7th Sunday of Easter
C cycle
Reading 1. Acts 7: 55-60
Reading II. Revelation 22: 12-14, 16-17, 20
Gospel. John 17: 20-26 (Jesus prayed).
Today, the seventh Sunday of Easter, falls between the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord which we celebrated last Thursday, and the Feast of Pentecost which we will celebrate next Sunday. For these nine days we, like the first disciples, are in a kind of limbo. We commemorate these nine days in our "Novenas," a word taken from the Latin word for nine.
The theme of today's readings is martyrdom. Although we commonly associate the word "martyr" with one who suffers and dies for his or her faith, the word really refers to one who gives witness to his or her faith. In today's first reading we recall the death of Stephen, the first martyr to die for his faith in Jesus.
Why do we recall the death of Stephen today? The feast of St. Stephen is December 26, the day after the coming of the baby Jesus at Christmas. It seems so strange after that wonderful day of hope and joy to hear such a sad story. It's like a rude awakening from a pleasant dream. And now on the first Sunday after Our Lord's departure, we again have the story of Stephen.
In chapter 6 of the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke introduces us to Stephen, one of the group of seven "deacons" chosen by the Apostles to assist them in their ministry. Stephen witnessed to the Risen Lord by " working great wonders and signs among the people," but his activity also provoked opposition. Like Jesus, Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin to answer charges. In his defense he launched into a retelling of the whole history of the Jews from the time of Abraham down to the prophets. In his conclusion he castigated the present generation:
Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ear, you always oppose the Holy
Spirit; as your fathers did, so you do also. Which of the prophets have not your
fathers persecuted? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just
One, of whom you have now been the betrayers and murderers, you who
received the Law as an ordinance of angels and did not keep it.
Is it any wonder that they would be furious at these words and sentence him to death? Would we behave any differently today, if a similar prophet appeared among us? Not only have we rejected the "ordinance of angels" and failed to keep it, we have glorified our failure to keep it. Let's just look at the Ten Commandments. Love the Lord thy God--we can't even mention His Name in school. Keep holy the Lord's day. Where? In the Mall? Honor thy father and mother--the very idea of fatherhood and motherhood has been under attack for decades. Avoid adultery. Who are you kidding? Isn't adultery a stepping stone to success in the business and entertainment world? Stealing! Lying! They are only wrong if you get caught. Killing! Enlightened voices no longer consider abortion a necessary evil. It has become a positive good that every politician and judge must embrace in order to attain office.
Isn't it just as difficult to be a follower of Jesus today as it was in the time of Stephen? Maybe that's the reason why Jesus in today's gospel prayed not only for the disciples but for all of us at the Last Supper. Lifting his eyes to Heaven, he said,
Holy Father, I pray not only for them,
but also for those who will believe in me through their word...
As the prayer continues we see that our Lord's wish is that our lives will bear witness to His love and serve as a lesson to the world--"so that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me."
Most of us are not going to be asked to suffer and die as Stephen and the Apostles did. But we are all being asked in one way or another to be a witness--to pass on the love of Christ to others. Someone once posed a question which should make all of us a little uneasy. I'll just repeat it. "If someone were to accuse you of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" Again, "If someone were to accuse you of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"
We will have to find ways to bear witness--to become martyrs. Let's look at the commandments or ordinances again. We can make the Lord's day holy again by making it a day of rest, a day spent rediscovering our own families. We can honor our father and mother by refusing to blame them for everything that's gone wrong with our lives. Stealing at work is a major problem in our society. If we expect to be fairly compensated for our work, shouldn't we give a full day's work for a full day's pay? Pornography leads to adultery. Let's keep it out of our homes. Our Lord saw little difference between anger and killing.
Like the Apostles we will not be able to bear witness on our own. We need the Holy Spirit of Christ just as much as they did. It may not appear to us as tongues of fire, but the Love of Christ has been given to all of us and it is the strongest force in the world if only we believe.
