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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. Welcome to Unpacking the Mass. My name is Keith Nestor. I'd like to thank you for joining me here as we walk through the week's readings for the fourth Sunday of Easter. These are incredible readings, and I know I say that a lot, but that's because they always are. But I love the Book of Acts. It's probably my favorite book in the Bible because I love seeing what happens after Jesus is ascended and how the work of the church begins. How will this incredible mission that God has called the church to will be fulfilled? And the reality is we here today are in that stream. We are still a part of that incredible mission. And I love seeing how it began and what God called the church to do and to be so that we can recognize our part in this. So we're going to start with Acts, chapter 13, just one verse, verse 14, and then into an incredible thing that happens in verses 43 through 52. Now, here's the way we begin this. And this will sort of set this up. This one verse kind of sets the stage here when it says, paul and Barnabas continued on from Perga and reached Antioch in Pisidia. Now, before we jump too far into this, let me just tell you kind of what's going on here. Okay? If you look In Acts chapter 13, if you look more into Acts 13, you're going to see that while they're worshiping the Lord, the church together, they're in Antioch. Okay. While they're there. And I'm looking at the first part of 13. This is cool. Verse two says this. The Holy Spirit. While they're worshiping the Lord and praying and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Verse 3 says, so after they had fasted and prayed, they, the apostles placed their hands on them and sent them off. So this is kind of a cool thing that happened. So what you're going to see here is this missionary journey. And I think it's interesting that they still refer to Paul as Saul for part of this. It's in this chapter where it says that, you know, Saul now referred to as Paul. Okay. So we see that transition kind of happening there. They're sent out by the church in order to fulfill the mission the Holy Spirit has given them. They didn't just wake up one day and say, hey, I think I'll go start my own church or go do my own thing. This was all led by the Holy Spirit. And I think that's amazing that when we are in the stream of what the Holy Spirit is doing, he will bring us into ministries in the way that he wants. So that's what takes place. And then if you look at the rest of chapter 13, they're going all over the place. Now we're going to look at our readings to see where. Where this week's readings take place. So now they're in Antioch, in Pisidia. And here's what they do on the Sabbath. They entered the synagogue and took their seats. Now, hold on. The Jewish synagogue is the place where the Jews went to worship on the Sabbath. Okay, so kind of like a church, but it's like, you know, that's the Temple was. That was where the sacrifices took place. Synagogue, sort of like a little. Because there's only one temple in Jerusalem Synagogue or in the rest of the. The parts of the region. But they were distinct from the. The Temple. Okay, so basically think of it like this. They went to the church where they were worshiping and they took their seats. Many Jews and worshipers who were converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to remain faithful to the grace of God. On the following Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and with violent abuse contradicted what Paul said. Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said it was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. But since you reject it and condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles, for so the Lord has commanded us. I have made you a light to the Gentiles that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth. Powerful stuff here. The Gentiles were delighted when they heard this and glorified the word of the Lord. All who were destined for eternal life came to believe. And the word of the Lord continued to spread through the whole region. The Jews, however, incited the women of prominence who were worshipers. And the leading men of the city stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their territory. So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. The disciples were filled with, with joy and the Holy Spirit. Okay, Lots of cool stuff happening here and some really sad things happening here. Now of course, if you don't understand what's happening with Jews and Gentiles, it's hard to follow along. So basically, if you're new to this whole thing, you know, a Jew is basically a Jewish person. It's pretty self explanatory. What's a Gentile? In the context here, a gentile is anyone who is not a Jew. So remember the Jewish religion, the Jewish people were all of the apostles, all of the disciples, Jesus, okay? And the Gentiles were outside of that understanding. And the Jews had a very superior, had like a superiority complex. They had a superior attitude about themselves when it came to the Gentiles. Matter of fact, Jewish men, when they woke up in the morning, they thanked God that they weren't a woman and a gentile dog. That. I mean, these guys were pretty full of themselves. So Jesus comes, right? And the Jewish people reject him. And now here are the apostles. And remember from, from Peter's vision that he had earlier in the book of Acts where God begins to show him through this vision of these animals coming down, that God is also reaching out to the Gentiles. