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Welcome to Unpacking the Mass with Keith Nestor. On this podcast, we dig into the week's readings for the upcoming Sunday for the Catholic Church so that when you go to Mass, you are ready to hear what God has to say to you through the Scriptures. So grab your Bibles and let's get digging. Hey, friends, welcome to Unpacking the Mass. My name is Keith Nestor. I'm so thankful to have you here as we dig into the readings for the fourth Sunday of Easter. Fantastic stuff. We're going to see, really this amazing moment in history when Jesus plan comes to fruition for his apostles. He told them that they were going to be doing amazing things. He told them that they were going to take the gospel and spread it into the world. And it all begins at Pentecost with this incredible sermon that Peter preaches. We're going to look at that today, and then we're going to talk about also how Christians should respond to persecution and hostility in our faith when it comes to us from other people. And then of course, we're going to look at Jesus words in the Gospel concerning how his followers will know his voice and hear him. So if you've ever struggled with is this thing that I'm thinking, is this voice in my head or this inspiration I have, does it come from God or some other place? Then today is your day. We're going to look at these readings. My friends, let's begin with the word of prayer. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord, we rejoice today over the birth of the church, the growth of the church, really, at this sermon that Peter preaches. It's going to be amazing and we're thankful that we're a part of that. Help us to hear your words and to know that they come from you so that we can follow you in Jesus name. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. All right, brothers and sisters, let's look at our first reading from Acts, chapter two. Now remember, this is the end of Peter's sermon after Pentecost, and it says this beginning in verse 14. Then we're going to jump down to verse 36, 41. And but Peter, standing with the 11, lifted up his voice and addressed them. Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give ear to my words. Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Now, when they heard this. They were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him. And he testified with many other words and exhorted them, saying, save yourselves from this crooked generation. So those who received his word were baptized. And there were added that day about 3,000 souls. Beautiful stuff. My friends, our second reading comes from First Peter, chapter 2, verses 20 through 25. And it reads this way. For what credit is it if when you do wrong and are beaten for it, you take it patiently? But if when you do right and suffer for it, you take it patiently, you have God's approval. For to this you have been called. Because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin, no guile was found on his lips. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but he trusted to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed, for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. Let's read about that shepherd and guardian of our souls In John, chapter 10, verses 1 through 10, our gospel reading for today. Jesus says these words written down by his beloved disciple John. Truly, truly, I say to you. He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way. That man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens, the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him. For they do not know the voice of strangers. This figure Jesus used with them. But they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, truly, truly, I say to you. I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not heed them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. And Will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they might have life and have it abundantly. Beautiful stuff, my friends. All right, let's talk about this first reading in the Book of Acts. I preached a lot of sermons in my day, and I've had people come up to me and say, oh, that was a great sermon, or this or that. Sometimes we would do different invitations. People come up and pray or whatever, Even altar calls come up and pray and receive Jesus. That's all great stuff. I've never had 3,000 people, though. Can you imagine that? And this was a powerful moment in history when just a few moments before this, Peter and the others are gathered in the upper room, terrified. They're not publicly out there. No one was passing out flyers saying, hey, come and hear an amazing sermon by Peter. He didn't post a link on Facebook and create some sort of media blitz to get everybody to show up. And he also didn't take time to sit down and plan this sermon out and prepare it and make sure it was exactly what people needed to hear all these things like that. Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't do that if we're giving talks. To be honest with you, I think we would all benefit more if those who spoke publicly were a little bit more prepared, I'm just saying. But Peter's preparation was not about sitting down and curating this message. His preparation was rooted in obedience and in the power of God working through him. And that trumps anything that we can do for ourselves. When the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon Peter and the rest of the apostles, they begin to preach and speak the truth of the gospel. And people were freaking out. They heard the Gospel preached to them in languages that the disciples didn't know, but that the people who came to the city could hear in their native tongue. And what's amazing is the results of this. So how does Peter close this message? Right. He tells them, I think this is so interesting. He tells them that they were the ones who crucified Jesus, even though, let's be real, a lot of them weren't there. This is a time when people are flooding into the city. So a lot of those people were like, what do you mean, I crucified Jesus? I think this is important because I wasn't there either when Jesus was crucified, and yet he was crucified for my sins. So in a way, I crucified him. And we all have to own that, don't we? A lot of times people want to throw around the blame for who crucified Jesus. And the reality is that we shouldn't even be having that conversation. Whether