Acts 5:27-32

It can be a little hard to tell exactly what the crime is that landed Peter, and whatever apostles, in jail and before a judge. There's was not the only sect, and they were Jews at the time, which was allowed by the Romans. That is one way the Romans kept the peace with whomever they conquered, they let them practice their existing religion. But starting up a new one, well that could fall under some law that forbade gathering in small groups. The Romans didn't have a general freedom of religion and didn't want to research every little group that might be subverting their authority.

Looked at symbolically, a resurrection is an overcoming of the power of the existing ideology. Besides whatever ritual of sacrifice that was performed, the cross is now getting defined not as a symbol of dominance over the community, but as a pathway to the leadership position in heaven.

Revelation 1:4-8

Year C is the only year that features Revelations. It's the weird one, with the giant bugs. We'll start off with a nice mild introduction. It's a letter, written by someone named John. He has a problem with how the churches he is writing to are worshipping. His admonishments escalate quickly. I mentioned the "I am the first and I am the last" verse from Isaiah 44 back at the end of Lent. Here we see this idea has stuck around, becoming "the Alpha and Omega".

I talk a little more about apocalyptic literature here.

John 20:19-31

This is covered pretty well in Year A.