Gazillions Of Angels And All Creation Are Singing Series

Third Sunday of Easter 2025

Most of us have been in a big crowd, and all of us have at least seen pictures or videos of huge crowds, as at Super Bowl games, big political rallies, papal funerals or national visits. But the Book of Revelation we just heard from describes a rally way beyond our comprehension, “many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands.” Since a myriad is a million in a base 10 numbering system, a myriad of myriads is ten to the twelfth power, or a trillion. And there would be, then, several trillions and millions on top of that. Only the heavens would be big enough to contain the throng.

What are these gazillion angels doing with every creature in heaven and earth and under the earth? That’s basically every being in the universe doing the same thing? They are praising the Lamb who had been murdered but is now standing tall before them, exhibiting His wounds, glorified beyond all creatures. This is what they were all saying together in an incredible roar: “To him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever!” The One on the throne is, of course, the Father. The Lamb is Jesus Christ, His sole-begotten Son. The blessing they receive could be called a super-blessing, a praise of all praises. Why? This is what all creatures were created to do. This is their end, their purpose, the way in which they fulfill their destiny. They are celebrating their incorporation into the plan of God, and their unity with God. This, we’ll see later in the Book, is the Wedding Feast of the Lamb in heaven.

What had to happen to make this possible? St. Peter and the apostles, arrested for preaching in the Jerusalem Temple about Jesus, tell us exactly what had to occur. The elite of the Sanhedrin, the highest body of Jewish rulers, condemned Jesus to death, even though He had taught the truth and healed the sick and disabled. The plot ended with the murder of an innocent man by hanging Him on a tree, an act that made Him a curse under Jewish law. But the God of their fathers, Elohim/YHWH, reversed that decision by raising Jesus from death, exalted Him as Messiah and Savior, and established His assembly, His disciples, to enable Israel to repent of this crime and to be forgiven. The apostles witnessed it all, and were only following God’s command to spread the good news everywhere.

We missed a few lines from the Acts of the Apostles today, but to summarize, one of the most revered rabbis, Gamaliel, addressed the Sanhedrin and told them to let the apostles go, and not to molest them in any way, or they might find themselves fighting against God. There’s a lot of humor in that line we missed, because the name Israel means “God fighter.”

The result was not as Gamaliel intended, because the Jewish leaders had the apostles whipped and sent on their way, disgraced. They suffered some of the same torment that had been inflicted upon the Lord, and what did they do? I know I would have gone forth muttering at least about the injustice of it all. But the apostles “rejoiced to be counted worthy to suffer dishonor and humiliation for the name of Jesus.” They had learned a lot in the forty days Jesus taught them after His Resurrection. One of the big lessons? Glory is possible only if we suffer. Jesus was glorified only after He accepted the will of the Father and went willingly to torture and death. The apostles learned the necessity of suffering. Each of us must learn the same lesson: no glory without suffering.

Now look at the last line of the Gospel from John the evangelist. He is the Beloved Disciple we met earlier in the book. He’s the one who had gotten Peter admitted to the High Priest’s courtyard after Jesus was arrested, to warm himself by a charcoal fire and more. He was confronted by a little kitchen maid and a couple of other nobodies with the question, “Are you not one of this Jesus’s friends?” He had turned coward three times, denying Jesus and even cursing Him. Then the rooster crowed, and Jesus looked at Peter, who realized what a traitor he had been and ran off in terror and tears.

In today’s Gospel Jesus had prepared another charcoal fire where He broiled a breakfast of fish and bread. Peter, after following Jesus’s command to cast his net to the other side of the boat, and hauling in one of every kind of fish known, has a conversation with Jesus. Jesus three times asked Peter if he loved Him. By the third question Peter finally gets it. He is being challenged to undo the treason in the courtyard. Each time Peter tells Jesus that He knows everything and certainly knows that Peter loves Him all the way. Each time Jesus empowers Peter to feed and tend His sheep. And, doing so, He predicts that in following His Master, Peter will indeed follow Christ to the very end, stretching out His arms to be nailed to the crossbeams for crucifixion.