We each have a voice – however small – in the disputes of our day. I pray that mine will be a Spirit-guided voice. Pentecost, soon upon us, is not just an historical remembrance, but an ongoing reality. Veni, sancte spiritu. Come, Holy Spirit!

Thursday in the Fifth Week of Easter

Acts 15:7-21

Psalm 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 10

J ohn 15:9-11 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. (10) If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. (11) These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Meditation by Robert P. Heaney

T he late Fr. Raymond Brown, S.S., described the meeting in Jerusalem that is the subject of today’s first reading as perhaps the most important in the entire history of the church. Hanging in the balance was whether Christianity would be a sect of Judaism or the world religion which it has become. At stake also was maintaining the fragile communion of the Jewish and Gentile Christians. That this unity was crucial is highlighted by today’s Gospel reading, which is a part of Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper. His plea was that His disciples would be one as He and the Father were one. (As is often the case in the Easter season, the Gospel from John interprets for us the underlying dynamic of the narrative set forth in Acts.)

Maintaining community was not an easy task as we see from the unfolding of the story from Acts (and Paul’s own version in his letter to the Galatians). Is this episode just an interesting historical vignette, or are there lessons here for us?

The question was whether you had to be a Jew first before you could be a Christian, that is, be circumcised and adhere to all of the provisions of the Mosaic law. Surely that is no longer a pressing issue. What is pertinent is that the resolution on this disagreement had to be handled in a human way – by discussion and argument, by trial and error, by experience and good will. There was no crystal clear blueprint provided by Jesus to guide the early church through this crisis – just the assurance that He would give them His Spirit to help them work things out – an assurance on which we can count today as well.

There would have been four voices in this debate. One, of course, was Paul, insisting that one could be Christian without first becoming a Jew. Paul brought along Titus as exhibit A. Titus was an uncircumcised Gentile, but plainly Christian, and one in whom the spirit was active. It would have been hard for Paul’s opponents to say to Titus’ face that he wasn’t a “true” Christian, a “real” Christian.

A second voice was Peter, recalling a similar experience he had had with the Roman centurion Cornelius, in whom Peter too had experienced the spirit at work (Acts Ch. 10). Then James, the head of the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem , chimed in that the law had, indeed, allowed Gentiles and Jews to live together in community, with only a few restrictions on what the Gentiles could do.

Missing altogether from Luke’s account is the fourth voice – those who maintained that you had to be a Jew first (converts from the Pharisees according to Luke). Fr. Brown suggests that their argument would have been: “Jesus didn’t admit Gentiles into the company of His disciples. Therefore we can’t either.” Fortunately, that position did not prevail. But how many times have we heard that same argument articulated in the ensuing centuries?

Jesus didn’t experience the circumstances of subsequent ages and thus He had no way to model our response for us. That’s why He gave the church His Spirit, why He still gives us that Spirit today. We’re still learning how to be church, and we will have to continue to learn until God finally establishes His kingdom in our renewed creation. We each have a voice – however small – in the disputes of our day. I pray that mine will be a Spirit-guided voice. Pentecost, soon upon us, is not just an historical remembrance, but an ongoing reality. Veni, sancte spiritu. Come, Holy Spirit!

Supplementary Reading

He's Working in You

…He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus – Philippians 1:6

S ometimes when God is doing a work in our lives, things can get a little uncomfortable. We may encounter people who are hard to get along with or have circumstances that seem beyond our control. When this happens, instead of complaining, getting sour, or trying to change everything around you, why don't you look deep inside and say, "Lord, thank You for doing a work in me." See, I've learned that God is more interested in changing me than He is in changing my circumstances. If I choose to stay sour because I'm not getting my way or discouraged because things aren't happening on my time table, that's going to keep me right where I am.

If you want to see change, if you want to see God open up new doors, the key is to bloom right where you're planted. You can't wait until everything gets better before you decide to have a good attitude. You have to be the best that you can be right where you are. When you bloom where you're planted, you're allowing God to work in you, and He will be faithful to complete what He's started in you!

Father God, thank You for doing a work in me. I choose to align myself with Your plan by blooming where I'm planted. Help me, by Your Spirit, to be an example of Your love and life everywhere I go. In Jesus' Name. Amen. (Joel & Victoria Osteen)

 
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GOD BLESS US ALL!
O Theos Na Mas Evlogisi!
PRAY as if everything depended on HIM. ACT as if everything depended on YOU.