Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
Ps 98
1 Jn 4:7-10
Jn 15:9-17
The Acts of the Apostles and John's Gospel are prominent during the Easter Season, a season that is rapidly coming to an end. Acts describes the growth and success of the apostles' mission, along with the inevitable conflicts and squabbles that were part of the Church's early growth. It is fascinating reading.
One of the things that has mystified and amused me over the years is observing apostle bashing, the most popular indoor sport in theology schools.
Apostle bashing reaches its zenith during Lent when we are reminded of the apostles misstatements and miscues in the readings. Commentators and preachers have a field day sneering at Peter and the others. However apostle bashing shines an unflattering light on the bashers because of assumptions underlying their tirades: I never would have acted that way. I never would have misunderstood, rejected, or tried to manipulate Jesus. Were I there I would have TOTALLY understood everything. The reality is that none of us would have responded any better than the apostles. Most likely, we would have reacted to Jesus' teaching more like the Pharisees and lawyers.
The bashers have a lot to say about Peter's triple denial, the apostles' non-presence at the foot of the cross, and so on. They have much less to say about the apostles we meet in Acts following Jesus' resurrection.
Over the past weeks we have seen a different Peter in Acts than the stumbling, bumbling, misspeaking and denying one of the gospels. He is now confident, eloquent and humble, quite a contrast to the brash, shoot-from-the-hip-and-the-lip Peter we came to know through the gospels. The man who swung a sword in Gethsemane is now abashed by Cornelius' homage. "Get up. I myself am also a human being." The man who denied Jesus three times, now fearlessly preaches Jesus death and resurrection in hostile territory. Quite a change.
The reading from Acts is discontinuous. We miss the background that makes Peter's statements radical in his speaking to Cornelius and his guests. Peter is preaching against an exclusivist tendency in the Judaism of the time. By extension he is also preaching against our own desire for exclusivism. God's impartiality was not, and is not, a new or uniquely Christian teaching. The statement that whoever fears him and acts "uprightly is acceptable to him" is definitive of Christianity.
The Jesuit Biblical scholar Xavier Leon-Dufour traces the idea of God's impartiality back to the Old Testament, beginning with the psalms and moving to Jonah. He writes, ". . .gradually we see the emergence of the idea that apart from the Jew Yahweh's love even embraces the pagans as well. . ."
Thus, Peter's order that the Gentiles be given baptism is no surprise.
The second reading from the First Letter of John and the reading from John's Gospel are perfectly intertwined. "In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins." This verse recalls Paul's Letter to the Romans, "(God) shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." John and Paul both defined the human condition: we are sinners. And they described God's response to that condition: His love. We are sinners loved by God. That is why we rejoice during this Easter Season. We are sinners loved by God and redeemed by God.
"No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. . . . Love one another." These words are among the most poignant and comforting in John's Gospel.
One important dimension of friendship is that we are never really separated from true friends. It doesn't matter if there are thousands of miles between friends. It matters little if dementia wrecks in the mind and memory or if one or the other has died. The relationship between friends never ends because true friends are united by love. Love never dies, succumbs to dementia or moves away. As our friendship with Jesus grows, as his indwelling with us permeates deeper into our beings, it becomes more natural for us to share that love with others. That sharing is less through our words than our actions in responding to the needs of the other.
Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman defined our friendship with Jesus, and the ideal relationship between two people when he chose his motto: Cor ad Cor Loquitur. Heart speaks unto Heart. He wrote the following prayer about friendship:
"Shine through me Jesus
and be so in me
that every soul I come in contact with
may feel your presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me,
but only You."
______________________________
 |
| Blossoming tree in the front yard. |
 |
| Tulips at the house nextdoor |
 |
| Dogwoods in front. Pushed the processing very far to get this watercolor effect as opposed to the clear blue sky that was the original background. |
 |
| Gasson Hall at the end of the main drive to BC. I suspect parents turn in, see this, and reach for the checkbook. |
 |
| St. Mary's Hall Jesuit residence. Mailbox here, frequently eat here, but don't live here. |
 |
| The entrance to St. Mary's looking toward Gasson. The tulips will be done by the end of next week and replaced with something pink. |
No comments:
Post a Comment