it was the Jews, whether it was the Romans, you know, yes and yes and yes for all of us. Because he paid the price for all of our sins, my friends. And I think that's so interesting that Peter connects this to them. He says, you're the ones that did this. We need to own that. Now let's look at their response to what he said. It says that they were cut to the heart by this message. That doesn't mean that they were sitting there going, oh, well, this is cute, or that's nice. No, they allowed it to penetrate. Not just their skin. They weren't cut to the skin, they were cut to the heart. When's the last time you were cut to the heart by a message? There's an element of free will involved in that. You have to listen and you have to allow that to happen. And they did. And those words went right to their heart. And then this is the key. They said, what must we do, brothers? What must we do? This is the million dollar question that we all have to ask when we hear all this stuff. When we read all the church teaching and we read the scriptures and we hear the word of God, when our priest preaches and we understand what Jesus is saying. The million dollar question is, what must I do? And notice Peter's answer is pretty direct. He doesn't go, well, that's for you to figure out with God. You go back and set with this and figure out what you're comfortable with and come up with something that makes sense to you. I can't tell you that. You know what, that's another one of my pet peeves, I guess I'm going to give you my pet peeves about when people say, well, you know what, just whatever, whatever. No, sometimes we need to be super direct and we need because. And I'm saying that because I need people to be super direct with me when I'm listening to a priest. I like it when my priest or someone giving a talk says, this is exactly what you need to do. What must I do? I'm always asking that question. To me, that's key when hearing a talk. I don't like talks that are just sort of out there and ethereal and about things that are just interesting. I like talks that tell me what to do because I'm always asking that question. I hear a great talk given by a priest or some kind of evangelist or something. And I'm always going, okay, what do I do with this? What do I do with this? What must I do? That's what they said, what must we do? And then Peter had the answer, didn't he? He didn't him, Hawk go, well, I don't know. I don't have the authority to tell you. He had the authority. And his answer still rings true 2000 plus years later. Repent. Repent. That's what he said, you know, repent. That's the first part anyway. Repent. What does that mean? Is it just me? Oh, well, you know, think about. No, you know, put that in the hopper and just, you know, see what happens. No, repent is the clearest, simplest call to change. The message of the gospel is not just something you add to your life. It's not an enhancement. It's a complete rebuild. Sometimes you see that when you have people that maybe are coming in and looking at a project or a building, whether. Whether it's going to. They want to maybe buy a piece of property and put a business in there. And sometimes they go in, they're like, okay, we can renovate here, we can fix this up. But sometimes they go, no, this is beyond hope. We just need to level this thing and start over. That's repentance, my friend. Jesus is not looking to fix you up. He's looking to rebuild you. He's looking to remake you. In order for him to remake you, you have to repent. To repent isn't just the awareness of some new idea. No, my friends, repentance is about being wrecked and letting God change the course of everything. It means, literally, it means like a change of thinking. Not just like, oh, well, I used to like, you know, red, now I like blue. No, it's like I didn't even know what color was. And now I see all of it. Repentance, friends, that's what he says. And be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And then he gives him this promise. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is so key for the promises to you and your children. All who are to fall off are. Who are far off. Everyone whom the Lord your God calls to him. Powerful stuff, my friends. I want you to think about that. You know, this idea of baptism, you know, we like to argue about that all the time, don't we? Like with Protestants. Not all Protestants, but, you know, I get talked to a lot about that. Catholics believe in works, you know, and Baptism is just a symbol. All this, you know, here's what we need understand. When Peter has the opportunity to close the first Gospel presentation here, he closes it with the call to be baptized in connection with. With repentance, as though those things together is what leads to salvation. He doesn't say, well, repent, pray this prayer. Receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. And then, you know, as you make this public declaration of baptism, God's going to work within you. And you know, then good works are going to be the result of that. No, you know, he just says, repent and be baptized. Yes, good works are the result of that. But the reality is this, friends, this baptism is connected to that initial justification, that initial act of God's grace. And this was done not just to the believers, but to everyone, even your children. And people like to argue about that, too. But this is a historical fact. Baptism in the early church was done to entire households, including infants. And people can argue whether or not that's biblical. I get told that all day. That's not biblical. It's biblical, it's historical, and it just flat out makes sense. And you can read all about that if you want to. I was going to put a bunch of stuff in here, but this isn't really an apologetics course. Just look that up. Early church fathers on infant baptism, you're going to find a glut of things. Origen says that it was the. A practice handed down by the apostles. And we have so many other things. There's nobody in the early history of the church that ever said that infants should be denied baptism, my friends, it's for everybody, everyone, whom the Lord your God would call. Now, let's look at our second reading, my friends. Okay, so what he says in Peter here is pretty powerful. He talks about what you can expect. Okay, what's it going to be like when you repent, believe the gospel and are baptized and begin to live this Christian life? Is the world going