It is our choice. We can accept the "ordinance of angels" or reject it. In today's second reading from the Book of Revelation, we read,
The Spirit and the bride say, "Come."
Let the hearer say, "Come."
Let the one who thirsts come forward,
and the one who wants it receive the gift of life-giving water.
,
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
6th Sunday of Easter
6th Sunday of Easter
C cycle
Reading 1. Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
Reading II. Revelation 21: 10-14, 22-23
Gospel. John 14:23-29 (going to the Father).
Last Sunday we saw that Paul and Barnabas had achieved some success in their mission to the Gentiles. We were told that they "had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles." However, we see in today's reading from the Acts of the Apostles that an important obstacle has arisen. Jewish converts to Christianity were insisting that Gentile converts undergo the rite of circumcision in order to be saved. In other words, the Gentiles would have to become Jewish before becoming Christian.
Our reading today tells us that this news caused such dissension and debate that Paul and Barnabas were chosen to go to Jerusalem and get the opinion of the Apostles. Today's reading jumps over the meeting in Jerusalem, which some have called the first Council of the Church. It just gives us the end result. If we read chapter 15 of the Acts of the Apostles, we will see that there was quite a discussion on the matter of circumcision. Apparently it took the intervention of the two most respected Apostles, Peter and James, to decide the issue.
It seems clear that even after receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Peter did not fully understand that Jesus had come to save all, whether Jew or Gentile. Only afterwards did Peter's encounter with the Roman centurion, Cornelius, lead him to see the light.
Now I really understand that God is not a respecter of persons, but in every nation he who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
Peter's conversion to this point of view makes him side with Paul in the great debate at the council. James, the Bishop of Jerusalem, comes up with a workable compromise by suggesting that the Gentiles only observe some basic principles that Gentile converts to Judaism had always observed. Of course they could not eat food tainted with idol worship. Of course, they could not eat meat tainted with blood since blood, the source of life, belonged only to God. Of course, they could not practice incest or marry a close relative. But on the subject of circumcision, the message was clear. This is what the council meant when it said to the "brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia,"
It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us
not to place any burden on you beyond these necessities...
It is hard to overestimate the importance of this decision. Not only does it open the way for the Gentiles, it also brings Christianity to a new level, the level which our Lord intended all along. Circumcision was the mark of a Jew. However, not every Jew who was circumcised turned out to be in our Lord's words, "a true son of Abraham." If you did not obey the will of God or if your life made a mockery of his commandments, were you really a Jew? Remember the parable where a father asked his two sons to go work in his vineyard. The first son said yes, but failed to show up. The second refused but eventually thought better of it and went to the vineyard. Our Lord asked, "which one did the will of the father?"
Today's gospel shows that the same principle holds true for Christians. In His discourse to the Apostles at the Last Supper Jesus said,
Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.
Just being born a Christian does not make one a true son of the Father. Even Baptism only opens the door of faith. Even today there are some who echo the words of those Jewish converts in Antioch when they argue that "outside the Church, there is no salvation." The saying is true but the real question is, "Who is in the Church?" For example, what about the billions of Chinese who had never heard the name of Jesus but who honored their father and mother and who were steadfastly devoted to their children. Using Peter's definition are they inside or outside the Church?
We know that like the Angel, Clarence, in Frank Capra's film, "It's a Wonderful Life," we all have to earn our wings. Charles Borromeo was the son of a wealthy and powerful Roman family who became a Cardinal of the Church at the age of 24 because of his influential relatives. He was one of the great intellects of his day and played a leading role in reforming the Church during the Protestant Reformation. But it was only when as Bishop of Milan, he personally risked his life by ministering to the sick and dying during a great plague that he became St. Charles Borromeo.
Sometimes I think that people have the wrong idea of ecumenicism. Some think that if people would only give up or water down some of their beliefs, they could reach a common ground. Unfortunately, we've seen believers in every faith try this approach only to wind up believing in nothing. The more a Jew is a true son of Abraham, the more a Moslem is a true follower of Allah, and the more a Christian keeps the word of the Lord, the more chance they will have to meet together in that beautiful heavenly city that St. John describes in today's second reading.
