Today’s readings are unique in that both the reading from Acts and the reading from John describe ‘ends.’ It is fitting that our liturgical readings should describe endings, because the Easter season is about to come to an end. But both of these inspired books end in ways that reveal something to us about how we ought to approach the end of the Easter Season.
The book of Acts does not end with Paul’s death, which many scholars think had already happened by the time of the writing of Acts. Rather, it ends with Paul’s preaching in Rome. What might have been a reason for this authorial redaction? The end of Acts presents Paul living out the commission Jesus gave to his followers at the beginning – go and be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. What began in Jerusalem – the preaching of the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus – has now come to Rome. The kingdom of Jesus had now made its way into the heart of the empire of Rome through Peter and Paul. The book of Acts does not end with the death of Paul because Paul is not its primary subject. The book ends with the continuation of the mission of Jesus Christ and the spread of his word into new places and new hearts.
The Gospel of John ends with a curious note that what Jesus said and did cannot be contained in one Gospel alone, nor even in the whole world. The writer of John has told what he was inspired to transmit, but Jesus’ deeds, kingdom, life, and reign is not confined to this testimony. It overflows throughout history, down to our very time and beyond. The endings of both of these books are open ended because life with God, and the Kingdom of God, has no end.
So too, the Easter Season draws to a close with the feast of Pentecost. But Pentecost is a feast of the pouring out of God’s spirit and the birth of the Church. The end of the Easter season begins the life of the Church. The end of the book of Acts begins the life of the Church in Rome. The end of the Gospel of John begins the life of the believer who reads it. As Jesus reminds us in the Gospels, our God is a God of the living and not of the dead (Mk 12:27). Acts and the Gospels do not end with death because our God is the God of life, and death is not the end.
As we prepare today for the feast of Pentecost, let us pray for a new outpouring of the Spirit in our hearts as followers of Jesus. Jesus is the one who has conquered death, who reigns eternally in heaven, and who continues to bring forth new life through his Church.