to throw you a party? On the contrary, my friends, if you are who Jesus has called you to be, you're going to be persecuted. Look what happened to the earliest Christians. They were persecuted by their own people, the Jews. They were persecuted by the Romans. They were persecuted everywhere they went. And what Peter is calling them to is a particular response to that persecution, because that response is going to differentiate them from everyone else, because there was lots of persecution. The Christians weren't the only ones being persecuted. But the Christians had a unique response to that persecution. And you know what? It wasn't it wasn't to fight back. It wasn't to get revenge. It wasn't to stand up and take it to him. Not at all, my friends. It was to endure that persecution, that hostility, and to return love when they were encountering evil. That's what differentiated the Christian community from so many others, my friends. And I think this is something that we can benefit from today. Because guess what? We're still going to be persecuted. Maybe not to this extent, but brothers and sisters in the world are. There are people still dying for their faith every day in the world. How are we to respond? My friends, this is tough because our instinct is to fight back. Our instinct is to get revenge or whatever. But Peter's clear. He says, look, suffering is important, and taking it patiently is important. But understand the reason why. He said, if you suffer because you did something bad and you're like, patiently, okay, that's great, that's fine. But if you endure suffering because of what you have done for the gospel, now you have God's approval. And then he connects that to Christ. He says, we're trying to be like Christ, right? We're trying to follow Jesus in our example, as our example. So how did he respond when he was persecuted, when he was attacked unjustly, he took it. That didn't make him weak. It wasn't because he had no power. It was because that was God's plan. Peter says Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but he trusted to him who judges justly. Now think about that. That's the key right there. He didn't do nothing. He trusted. He didn't think to himself, oh, well, it's no big deal. This doesn't matter. No, he understood that God had a plan and this suffering was part of that plan. But he also trusted that God would get him through that suffering and that God himself would be the judge who would deal with those who were doing the persecuting. He trusted him to judge just. To him who judges justly, the that's powerful, my friends, for you were straying like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. We'll get to that in the gospel. But I just want to remind us all that when suffering comes because of our faith, we're called to endure that. Now, some people really play up on that. You know, I'm being persecuted, I'm being persecuted. But the why we're Being persecuted is what matters. If we're being persecuted because we were just a jerk, we can't blame Jesus for that, right? We can't be like, oh, man, I was a. You know, some people do that. They run around, around. They beat people over the head with religion, and they condemn people, and they're hurtful and they're arrogant and they're proud, and they're like, they just want to own everybody. And then when they get pushed back, they say, well, yep, blessed are those who are persecuted. You're not being persecuted because of the gospel. You're being persecuted because you're being a jerk. But those who are being persecuted because they've humbled themselves and have served and have loved God, there's a reward there. And that's what it means to follow the one who did the same thing. Jesus, our good shepherd, the guardian of our souls. Remember, we want to trust God with that, and we can, because he is the good shepherd, which, of course, we see in John's gospel. He identifies himself in that way. And that's such a powerful image, isn't it? You know, we struggle with this image sometimes because we don't typically see the way shepherds operate. But Jesus took that imagery, applied it to himself, because that was a part of their everyday life. And he identifies himself as the good shepherd. And I think what's interesting, he says that as the good shepherd, he lays his life down for the sheep. And he says that the sheep hear his voice. And he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. He goes before them and they follow him, for they know his voice. They're not going to follow a stranger. They don't know the voice of strangers, this figure Jesus used with them, but they didn't understand what he was saying. So he goes through it. He calls himself this door. He says, look, I'm the gate to the Father and I'm the good shepherd. Whoever follows me will hear my voice and know it. How do we know his voice? Have you ever struggled with that? How do I know what God's telling me? It seems like there are lots of things, lots of impressions in my mind. Maybe I'm hearing voices or whatever. In my mind, like, okay, is this God? Is this not God? And Jesus, he kind of helps us with this in an indirect way, potentially. He just says, my sheep know my voice. Now you might hear that and go, okay, well, how? How do I know his voice? They follow him. See, that's the key. You want to know the voice of God, you have to follow him just like anybody else. There are people in your life that you could just tell who it is by a text message, even if you didn't know it was from them. Let's say it was an anonymous number. But there are people in your life, just the way they speak, the words they use, the stuff they say. You go, yep, that sounds like so and so. Have you ever thought of that before? You go, oh, yeah, that really sounds like this person. Even if you didn't know it was them, you would know by the way they speak. That's how we need to be with Jesus. But you can't get there unless you're following him. We follow him to hear his voice, and we follow him because we hear his voice. Okay, think about that. So you're like, I want to know what the voice of God says. Okay, well, then how do you know? Do you know what he talks like? Do you know what's consistent with what he's revealed publicly? See, if you want to discern a private revelation, you have to first be part of the public revelation. The private revelation is that inward voice of God in our heart, like what he's privately revealing to me about