If we all practiced our faith, we might even see benefits here and now.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.
,
C cycle
Reading 1. Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
Reading II. Revelation 21: 10-14, 22-23
Gospel. John 14:23-29 (going to the Father).
Last Sunday we saw that Paul and Barnabas had achieved some success in their mission to the Gentiles. We were told that they "had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles." However, we see in today's reading from the Acts of the Apostles that an important obstacle has arisen. Jewish converts to Christianity were insisting that Gentile converts undergo the rite of circumcision in order to be saved. In other words, the Gentiles would have to become Jewish before becoming Christian.
Our reading today tells us that this news caused such dissension and debate that Paul and Barnabas were chosen to go to Jerusalem and get the opinion of the Apostles. Today's reading jumps over the meeting in Jerusalem, which some have called the first Council of the Church. It just gives us the end result. If we read chapter 15 of the Acts of the Apostles, we will see that there was quite a discussion on the matter of circumcision. Apparently it took the intervention of the two most respected Apostles, Peter and James, to decide the issue.
It seems clear that even after receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Peter did not fully understand that Jesus had come to save all, whether Jew or Gentile. Only afterwards did Peter's encounter with the Roman centurion, Cornelius, lead him to see the light.
Now I really understand that God is not a respecter of persons, but in every nation he who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
Peter's conversion to this point of view makes him side with Paul in the great debate at the council. James, the Bishop of Jerusalem, comes up with a workable compromise by suggesting that the Gentiles only observe some basic principles that Gentile converts to Judaism had always observed. Of course they could not eat food tainted with idol worship. Of course, they could not eat meat tainted with blood since blood, the source of life, belonged only to God. Of course, they could not practice incest or marry a close relative. But on the subject of circumcision, the message was clear. This is what the council meant when it said to the "brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia,"
It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us
not to place any burden on you beyond these necessities...
It is hard to overestimate the importance of this decision. Not only does it open the way for the Gentiles, it also brings Christianity to a new level, the level which our Lord intended all along. Circumcision was the mark of a Jew. However, not every Jew who was circumcised turned out to be in our Lord's words, "a true son of Abraham." If you did not obey the will of God or if your life made a mockery of his commandments, were you really a Jew? Remember the parable where a father asked his two sons to go work in his vineyard. The first son said yes, but failed to show up. The second refused but eventually thought better of it and went to the vineyard. Our Lord asked, "which one did the will of the father?"
Today's gospel shows that the same principle holds true for Christians. In His discourse to the Apostles at the Last Supper Jesus said,
Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.
Just being born a Christian does not make one a true son of the Father. Even Baptism only opens the door of faith. Even today there are some who echo the words of those Jewish converts in Antioch when they argue that "outside the Church, there is no salvation." The saying is true but the real question is, "Who is in the Church?" For example, what about the billions of Chinese who had never heard the name of Jesus but who honored their father and mother and who were steadfastly devoted to their children. Using Peter's definition are they inside or outside the Church?
We know that like the Angel, Clarence, in Frank Capra's film, "It's a Wonderful Life," we all have to earn our wings. Charles Borromeo was the son of a wealthy and powerful Roman family who became a Cardinal of the Church at the age of 24 because of his influential relatives. He was one of the great intellects of his day and played a leading role in reforming the Church during the Protestant Reformation. But it was only when as Bishop of Milan, he personally risked his life by ministering to the sick and dying during a great plague that he became St. Charles Borromeo.
Sometimes I think that people have the wrong idea of ecumenicism. Some think that if people would only give up or water down some of their beliefs, they could reach a common ground. Unfortunately, we've seen believers in every faith try this approach only to wind up believing in nothing. The more a Jew is a true son of Abraham, the more a Moslem is a true follower of Allah, and the more a Christian keeps the word of the Lord, the more chance they will have to meet together in that beautiful heavenly city that St. John describes in today's second reading.
