20240502 SEEKING CLEAR DIRECTIVES FOR THE MISSION
02 May 2024, Thursday, 5th Week of Eastertide
First reading | Acts 15:7-21 © |
I rule that we do not make things more difficult for the pagans who turn to God
After the discussion had gone on a long time, Peter stood up and addressed the apostles and the elders.
‘My brothers,’ he said ‘you know perfectly well that in the early days God made his choice among you: the pagans were to learn the Good News from me and so become believers. In fact God, who can read everyone’s heart, showed his approval of them by giving the Holy Spirit to them just as he had to us. God made no distinction between them and us, since he purified their hearts by faith. It would only provoke God’s anger now, surely, if you imposed on the disciples the very burden that neither we nor our ancestors were strong enough to support? Remember, we believe that we are saved in the same way as they are: through the grace of the Lord Jesus.’
This silenced the entire assembly, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul describing the signs and wonders God had worked through them among the pagans.
When they had finished it was James who spoke. ‘My brothers,’ he said ‘listen to me. Simeon has described how God first arranged to enlist a people for his name out of the pagans. This is entirely in harmony with the words of the prophets, since the scriptures say:
After that I shall return
and rebuild the fallen House of David;
I shall rebuild it from its ruins
and restore it.
Then the rest of mankind,
all the pagans who are consecrated to my name,
will look for the Lord,
says the Lord who made this known so long ago.
‘I rule, then, that instead of making things more difficult for pagans who turn to God, we send them a letter telling them merely to abstain from anything polluted by idols, from fornication, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For Moses has always had his preachers in every town, and is read aloud in the synagogues every sabbath.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 95(96):1-3,10 © |
Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.
or
Alleluia!
O sing a new song to the Lord,
sing to the Lord all the earth.
O sing to the Lord, bless his name.
Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.
or
Alleluia!
Proclaim his help day by day,
tell among the nations his glory
and his wonders among all the peoples.
Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.
or
Alleluia!
Proclaim to the nations: ‘God is king.’
The world he made firm in its place;
he will judge the peoples in fairness.
Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Acclamation |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Christ has risen, he who created all things,
and has granted his mercy to men.
Alleluia!
Or: | Jn10:27 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice,
says the Lord,
I know them and they follow me.
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 15:9-11 © |
Remain in my love
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘As the Father has loved me,
so I have loved you.
Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments
you will remain in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments
and remain in his love.
I have told you this
so that my own joy may be in you
and your joy be complete.’
SEEKING CLEAR DIRECTIVES FOR THE MISSION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ACTS 15:7-21; PS 96:1-3,10; JOHN 15:9-11]
In the early Church, the Christians came to a critical point of their development which would determine how the Church would grow or remain a sect within Judaism. Christianity had spread beyond Palestine. Not only had the Samaritans welcomed the gospel, even the Jews in the Greek colonies and the Greeks themselves were receptive to the message. However, it was both a blessing and a threat to the unity of the community. A blessing because it provided the community the possibility of becoming a universal religion; a threat because it compromised the 2000 years of Jewish traditions that many of the Jewish Christians were brought up in.
So it is a matter of how they saw themselves as a religion. On one hand, it has been said many times in the scriptures that Jesus was the fulfillment of Judaism. This has been mentioned in the early preaching of the apostles, including Paul, when they would trace the new-found religion to the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Jesus was always proclaimed as the Messiah which was foretold by the prophets and proven so by His passion, death and resurrection. So, Christianity in one sense was not a completely new religion but, in their perspective, a continuation and a fulfillment of the salvific plan of God. Christianity originally was never meant to be another religion. So it is natural for the Jewish Christians to presume that the Jewish traditions would continue, but with Jesus as the Messiah.