my life. And if I want to discern who that is, if that's Jesus, I first have to be steeped in the public revelation of God's word through the scriptures and the teaching of the church. That way I know what he sounds like. Do you know what he sounds like? And I can spot it a million miles away, right when people are like, oh, yeah, you know, Jesus told me that I should do this or that or whatever, you know, I know the church teaches this, but Jesus told me it's okay for me to do the opposite because, you know, it's me and he wants me to be happy. I hear people say stuff like that all the time, you know, particularly around things like going to church. Well, you know, I love Jesus, but I just have a hard time with the church, so I don't go anymore. I don't do that. Or maybe they're in a bad marriage or whatever, and they just go, oh, well, you know, he wants me to be happy, so I'm going to divorce my spouse. And because, you know, Jesus told me it's okay because I deserve better. And in their minds, they can completely square that. Why? Because they haven't been following him close enough to know that he would never say that. But people who walk closely with God, who are in the public revelation of God now, are in a position to discern whether the private revelation matches up with that. And one of the reasons why the church doesn't require us to believe in private revelation is because we need to be so steeped in the public revelation that we have to sort that out. Whether the two things match up. And the church doesn't want to take responsibility for where. For if someone's private revelation has matched up with the public revelation. And one of the things that has to be there in order for the church to say it's permissible for you to believe that private revelation is it can't contradict the public revelation. So like Marian apparitions, for example, the church is going to examine any one of those messages given to say, does this contradict the public revelation that we've been given? That's just the way it is with anyone who comes forward and says, I had a private revelation. And you might thinking, what are you talking about? I don't have Marian, you know, private revelations. We all do. Not of Marian apparitions. But that's your own internal voice in your relationship with God that is guiding you in your life and your specific circumstances. Because, let's face it, the Bible doesn't tell you who you should marry, where you should work, what you should do in this particular situation, that particular situation. That's where our private relationship with Jesus comes in. And sometimes we can have a certain sense of what God is telling us. But do we know whose voice that is? Jesus says, my sheep will know me and. And they will follow me. How? How? Because we're close enough to him and we're in his public revelation that we know what he sounds like. Do you know what he sounds like if you don't? Step one, read the Bible, read the Gospels, listen to his revelation in the church, and follow him. You got to follow him in order to hear him. Think about it. If he's so far away from you, remember, Jesus is moving. He's not just there. He's at work in the world. And if you're just kind of in the back, how are you going to recognize that? That's why I always tell people, when you go to mass, get to the front. Man, I get so tired of walking into Catholic churches and everybody's like, fighting over the back rows. Why is everybody afraid to be up front? Get up there so you can hear, so you can understand. You know, if you're going to go see, like, your favorite musician or your favorite athlete or whatever, and there's a seat up in the front, you're going to dart for that. So why is it when we go to Mass. We often want to sit far in the back so we can sort of just be at a distance and, you know, not be too upfront and noticed. I don't know, but. But where? And I don't care where you sit, but just listen is my point. Be so engaged in what's happening because you want to be able to discern the will of God and the voice of God, my friends. And ultimately, what does that look like? You're going to follow him. And again, that passage from Peter, that means follow him in things that are awesome and fun and exciting and, you know, comfortable even. And it also means following him into things that are tough, into persecution, into hostility, and then to follow him not just where he is, but how he is, because we want to be like him, friends. That's the idea. And it all begins with that moment in time when we hear the Gospel, and it cuts us to the heart. And like those there in Pentecost, we say, what must I do? Notice they didn't put conditions on that either. They didn't say, what must I do that coordinates with my busy life and my busy schedule and that I have time for, and that matches up with my priorities. They didn't do that. What must I do that doesn't challenge me or cause any sort of tension in my life or make me feel the least bit uncomfortable? They didn't do that either. They simply said, what must we do? That is the posture that we have to have, my friends. Whatever it is, Lord, that's the idea. Whatever it is, Lord, help me to repent, to change my thinking from being focused on myself to being focused on you, to being afraid. From what happens to me here in this life, to being only concerned with eternity, Lord, to being more worried about how I'm treated than how I respond when we allow the Lord that kind of access to our hearts because we're cut to the bone, friends. Now we're getting somewhere. And that's what I hope for all of us, myself included. That's why we do what we do here in Unpacking the Mass so we can hear that voice. That's the whole point of this exercise, is so that when we go to Mass and hear our priest preach on these texts, we can recognize his voice and we can follow him. God bless you, brothers and sisters. Happy Easter. He's risen. He has risen indeed. I look forward to being back here with you next week here on Unpacking the Mass. Do me a favor and share this with someone in your life. Make sure you like the video, by the way, and subscribe if you haven't. If you're listening on a podcast, please leave a review. And if you need to get caught up on previous episodes, I'll put a card right up here so you can just get into the playlist and work your way up. If you need to catch up, my friends, it's awesome. Thank you for being here, friends. Take care and God bless you.