence, focusing wholly on the Father’s will, being passionately faithful to his sonship. To discover and fulfill our own identity as children of God, and thus experience life as he created us to live it¬ – both now and in eternity – Jesus invites us to do the same: “The sheep follow, because they know his voice” (John 10:4).

Christ the Friend  Jesus: I know my own and my own know me. When I created you, I built two needs into your soul: the need to love and the need to be loved. If you don’t learn to love, you will never flourish, and if you don’t discover that you are loved, you will never learn to love. Love is always a two-way street – an exchange, an embrace. It’s much harder for you to let yourself be loved than it is to love, because to be loved, you have to let yourself be known. You cannot be loved fully by someone who doesn’t know you fully. This is why every earthly love is precarious; you never know if the person who loves you will continue to do so when they know you better.

I know you through and through, completely, even better than you know yourself. I know all the things you keep hidden from others, all the things about you that you barely understand yourself. I know you so thoroughly because I gave you life, I brought you into existence, and I have been holding you and sustaining you every instant of your life. I know you uniquely and totally, so I can love you as no one else can. You never have to worry about my love waning, because I have already shown you, while you were still a sinner, still a rebel, that my love endures to the end, even to death on a cross. You have nothing left to fear. Nothing is hidden from me, and yet I still love you without an ounce of ambiguity or reluctance. I know you, and now you know me. I love you, so come now and love me…

Christ in My Life  How can I thank you for bringing me into your flock and saving me from so many dangers? You have called out to me, and you have given me ears to hear your voice. Never let me be separated from you, Lord. Only you love me enough to lay down your life for my sake. Teach me to be worthy of your love. Teach me to be docile, to stay at your side no matter what…

I am so used to thinking about your sacrificial love. I look at crucifixes all the time. But I know that I haven’t plumbed the depths of this lesson. You gave your life because you loved me. How can I discover the full import of that truth? I think it’s only by following in your footsteps. Only by giving my own life for your Kingdom, by sacrificing myself for the good of my neighbor and those around me…

How can I love you, Lord? Love wants to give, but what can I give you that you don’t already have? I know the answer, Lord. I can love you by loving those you put into my life. Every one of them. You love them, and so you are within them, and when I love them, I am loving you. May our wills become one…

How do the sheep respond to the shepherd? How does this relate to the Pharisees’ difficulty in accepting Jesus (chapter 9; 10:19-39)?