If we all practiced our faith, we might even see benefits here and now.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.
,
Sunday, May 6, 2007
5th Sunday of Easter
5th Sunday of Easter
C cycle
Reading 1. Acts 14: 21-27
Reading II. Revelation 21: 1-5a
Gospel. John 13:31-33a, 34-35 (love one another).
In today's first reading we continue to follow Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey. Last week we saw that after meeting opposition in the Jewish community in Antioch, a seaport in what is now Turkey, they decided to take their message to the Gentiles or non-Jews. In fact Paul now realizes that the mission of the Jews has always been to bring the God of Israel to the Gentiles.
It's hard for us to understand the need for this missionary activity. We do not realize how much fear ruled the world in which Paul and Barnabas traveled. When we read of Greek and Roman philosophers and poets, we fail to realize that they were few and far between. For the most part the Gentiles were consumed by fear of the gods. Here's a few examples.
In the ancient world families had to produce heirs to carry on the worship of the ancestral gods. Superstition led people to attribute any bad luck to a failure to properly carry out the rites and sacrifices for the dead family gods. Women, therefore, were little more than child bearing machines. If they couldn't bear children, Roman law required that their husbands divorce them. In most cases the very idea of love between husband and wife was unimaginable. Girls as young as 12 were given in marriage to men much older. If a woman bore a daughter, her husband could order her to kill the infant girl and try again. Infanticide was a common practice among the Romans.
Sacrifices were continually offered to idols in order to appease the gods. These were not harmless practices. Plague, famine, every stroke of bad luck was caused by some god who had been angered by failure to follow the proper rituals. I recently read a letter from a young missionary nurse in Thailand who reported how fear of the gods could ruin the life of an entire family. Even today when a child becomes ill a poor family will not seek medical help but will offer up a chicken to the gods. When the child's condition worsens, they then offer their cow only to find that doesn't work either. The child dies anyway but now the family faces financial ruin and starvation.
Of course, we know of other civilizations where human sacrifice was the accepted way to appease the gods. In today's gospel reading we have something new. The scene is at the Last Supper where Jesus predicts his own sacrifice for us. He says to the Apostles,
I give you a new commandment: love one another.
As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.
This command to the Apostles will have a profound influence in the ancient world. The Christians like their Jewish brethren cannot practice abortion or infanticide. They must welcome their children and love them, even their daughters. In fact, many of the conversions in the early Church occurred because pagan men could not find pagan wives. They married Christian girls who brought their husbands to the faith as so many still do today.
In a well-known passage St. Paul tells husbands to love their wives. We don't realize after 2000 years of Christianity how shocking or abnormal this must have appeared in the ancient world. After all, what does love mean? Jesus gave us plenty of examples. At the Last Supper He stooped to wash the feet of his disciples. No self respecting Gentile would ever consider serving his wife in this manner. The next day He gave his life on the Cross as an example to us. From that day on every Christian man and woman had the responsibility to lay down his or her life for each other.
We are going to see over the next few weeks that this love was intended to extend beyond our own family, village, tribe, and nation. In today's gospel Jesus did not ask us to love Him, He commanded us to love one another. It's sad to think how little progress we've made in the last 2000 years. All the fears and horrors that Paul and Barnabas found in the ancient world still exist today. We only have to pick up today's newspaper to see the evidence.
Today's second reading is from the Book of Revelation. St. John had a vision, a dream of "a new heaven and a new earth." God, he says, will be with his people.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes,
and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain,
for the old order has passed away.
Today, more than ever it seems like just a dream. But what can we do? How does it help to give up on faith, hope, or charity? We have our command, our marching orders. There is nothing stopping us from embarking on our own missionary journey. Maybe we don't have the gift of preaching but we can give a good example to our neighbors. "Paul and Barnabas opened the door of faith to the Gentiles." We can open the door so that Love can walk right in.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.