On the other hand, when Christianity was embraced by non-Jews, or those who had lost the Jewish traditions, such customary practices were alien and unappreciated by them. Their faith was founded on Christ, not on the Jewish traditions, even though they recognized Christ as the fulfillment of the Divine plan, beginning with the call of Abraham. But their perception of Christ was more as the descendant of Adam, as we note in the genealogy of the gospel of St Luke, in contrast with St Matthew’s writing to the Jews where the ancestry of Jesus was traced to Abraham. This was the reason for the lack of appreciation of the Jewish customary practices, which were elaborated beyond the basic principles or commandments given by Moses.
Hence, the question asked is, what does it mean to be faithful to the commandments of God? In the gospel, Jesus made it clear, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you and your joy be complete.'” The condition of remaining in the love of God is to keep the commandments of God. But what are these commandments? For the early Church, these commandments could no longer be the Jewish customary laws. They were outdated, and designed more to protect the identity of the Jews in the application of the Old Testament Laws, and also for hygienic reasons.
As far as the Gentile Christians were concerned, circumcision, for example, was no longer relevant because one is saved in Christ and not through the laws, including circumcision. So too all the dietary laws no longer applied to them. Salvation is no longer through the observance of the laws of the Old Testament but faith in Christ. However, those universal principles of giving honour to God and the moral precepts in dealing with their neighbors given by Moses would still apply according to their situation. So it is not that all of the Old Testament were irrelevant but only those that were prescribed by the religious leaders as they sought to apply them specifically to their community. Hence, for the Gentile Christians, observance of the commandments was more on the Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount, including the Beatitudes as taught by the Lord. By obeying the teaching of Christ, it was sufficient, and there was no need to go beyond such precepts as instructed.
In a nutshell, what was of grave importance to the Gentile Christians was the observance of the universal and eternal principles as summed up by Jesus in His response to the Scribe who asked our Lord, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Mt 22:36-40) This teaching of Jesus of course is not entirely new because Jesus juxtaposed these two commandments together as found in Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.
Consequently, in seeking for clear direction for the Church to move forward, the apostles gathered together in Jerusalem to consider the position of the Gentile Christians. Firstly, they gathered together in prayer. It was important that they sought the Lord together, not through clever arguments and debates but in prayer. It is critical that in any decision-making, it cannot be done merely through logical thinking, but we need the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit. That was why at the end of the decision-making they said, “For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.” (Acts 15:28f)
Secondly, they began by referring to their experience of how God was working in their lives and in their mission. Peter traced his proposal of accepting the Gentiles from his vision and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the house of Cornelius. “My brothers, you know perfectly well that in the early days God made his choice among you: the pagans were to learn the Good News from me and so become believers. In fact God, who can read everyone’s heart, showed his approval of them by giving the Holy Spirit to them just as he had to us. God made no distinction between them and us, since he purified their hearts by faith. It would only provoke God’s anger now, surely, if you imposed on the disciples the very burden that neither we nor our ancestors were strong enough to support?”
Thirdly, they based their discernment on the revelation of God and made it a point to substantiate their decision as a consequence of what they discerned as coming from the Lord through the scriptures and their experiences. St James endorsed Peter’s discernment when he said, “Simeon has described how God first arranged to enlist a people for his name out of the pagans. This is entirely in harmony with the words of the prophets, since the scriptures say: After that I shall return and rebuild the fallen House of David; I shall rebuild it from its ruins and restore it. Then the rest of mankind, all the pagans who are consecrated to my name, will look for the Lord, says the Lord who made this known so long ago.”
Finally, in providing directions for the Christian community, they did not go down to specifics. Instead, they provided general guidelines, as different communities had different sensitivities. They just asked them to observe certain sensitivities if they were with the Jews when they were eating together. Likewise, the Jews had to learn to compromise and accept that circumcision was not necessary for membership in the New People of God because entry is by baptism through faith in Christ. What is more important is that they observed the precepts of our Lord, and as the Lord said, to fulfill the laws by going beyond mere observance to the spirit of the Laws. It is love of God and our fellowmen that makes the fulfillment of the laws complete. The Lord reiterates, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5:17,19,20) We must therefore apply the laws intelligently to the concrete situation we are in, guided by the Spirit of Christ in obedience to the Father’s will.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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