To read the texts click on the texts: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Rev21:10-14, 22-23; Jn 14:23-29
A priest was invited to a meal by
one of his parishioners during the season of Lent and on a Friday. He sat down
at table and was surprised when most of the dishes placed in front of him
contained meat. He remarked to the parishioner that they were in the Lenten
season and, even more significant, that the day was Friday and meat could not
be eaten. The parishioner replied, “Do not worry, father. I sprinkled some holy
water on all the meat, baptized it, and called it fish.” Did the meat become
fish? Did the priest eat the “meat”? Was he guilty of sin if he did eat? Was
the parishioner making a joke of the whole Lenten season? These are questions
for which we find responses in the readings of today.
Christianity was never meant to
be a religion of rules and regulations. More than once, Jesus encountered
people who had made rules and regulations ends in themselves. And, more than
once, indeed often, in his responses to such people, he would ask that the
focus be on love rather than on law, that it be on the person rather than on
the rule, and that it be on the heart rather than on the body. Yet, it seems
that, more and more, we continue to focus on the external rather than on the
internal.
This is evident in the first
reading of today when, a few years after the death and resurrection of Jesus,
the first Christian community is debating about what makes a Christian and a
disciple of Jesus. However, even as they debated, they realized that this is
not what Jesus had intended at all. The Spirit inspired them to change their
focus to the internal, to the heart. This is the same spirit that Jesus
promised the disciples in the Gospel text of today. This Spirit is the Spirit
of Jesus and so, will not teach something different from what Jesus taught.
Rather, the Spirit that Jesus sent, and continues to send, will reinforce and
confirm all that they have been taught by Jesus. By listening to this Spirit of
freedom, they will be empowered to keep the word spoken to them and enable
Jesus and the Father to make a home with them. The word spoken to them by Jesus
was not a set of rules and regulations. The word spoken to them was not a list
of commandments. The word spoken to them was not, primarily, a word about the
law. It was always, with Jesus, a word of love. This is why the gift that Jesus
leaves with the disciples is the gift of peace, which means wholeness and well
being. The focus of the gift is the heart.
Since this is so, the Book of
Revelation, in the second reading of today, can speak of the apostles as being
the foundations of the new Temp0le and of God and Jesus being the Temple. There
are no bricks and no walls that make up the new Temple. It is a Temple which
has as its cornerstone, Jesus himself. This new Temple will not need external
light. It will not even need the sun and the moon. Jesus will be all the light
that the Temple needs.
Why is it that, almost from the
“foundation” of Christianity, and continuing even today, the Church has focused
on externals and on what constitutes and does not constitute sin? There could
be a variety of reasons for this. The core reason, however, seems to be that,
like Jesus was misunderstood so often in his lifetime, he was misunderstood
also after his death and resurrection Instead of being content with living out
the message of love, the Church became more interested in converting others to
Jesus. Instead of showing, in and through the reality of love, what it meant to
be a disciple of Jesus, the Church focused, on merely proclaiming the word.
Instead of concentrating on Jesus and his Spirit, the Church shifted the focus
to everything else. We moved our gaze away from the crucified Jesus and risen
Christ.
What must we do to bring back
this focus? What must we do? Only one response is required: the response of
love. As Jesus lived out throughout his life, and in the face of all
opposition, the reality of unconditional and absolute love, so we, as Church,
are called to do so today. We need not concern ourselves so much with numbers
and statistics, but with living out the message that Jesus brought. We need not
concern ourselves with external conversions, but must focus more on the
conversion of the heart. We need not worry so much about eating or not eating
meat and fish and thus, what goes in, but must concentrate instead on what
comes out from within. Then, that Temple, which John speaks about in the second
reading of today, will become a reality. Then, its light will be the glory of
God and the Lamb. Then, the Spirit that Jesus sent, and continues to send even
today, will not be stifled and will be
free to transform our lives and the lives of those we encounter and so, win
them over to love.
AMEN !!!
ReplyDelete