,
C cycle
Reading 1. Acts 14: 21-27
Reading II. Revelation 21: 1-5a
Gospel. John 13:31-33a, 34-35 (love one another).
In today's first reading we continue to follow Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey. Last week we saw that after meeting opposition in the Jewish community in Antioch, a seaport in what is now Turkey, they decided to take their message to the Gentiles or non-Jews. In fact Paul now realizes that the mission of the Jews has always been to bring the God of Israel to the Gentiles.
It's hard for us to understand the need for this missionary activity. We do not realize how much fear ruled the world in which Paul and Barnabas traveled. When we read of Greek and Roman philosophers and poets, we fail to realize that they were few and far between. For the most part the Gentiles were consumed by fear of the gods. Here's a few examples.
In the ancient world families had to produce heirs to carry on the worship of the ancestral gods. Superstition led people to attribute any bad luck to a failure to properly carry out the rites and sacrifices for the dead family gods. Women, therefore, were little more than child bearing machines. If they couldn't bear children, Roman law required that their husbands divorce them. In most cases the very idea of love between husband and wife was unimaginable. Girls as young as 12 were given in marriage to men much older. If a woman bore a daughter, her husband could order her to kill the infant girl and try again. Infanticide was a common practice among the Romans.
Sacrifices were continually offered to idols in order to appease the gods. These were not harmless practices. Plague, famine, every stroke of bad luck was caused by some god who had been angered by failure to follow the proper rituals. I recently read a letter from a young missionary nurse in Thailand who reported how fear of the gods could ruin the life of an entire family. Even today when a child becomes ill a poor family will not seek medical help but will offer up a chicken to the gods. When the child's condition worsens, they then offer their cow only to find that doesn't work either. The child dies anyway but now the family faces financial ruin and starvation.
Of course, we know of other civilizations where human sacrifice was the accepted way to appease the gods. In today's gospel reading we have something new. The scene is at the Last Supper where Jesus predicts his own sacrifice for us. He says to the Apostles,
I give you a new commandment: love one another.
As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.
This command to the Apostles will have a profound influence in the ancient world. The Christians like their Jewish brethren cannot practice abortion or infanticide. They must welcome their children and love them, even their daughters. In fact, many of the conversions in the early Church occurred because pagan men could not find pagan wives. They married Christian girls who brought their husbands to the faith as so many still do today.
In a well-known passage St. Paul tells husbands to love their wives. We don't realize after 2000 years of Christianity how shocking or abnormal this must have appeared in the ancient world. After all, what does love mean? Jesus gave us plenty of examples. At the Last Supper He stooped to wash the feet of his disciples. No self respecting Gentile would ever consider serving his wife in this manner. The next day He gave his life on the Cross as an example to us. From that day on every Christian man and woman had the responsibility to lay down his or her life for each other.
We are going to see over the next few weeks that this love was intended to extend beyond our own family, village, tribe, and nation. In today's gospel Jesus did not ask us to love Him, He commanded us to love one another. It's sad to think how little progress we've made in the last 2000 years. All the fears and horrors that Paul and Barnabas found in the ancient world still exist today. We only have to pick up today's newspaper to see the evidence.
Today's second reading is from the Book of Revelation. St. John had a vision, a dream of "a new heaven and a new earth." God, he says, will be with his people.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes,
and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain,
for the old order has passed away.
Today, more than ever it seems like just a dream. But what can we do? How does it help to give up on faith, hope, or charity? We have our command, our marching orders. There is nothing stopping us from embarking on our own missionary journey. Maybe we don't have the gift of preaching but we can give a good example to our neighbors. "Paul and Barnabas opened the door of faith to the Gentiles." We can open the door so that Love can walk right in.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.
,
Sunday, April 29, 2007
4th Sunday in Easter
4th Sunday of Easter
C cycle
Reading 1. Acts 13:14, 43-52
Reading II. Revelation 7:9, 14b-17
Gospel. John 10: 27-30 (The Father and I are one).