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. Remember when Peter goes to, to the house and they're all filled with the Holy Spirit. And then the, the Christians in Acts chapter at the Jerusalem council earlier in Acts are gathering together to decide what they're going to do. I believe It's Acts chapter 15, what they're going to do about this, whether they need to convert them to the Gentiles first to become Jews or that they can just jump in and follow Christ. So there's a lot of complications that are happening here with how do we interpret this? And does God, this is really the underwriting question that for a lot of people, did God really care about the Gentiles or does God just care about the Jews? And we're seeing here that of course God cares about the Gentiles. He always has cared about the Gentiles. It wasn't as if God was ever unclear about that. Remember his covenant with Abraham was that he would turn them into a great nation. That through them the people of Israel, all of the nations of the world will be blessed. Now what's that about? That's about the Messiah, Jesus coming through the nation of Israel to what, bless the entire world? So God never had this attitude of hostility against the Gentiles just because they were Gentiles. And this is a theme that we have to see here in this text. And here's what it is, okay? If you're going to tune out of everything else, hear this. The theme is this. God reaches out to everybody, okay? And anyone who rejects God, okay, will be outside of God's plan for them. But anyone who receives God can have eternal life. That's ultimately. And is invited to the party. That's ultimately the lesson that we're going to see. And what happened was this. Just as Jesus came first to the people of Israel and he told the apostles, remember, when he told them to go out, he said, first stay. Go only to the house of Israel. Start there and work your way out in, like, these concentric circles. Remember that? But yet Jesus at times deviated from that a little bit when he went into different regions to talk to people and when he, like, ministered to the Roman centurion and others who were Gentiles. And I feel like it's like Jesus was showing them, look, I've got a special plan for these, for, for, for my chosen people, the Jews. But I'm also going to show you the. Through these interactions I have with Gentiles, that I love them as well. And so what happens with Paul and Barnabas is they go and they start preaching. And the Jews don't like it. They reject it. They're jealous, because for them, it's all about themselves. It's about their superiority. And when Paul and Barnabas are preaching and Gentiles are coming along, and like, the Jews are just like, who are these guys? What gives them the authority and the right to contradict what we have to say and take away our power? But the Gentiles, of course, they, they're loving it. They're excited about that. Now, there's another passage I'd like to share with you guys that can sort of bring a little understanding to this. And it's. It's in Romans, okay? And I'm just going to pull this up a little bit and so you can see Romans, chapter 11. Okay? I know this can be hard for you to read, so I'll probably just read it myself. But you can look at what Paul, remember Paul? The same guy who is preaching this message, okay, is the same one who's calling, who's writing these words. And here's what he writes. He's talking about the Gentiles being brought into the family. And he's talking about this dynamic between the Jews and the Gentiles. And he says this. So I asked, did they stumble in order that they might fall by no means. Rather, it's about the Jews rather, through their trespass salvation. What was their trespass? Rejecting Jesus. Salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous. Now, if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentile, how much more will their full inclusion mean? Now, what he's talking about here is what can happen when. When people who are Jewish recognize Jesus as the Messiah says, when that happens, boom, look out. He says, now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the dough offered as first fruits is holy, so is the lump, the whole lump. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are. Remember, it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Okay? So I'm going to just kind of wrap that part of it up right there. But let me just kind of help you understand what he's doing here. He's talking about how it's not cool for any of us, whether we're Jews or Gentiles, to look down on either one, okay? Because as you can tell, the Jews were looking down at the Gentiles. But as the church began to grow, there were Gentiles that began to look down on the Jews and said, they rejected Jesus. So I guess I'm better than them. And ultimately his message was this. Look, if you're a Gentile, don't look down on those Jews and don't, don't be like, oh, I hate them. And I'm glad that they're out of the covenant or that they're out of the kingdom because they rejected Jesus. Remember, God's ultimate plan is to bring them, to bring them back that they white, that they might come to know Christ. So we need to have that mentality to be thankful for that. See, the message here for us ultimately doesn't depend on whether you're Jew or Gentile. It depends on whether you reject, reject, or accept God. Okay? So that's a message that is really important for all of us here today. Now, what does this sound like when it comes to Jesus? I'm reminded of the parable that Jesus talks about in Matthew 22. You know the parable? I'm going to read it to you. Part of it anyway. The parable of the wedding banquet. Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet and to tell them to come, but they refused to come. Okay. Basically what happened was this. Jesus was telling this parable to the Jews to show them that, look, you are the invited guests. I'm the son, God the Father has invited you to this party and you've rejected me. And what happens in the story? People made excuses. They didn't want to come. They paid no attention and went off. One to his field, another to his business. The rest. Listen to this. Seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The city was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. What's that a prophecy about? Oh, my gosh. That's a prophecy about what's going to happen in 70 A.D. when? When after the apostles had been seized and killed and some of them by the Jews. Right? What happens in 70 AD? Jerusalem is destroyed, just like Jesus said what happened? So this is even a prophecy that Jesus is giving about what's going to happen ultimately to Jerusalem. He makes you wonder why Jesus is mourning before Jerusalem. Because they rejected him. Because he knows that as he told them Matthew 24 read that no stone will be unturned, will be. Will be left out, standing on top of one another, all be overturned. The temple is going to be destroyed. Okay, now what does the king do in this parable? The king goes out and invites other people. It says the wedding banquet is ready. I'm reading verse eight, Matthew 22. But those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you can find. So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people as they could find. The bad as well as the good. And? And the wedding hall was filled with guests. Okay? Was filled with guests. So the servants did that. Okay. But then the king came in to see the guests. He noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, how did you get in here without the wedding clothes, friend? The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, tie him hand and foot and throw him out into the darkness, where there will be weeping and. And gnashing of teeth. For many are invited, but few are chosen friends. I know I'm kind of seemingly going around a lot of different things with just this text, but you have to understand the point of all this. And there's a. There's certainly a ramification for us today in our readings. We are seeing that God's house ultimately will be filled. The question is, will you be there? Will you be at the party? And it doesn't matter what group you think you're a part of. It doesn't matter whether you are Jew or a Gentile. It doesn't matter any of that. The only thing that matters is have you responded to the invitation that Jesus has given you? If you haven't, then you're out. If you have, then you're in. That's the bottom line, okay? That's the bottom line. And what we see in our first reading is that to the people that were invited, the Jews, they hadn't responded. And what did. What did Paul say about them? He said this. But since you reject it and condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. Friends, I'm telling you, your worthiness to God isn't about how smart you are, how great you are. It has, you know, in some sense, it isn't even about how holy you are. Okay, Initially, at least, because God has invited you. What matters is, have you received it or rejected it? The gospel message? If you receive it, friends, God will make you holy. That's what the power of the Holy Spirit will do in your life. That's what the sacraments are for. That's what his grace will do in you. But if you reject it, there's nothing left. You can't do it in and of yourselves. My friends and the Gentiles accepted it, and that's why they were filled with joy. Okay, all right, let's move on here to our response. Oral Psalm. We are his people, the sheep of his flock. Remember, this is ultimately about celebrating the fact that he's made us his own people. Sing joyfully to the Lord all you lands Serve the Lord with gladness Come before Him with joyful song. We are his people, the sheep of his flock Know that the Lord is God he made us his we are his people, the flock he tends we we are his people, the sheep of his flock. The Lord is good. His kindness endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations. We are his people, the sheep of his flock. In Revelation, we see what this looks like. Ultimately. Chapter 7, verse 9 and 14 17, the apostle John writes these words. I, John, had a vision of a great multitude which no one could count from every nation, race, people and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. Remember from that wedding garment from Matthew 22, they had to be clothed with the wedding clothes. Here's a picture of this. Then one of the elders said to me, these are the ones who have survived the time of great distress. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they stand before God's throne and worship him day and night in his temple. The one who sits on the throne will shelter them. They will not hunger or thirst anymore, nor will the sun or any heat strike them. For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life giving water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. My friends, this is a beautiful picture of what is in store for those who receive the word of God, who hear the voice of the Lord, who know him and follow him. Friends, is that going to be you? You've been invited to the party. The question is, will you receive the invitation? Will you go? Will you go? That's a question that a lot of us have to wrestle with, okay? Because if you look at the. The reasons why a lot of people don't go, not all of them are terrible reasons. Oh, I've got this going on in my life. I've got a. I have a business, I've got a family, I've got all these things. I've got my own ideas, whatever. But in Matthew's parable, at least, none of those reasons are adequate excuses. And when Paul and Barnabas are preaching to the Jews, they just reject it outright. And he doesn't give him a pass, friends, because ultimately this is what's going to happen. God's house will be filled. Now, how do you know whether this applies to you or not? That's what we're going to look at in our Gospel, okay? Alleluia. Alleluia. I am the good shepherd, says the Lord. I know my sheep, and mine know me. This is the key, my friends. John, chapter 10, verses 27 through 30. Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. And no one can take them out of the Father's hand. The Father and I are one. So what does this mean for us God's house will be filled. It doesn't matter which group you're a part of, as long as you respond to the invitation, Jesus will take care of of the rest. So the question is, how do you know that you are part of his people? Ultimately, there's three things that you have to have. Jesus says it himself. He says, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. So there's this component of revelation, right? Hearing from God, that's important. There's this component of relationship with Jesus and yet there's this also this component of obedience. So think about it like this. Revelation, relationship and application obedience. If you don't have any of those three, then you're going to be off base. Now let's talk about what happens, for example, if you don't really have revelation. Okay. If you don't hear from God, you can't follow him and know Him. That just make, it just makes no sense. But you see that all the time. People like, they claim to have this passionate relationship with Jesus and they have the way they live their lives that they believe comes from God, but they don't have the truth. They haven't received the revelation. So what this looks like oftentimes are like the liberal Christians who have wanted to redefine the faith according to whatever the culture says, but it has nothing to do with what Jesus ever taught or what the Scriptures teach or what the church has taught. They decide the revelation part. So they have like the, oh, I love Jesus. It's just about, just about Jesus. And they, they live their life according to that, but they've made it up themselves. They don't. They're lacking the hearing him part, hearing his voice. They have no revelation of God. Okay, now what happens if you know, you hear him and follow him, but you don't know him? Okay, let's say you remove the relational component of that. What does that look like? Well, I believe it looks a lot like the Pharisees. The Pharisees had revelation, right? They knew the law, they knew the truth, and they were very rigorous in their lifestyle of it. They lived it. But yet when Jesus came, did they know him? No. They removed relationship. This is a trap that some of us can fall into, my friend, especially as like Catholics, but not just Catholics, like fundamentalist Protestants can fall into this trap. Really any, anybody can. That gets super focused on the rules because you can't really follow the rules if you don't know them. So there's, you know, we're all about Revelation. I want to know what the rules are, and I want to fall, and I want to follow and obey Him. Right? So you can do that. But if you don't have that component of relationship with Jesus in there, if you don't love God, what does the Bible say? You're like a clanging cymbal. And that can be a dangerous temptation for those of us, like in the Catholic faith specifically, who follow all the rules of the Catholic faith and who know everything and get super worked up about, you know, all of the law and all of the rubrics and all. Everything. Now, of course, I'm not talking about, you know, being unfaithful to the teaching of the Church, okay? I'm not talking about that. You need to have that. But you also have to know Jesus. You have to have this loving relationship with God, that. That works in the midst of that, okay? And too many people think, oh, no, you don't really need that. That's like some of us, let's face it, some of us Catholics treat that as an optional part of our faith, don't we? If you know the right rules and you follow the right rules, you go to the right Mass, you have the right liturgy, you do the sacraments the right way, okay, then that's all that really matters. And I think that that's horribly wrong because you've missed the point at that point in time because you truly can't live out that sacramental life without relationship with Jesus. And knowing him, remember what he said? He said, depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. Now, who is he saying that to? People who kept all these rules, right? Didn't we prophesy? Didn't we do this? Didn't we teach? Didn't we do all those things right, friends? Not enough. You might be really super proud of yourself because you fast like a million times a week and you pray the rosary 10 times a day, and you know everything about all of the Marian apparitions, and you've done all the great stuff. Good job. That's awesome. But if you don't have love for Jesus in your heart, if he doesn't know you and you don't know him, if that's not where this is coming from, then. Then, then ultimately you've got to respond to the invitation. It's an invitation into relationship. Okay, so we've talked about what happens if you. You, you know, you say you know him and you follow him, but you haven't heard Him. You don't have the Revelation and now we've talked about what happens if you. You've heard him and you follow him, but you don't know him, Right? Let's talk about what happens if you've heard him and you know him, but you don't follow him. Because I think that's a lot of us, too, isn't it, my friends? You know, a lot of us, we know what the Lord's called us to. We know what the church teaches, and we love Jesus. But