Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 9, 2010
St. Agnes Church, Cincinnati
(Based on Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23; John 14:23-29)
Isn’t it interesting? Here we only a few weeks into the joyful celebration of the Easter season; we’ve been reading that exciting story in the Acts of the Apostles about the growth of the early Jesus movement after Pentecost – and the church puts before us the story of conflict and dissension among those believers who we romantically imagine as having it ‘all together’! And not only that, we hear that the whole fight is being stirred up by a group of busy-bodies, the sort of people who seem to have nothing better to do than go around checking up to see that everybody else is keeping the rules – as defined by the gripers, of course.
Things don’t change much, do they?
It’s a lumpy collection of very imperfect humans that the Lord has chosen to do the work of spreading the word about the Kingdom.
But this was not the garden-variety kind of church food-fight we’re all too familiar with.. It may help us to get a better perspective on what was going on and how great the stakes were if we try to put ourselves in the shoes of some of the players in the struggle.
Imagine that you are a God-seeking Jew of that time. You hear of a certain wilderness preacher who’s drawing big crowds. You go to hear him challenge some of the corrupt practices of the Jewish religious leadership, things that you’ve felt yourself. Maybe you join the movement then. Or perhaps you sit back and watch as he is brought down in disgrace and then you hear that he has returned to life, so now you make the leap to follow him. Probably at the cost of alienation from your family or friends.
It’s all very exciting. The numbers grow dramatically. Leaders in the movement are performing miracles themselves.
Then you pick up a disturbing note. Some of the leaders are reported to have sat at dinner in the homes of – Gentiles! And not only that. They have welcomed such people into our community – without circumcising them!
Now wait a minute! Circumcision isn’t just some nice custom, it’s what defines us! We thought this was only a reform movement. It was going to clean up what had gotten untidy. Jesus was the savior of I srael . This is sounding like a new faith. We’re making all these changes so as not to burden these people? Is this what I signed up for? I mean, it’s all exciting – but at what price? Who are we? What’s essential? Does anything go?
In hindsight we know, of course, what was happening. The community of Jesus’ followers was gradually discovering the full implications of following him. They were learning that God had a different plan and it involved a costly new way.
In the selection we heard from Acts we were only getting the last phase of what happened. The leaders of the community had recognized the seriousness of the situation and convened a serious assembly in Jerusalem. The passage we heard tells us how they resolved the question at the level of behaviors to be expected of converts from the Gentiles. But it doesn’t tell us the principles on which they made their decision. For that we have to go back to the account of the meeting itself.
There we hear Peter defend his practice of receiving the Gentiles:
“My brothers, you are well aware that from early days God made his choice among you that through my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness by granting them the Holy Spirit just as he did us. He made no distinction between us and them, for by faith he purified their hearts. Why, then, are you now putting god to the test by placing on the shoulders of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they.” (15:7-11)
And at the same assembly James, who was the leader of the Jerusalem community, appealed to the prophet Joel to show them that the plan had been there in their sacred writings all along:
“After this I shall return
and rebuild the fallen hut of David;
From its ruins I shall rebuild it
and raise it up again,
So that the rest of humanity may seek out the Lord,
even all the Gentiles on whom my name is invoked.
Thus says the Lord who accomplishes these things,
known from of old.” (15:16-17)
We are saved “in the same way as they.” And James concludes by saying, “we ought to stop troubling the Gentiles who turn to God” except for requiring a very few simple conditions. And in the actual letter the leaders make it even clearer: “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities. . . . If you keep free of these, you will be doing what is right.” (15:28-29)
It’s all about the question: what’s essential and what is good but only custom ? And we have circled around that question and fought the same fight down across the centuries, just changing the content each time.
There were those who thought that in order to be baptized you had to make an adult commitment of faith, so they rejected infant Baptism and became ‘the Baptists.’ And there were those who said even that wasn’t enough: you had to immerse people fully and not just pour water over their heads, so they split and became ‘the Dunkers.’ And the church didn’t always get it right: when Matteo Ricci told Rome that China was ripe for conversion, the authorities said it all had to be done with Western clothes and rites. And in our own day it was only very recently that people with a mental handicap could be confirmed in the faith. And we even have bishops today who are ready to deny Eucharistic Communion to those who disagree with their political stances.
In each instance there were serious people who made accidentals, prevailing customs and practices, into essential conditions for membership in the community. In the heat of conflict the church forgot the pastoral wisdom of the Holy Spirit and church leaders in Acts: no unnecessary burdens! But again and again, over time that wisdom would not be denied; the consciousness of the community became clear and unnecessary burdens were lifted.
It’s all about the question: what is essential? And how do we know?
And in today’s Gospel Jesus give us the answer: the one essential is the same today as it always was: that we keep true to his word. And how do we do that? By listening to the voice of his Spirit. As he celebrates his final meal with his disciples Jesus tells us that he will not leave us orphans. He will return in an even more intimate form than they knew, in the Holy Spirit poured out on us, his church.
And remember, the ‘Spirit’ is not, as some people would like it to be, some fuzzy kind of ethereal sense that absolves them of responsibility: “Oh, I have the Spirit, I’m free of all this negative stuff!” The Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus of Nazareth. He assures us that the Spirit will keep fresh in our minds and hearts “all that I told you.” The true Spirit always leads us back to the example, to the mind and heart, of Jesus. And in the Letter to the Philippians Paul shares with us a very early hymn of the Christian community:
“Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. . . .” (Phil 2:5-9)
These are not easy times for us. The scandal of abuse of children by priests and the failure of church leaders can leave us numb and bewildered: is this who we are? It is in times like these that we are being challenged by the Lord to strip away all that is not essential, to become centered once again on the core of our faith.
You now, we can make idols of the externals, like the pope and the hierarchy, and statistics, and buildings, and ways of praying. I used to wonder why the first commandment had to do with idols. I mean, isn’t that for those primitive times? In our day we don’t carve statues and adore them. It’s only through reflecting on life over the years that I have come to recognize why its’ the first commandment. It’s because it stands over against our deepest form of sin: placing other realities ahead of God.
When we hold our Advent and Lenten penance services the presider leads us in an examination of conscience. You know the questions: “Was I impatient with my children? Did I gossip? Did I do a full days’ work for my employer? Did I abuse alcohol or sex?” Things like that. Maybe it should lead off with the question: What idols did I make this year to avoid confronting the Lord’s call and challenge?
As we prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit in a couple weeks at Pentecost. let’s pray that we may be given the gift to keep focused on what is essential and not get sidetracked by all the rest. That we may keep our eyes on the prize, the “one thing necessary”: that we be consumed with love for the Lord and die to ourselves in service of our sisters and brothers.
Amen?