In all the Sundays between Easter and Pentecost the first reading comes from the Acts of the Apostles as we follow them on their early missionary activity. Please note that even though we read these accounts now, they refer to the activity of the Apostles after Pentecost. Today the focus shifts from Peter to Paul, who called himself "the least of the Apostles."
In this cycle of readings we don't even get into the story of Paul's conversion. We'll have to wait for another day to hear the account of his meeting with the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus. By the time we pick up the story in today's reading Paul, the persecutor of Christians, has already been converted, baptized, and empowered to preach. From the hints in today's reading it seems clear that his mission was at first to the Jewish communities outside of the Holy Land.
By the time of Christ practically every city in what we would call the Near East had a prominent Jewish community of merchants and tradesmen. Although the Romans had conquered, it was Greek culture, language, thought and practices that predominated in this part of the ancient world. So when Paul speaks of Gentiles he is usually referring to the Greeks. Needless to say there was bound to be friction between Greek and Jew. Historians trace the origins of anti-Semitism to the rivalry between these Greek and Jewish communities long before the time of Christ.
On their part the Jews regarded the Greeks as unclean and preferred to live apart from them. The worship of idols and the offering of sacrifices to those idols was an abomination to the Jews. Just as serious were some practices among the Gentiles, like abortion and pornography, which disgusted the Jews.
Antioch, where we meet Paul today, was a flourishing Greek trading center. Obviously, Paul feels at home among the Jewish community there. Following normal Jewish practice Paul and Barnabas enter the synagogue on the Sabbath and take their seats. It seems clear from today's reading that Paul doesn't think that Jews have to stop being Jewish in order to follow Christ. In fact, the more we learn about Judaism in the time of Christ, the more we see the great similarity between Jew and Christian.
However, in the next few weeks we are going to see that there were fundamental differences. The most basic one had to do with the claim that Jesus makes in today's gospel account from St. John.
My sheep hear my voice;...
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish....
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,...
The Father and I are one.
Jesus identifies Himself with the God of Israel. We must realize that no one would ever think of the Holy Trinity unless Jesus had continually referred to Himself along with the Father and the Spirit. A reasonable person could conclude that there could only be one God. The Jews did and so would the Moslems 600 years after the time of Christ. The Moslems still regard Jesus and His Mother with great reverence. Mary, for example, is the only woman named in the Koran. Still, Jesus was only a good man or a great teacher. The claim that He is one with the Father is equally shocking to them as well as to the Jews. It was not logic or reason that led the early Church to reject heresies that claimed that Jesus was only a man. It was the words of Jesus, himself.
Why should we believe His words? Who wouldn't regard them as absurd or crazy? Although it's clear that Paul converted many Jews, we can sympathize with those who found his words shocking and threw him out of town. Indeed, whenever we see the Jews mentioned in scripture, we should put ourselves in their place. How many Christians today prefer to think of Jesus as just a good man or a fine teacher who went about doing good works? Even then we don't want Him running our affairs or interfering in our lives.
For Paul the reason for belief was the Resurrection. In another place, he said that "if Christ is not risen, then our faith is in vain." He personally witnessed the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus. He called himself the least of the Apostles because he had persecuted the Church and was the last to see the Lord. After his conversion Paul's eyes were opened and he saw that the God of Israel had become incarnate in Jesus. Things could never be the same.
Jesus came for all men. It was no longer possible for Jew and Greek to live apart, for all are brothers and sisters. Paul now believes that the mission of the Jews all along had been to save their despised enemy. He says to his Jewish brethren and to us,
I have made you a light to the Gentiles,
that you may be an instrument of salvation
to the ends of the earth.
In the reading from the Book of Revelation John has the same vision as Paul. He sees a multitude "from every nation, race, people and tongue" standing at the Heavenly throne before the Risen Lamb. The Lamb "will lead them to the springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
,
C cycle
Reading 1. Acts 13:14, 43-52
Reading II. Revelation 7:9, 14b-17
Gospel. John 10: 27-30 (The Father and I are one).