man, we struggle with following. We still want to do things our way. We still want to be the boss of our lives. Friends, that's no better, right? Any one of these things missing leaves you with being hollow and with not being part of God's sheep. There's no way around it, friends. We've got to have all three. What do you need to work on? That's what really matters here today. Do you have a problem with hearing from God? With loving God, or with following God? Or with two of the three? Or with all three? I bet, you know, for a lot of us, we go through seasons of our lives where we struggle with more than one or different ones? You know what? That's the beautiful thing about what the Holy Spirit wants to do in us. He's not content to just leave us set. He's going to work within us so that we can be part of this beautiful family of faith. Because once we are man, I tell you what I mean, it's a pretty powerful promise that Jesus says here. He says, I give them life and they shall never perish. You know, let's face it, sometimes we get beat up on as Catholics for not having assurance of our salvation. But the reality is, it's not that we don't have assurance of salvation. It's just we don't have assurance that we're always going to hear, know and follow, you know, because human beings can fall away. That's why we do this, right? That's why we work so hard to make sure we're hearing the truth, to make sure we are loving Jesus and in relationship with him and that we're following him. And if we are in that, you know what that's called? That's called being in a state of grace. And believe me, in a state of grace, you have absolute assurance, you know, that there's not going to be a moment where you. You pass from death unto life in a state of grace and friendship with God. And then someone's going to be like, oh, sorry, not you. Boom, you've been snatched out. No Because God the Father is greater than all. And no one can take you out of the Father's hand. Okay? Now, it doesn't mean that you can coast through life because no one can take you out, but you can step out. Remember these invitations that Paul and Barnabas were given that Jesus gave in? Matthew 22. Right? All these things. These are invitations, but we must respond. We must respond. So I'm asking you today to respond. So how do I do that, Keith? How do I do this? Here's the thing. First of all, in your mind, stop separating them. Stop thinking you don't need to do all three. Sometimes we don't think we have to. Some of us get really excited about we're really good at one of them, and we just want to live our whole lives in that one part. Oh, I've got the truth. I understand the truth. I'm really, really super smart. I've read all the stuff. I know all the things. Well, are you living obedience? Are you in a loving relationship with Jesus? Oh, I don't need that. I'm over here with my truth. Don't talk to me about this emotionalism or whatever. They're not Protestant, you know. No, it's not. It's Jesus. Okay? Some of you get real worked up about. Oh, I'm. You know, it's not about the rules or the, you know, it's just about knowing Jesus. Doesn't matter what you know or, you know, the. What you've learned. That's not important. I just love Jesus. Okay, well, Jesus said, if you love me, you'll keep my commands. What are they? Do you know, them? And other people are just like, hey, you know what? I. I don't know a whole lot, but I'm just a good person, you know, I just. I do. I'm a good guy. They get all excited because they're like, I follow the rules. I. You know, I only know, like, four rules, but I follow those really well. Don't talk to me about things that are hard to understand. Don't ask Jesus to, like, you know, really challenge me in my personal life, in a relationship, but just, I'll be a good person, right? We all kind of can fall into one of these three camps, you know, whatever. So stop separating them and recognize this. That one will lead to the other. So wherever we're weak, wherever we're struggling, let's ask the Holy Spirit right now. Just as the Holy Spirit set aside Paul and Barnabas for the work of the kingdom, may the Holy Spirit set aside us for his work that we might respond to that invitation that we've been given to become part of the family of God, to be his sheep, and that we might recognize where we'll wind up one day in that incredible worship party banquet in Revelation that we see about worshiping the Lamb of God. Friends, I want to be there and I want you to be there too. So remember the words of our Lord. Remember how important it is for you personally to accept that invitation that you have been given to hear the voice of Jesus spoken through his church, through his apostles, through the Holy Spirit, through His Blessed Mother. Friends, through all of this, it's not hard to hear the Word of God read the scriptures, right? Hear his voice and know him and let him know you. He's called you into that loving relationship. Will you respond to that? And then wherever that leads you, to follow friends, that's what it takes to be one of his sheep. And I know and pray that God's got an incredible plan for you as you step into that. Thanks so much for watching Unpacking the Mass for Study the Word of God with me here today. If it's been a blessing to you, please share this on social media. Please like the video and subscribe all of those things. That's part of how the Word gets out. And Unpacking the Mass is growing. It's exciting, my friends. So thank you so much. If you're listening on a podcast, please rate this and share it. Let people know so we can continue to come together each week and study the Word of God before we go to Mass and hear it from our priests. Thank you so much, friends. Take care and God bless.