Acts 19:1-8

Acts 19:1-8

While Apollos was in Corinth,

Paul traveled through the interior of the country

and down to Ephesus where he found some disciples. 

He said to them,

“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”

They answered him,

“We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

He said, “How were you baptized?”

They replied, “With the baptism of John.”

Paul then said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance,

telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him,

that is, in Jesus.”

When they heard this,

they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

And when Paul laid his hands on them,

the Holy Spirit came upon them,

and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

Altogether there were about twelve men.

He entered the synagogue, and for three months debated boldly

with persuasive arguments about the Kingdom of God.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I thank you for the gift of your Sacraments. Through my Baptism, I now share in your divine life. Through my confirmation, I am sealed with your Spirit. Through the Eucharist, I am united to your Son. Help me to appreciate and meditate on these signs of your loving care.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Witnesses to Jesus: In the First Reading, Paul is now on his Third Missionary Journey. He traveled through Galatia (in Asia Minor) and visited the churches there for a third time. He then made his way to the coast, to Ephesus, where Apollos had been preaching about Jesus. Apollos was an eloquent man, well versed in Scripture, but was familiar only with John’s baptism of repentance. Aquila and Priscilla, a married couple who became co-workers with Paul, instructed Apollos and expounded the Christian Way to him more accurately. After this, Apollos left Ephesus and headed to Corinth, to a Church founded by Paul on his Second Missionary Journey. There, Apollos will help the believers and confute the Jews publicly, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. 

2. Baptism and Confirmation: When Paul arrived at Ephesus, he inquired whether or not the disciples there had received the Holy Spirit. It turned out that they had only received the baptism of John. Now, John the Baptist was neither the Messiah nor the Prophet-like-Moses. He was the Messenger who prepared the way for the Lord to come. He was the Voice in the desert who prepared the way for the Word of God. John the Baptist was a prophet like Elijah and had the mission of preparing the way for the Lord Jesus, the Prophet-like-Moses. John was comparable to the bridegroom’s best man, who rejoices when the divine Bridegroom appears before him. John was the child who leaped for joy in God’s presence. Everything that John did was to prepare the people for the coming, the advent (parousia), of Jesus the Messiah. John’s baptism of repentance, then, was only a preparation for the Baptism that Jesus would bring through his death and resurrection. John’s baptism helped the people repent, but Jesus’ Baptism truly cleanses and sanctifies. Paul made sure not only to baptize the twelve men of Ephesus in the name of Jesus, but also confirmed them in the Spirit by laying his hands upon them. The twelve men received the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues and prophesy. Instead of the Spirit descending on the Twelve Apostles, it was like another Pentecost, with the Spirit descending upon twelve disciples of John the Baptist.

3. The Mystery of the Kingdom of God: Paul spent three months speaking in the synagogue at Ephesus about the Kingdom of God (Acts 19:8). This Kingdom was the one promised in the Old Testament and fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus began his preaching with the Kingdom of God and concluded his preaching after the resurrection with the Kingdom of God. Throughout his public ministry, Jesus announced that the Kingdom was near and was present among them. He invited sinners to the table of the kingdom and invited them to that conversion without which one cannot enter the Kingdom (CCC, 545). To gain the kingdom, one must give everything. To enter the kingdom, one must become a disciple of Christ (CCC, 546). Jesus’ mighty works and signs manifested that the kingdom was present in him (CCC, 547). The culminating moment happened during Passover, in the Paschal mystery, and in the days leading up to Pentecost. And so, we can say that the Kingdom was inaugurated at the Last Supper (CCC, 2816) and definitively established on the Cross (CCC, 550), in Jesus’ Resurrection (CCC, 542), and at his Ascension (CCC, 664). Under the action of the Holy Spirit, and with the collaborators and successors of the apostles, this Kingdom will develop in history until the end of time (John Paul II, November 22, 1989). At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness, and the righteous will reign forever with Christ (CCC, 1042). This is the Kingdom we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:10). It is a Kingdom of peace, joy, and righteousness (Romans 14:17). It is a Kingdom filled with the Spirit, who bestows on those who accept God’s lordship, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). The coming of the Reign of God is the work of the Holy Spirit, who completes the Lord’s work on earth and brings us the fullness of grace (CCC, 2818). If we allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit, we will inherit the Kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21).

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you proclaimed the mystery of the Kingdom in word and deed. You invite me to reign with you and be a member of your heavenly Kingdom. I pray that the Kingdom grow within me and transform my life.

Living the Word of God: How can Christ reign more fully in me and in my life? Is my life filled with the fruits of the Spirit? With love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Why or why not?