In all the Sundays between Easter and Pentecost the first reading comes from the Acts of the Apostles as we follow them on their early missionary activity. Please note that even though we read these accounts now, they refer to the activity of the Apostles after Pentecost. Today the focus shifts from Peter to Paul, who called himself "the least of the Apostles."
In this cycle of readings we don't even get into the story of Paul's conversion. We'll have to wait for another day to hear the account of his meeting with the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus. By the time we pick up the story in today's reading Paul, the persecutor of Christians, has already been converted, baptized, and empowered to preach. From the hints in today's reading it seems clear that his mission was at first to the Jewish communities outside of the Holy Land.
By the time of Christ practically every city in what we would call the Near East had a prominent Jewish community of merchants and tradesmen. Although the Romans had conquered, it was Greek culture, language, thought and practices that predominated in this part of the ancient world. So when Paul speaks of Gentiles he is usually referring to the Greeks. Needless to say there was bound to be friction between Greek and Jew. Historians trace the origins of anti-Semitism to the rivalry between these Greek and Jewish communities long before the time of Christ.
On their part the Jews regarded the Greeks as unclean and preferred to live apart from them. The worship of idols and the offering of sacrifices to those idols was an abomination to the Jews. Just as serious were some practices among the Gentiles, like abortion and pornography, which disgusted the Jews.
Antioch, where we meet Paul today, was a flourishing Greek trading center. Obviously, Paul feels at home among the Jewish community there. Following normal Jewish practice Paul and Barnabas enter the synagogue on the Sabbath and take their seats. It seems clear from today's reading that Paul doesn't think that Jews have to stop being Jewish in order to follow Christ. In fact, the more we learn about Judaism in the time of Christ, the more we see the great similarity between Jew and Christian.
However, in the next few weeks we are going to see that there were fundamental differences. The most basic one had to do with the claim that Jesus makes in today's gospel account from St. John.
My sheep hear my voice;...
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish....
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,...
The Father and I are one.
Jesus identifies Himself with the God of Israel. We must realize that no one would ever think of the Holy Trinity unless Jesus had continually referred to Himself along with the Father and the Spirit. A reasonable person could conclude that there could only be one God. The Jews did and so would the Moslems 600 years after the time of Christ. The Moslems still regard Jesus and His Mother with great reverence. Mary, for example, is the only woman named in the Koran. Still, Jesus was only a good man or a great teacher. The claim that He is one with the Father is equally shocking to them as well as to the Jews. It was not logic or reason that led the early Church to reject heresies that claimed that Jesus was only a man. It was the words of Jesus, himself.
Why should we believe His words? Who wouldn't regard them as absurd or crazy? Although it's clear that Paul converted many Jews, we can sympathize with those who found his words shocking and threw him out of town. Indeed, whenever we see the Jews mentioned in scripture, we should put ourselves in their place. How many Christians today prefer to think of Jesus as just a good man or a fine teacher who went about doing good works? Even then we don't want Him running our affairs or interfering in our lives.
For Paul the reason for belief was the Resurrection. In another place, he said that "if Christ is not risen, then our faith is in vain." He personally witnessed the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus. He called himself the least of the Apostles because he had persecuted the Church and was the last to see the Lord. After his conversion Paul's eyes were opened and he saw that the God of Israel had become incarnate in Jesus. Things could never be the same.
Jesus came for all men. It was no longer possible for Jew and Greek to live apart, for all are brothers and sisters. Paul now believes that the mission of the Jews all along had been to save their despised enemy. He says to his Jewish brethren and to us,
I have made you a light to the Gentiles,
that you may be an instrument of salvation
to the ends of the earth.
In the reading from the Book of Revelation John has the same vision as Paul. He sees a multitude "from every nation, race, people and tongue" standing at the Heavenly throne before the Risen Lamb. The Lamb "will lead them to the springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
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