MAY 27, 2007: PENTECOST

Readings:
Acts 2:1-11
Romans 8:8-11
John 20:19-23

Our Christian sacred authors don't agree on a timeline for the Holy Spirit's arrival. Yet they all agree on the importance and necessity of the Spirit's presence in the community.

As we hear in our first reading from Acts, Luke locates the Spirit's arrival during the Jewish feast of Pentecost. John, in today's gospel, situates the event on Easter Sunday night. One of the reasons the "official" church bought into Luke's chronology instead of John's revolves around its desire to create a "liturgical year." It made more sense to spread out these special moments, celebrating them at different times, than to group them together in one feast.

Yet it's easy to understand why Luke chooses Pentecost and John Easter for the Spirit's arrival.

Pentecost, or Weeks, commemorates Yahweh giving the law to the Israelites on Mt. Sinai during the Exodus. That event, and the accompanying covenant, formed a band of runaway slaves into the People of Yahweh. They were now the Chosen People, picked by God to carry out God's will.

In a parallel way, Luke tells his readers the Holy Spirit transforms us into Jesus' People. The Spirit supplies the force which helps us both perceive what the risen Jesus wants us to do and gives us the power to do it.

John places Jesus' infusion of the Spirit on Easter Sunday night because the Spirit is an essential part of the new life Jesus received on that day; the life he shares with all who are willing to die with him. In other words, the Spirit helps us become other Christs.

No matter if we buy into Luke's theology or John's, or a combination of both, Paul helps us understand what it means for the Spirit to be in our lives. According to the Apostle, those who imitate Jesus quickly discover they can no longer think or reason the way they did before they began to believe. They now think about new things, and reason in new ways.

"Those who are in the flesh," Paul tells the community at Rome, "cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you . . . . For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." Just as Jesus became a "new creation" through his dying and rising, those who carry on his ministry become new creations when they imitate his dying and rising.

Through the centuries many Christians pushed the Holy Spirit to the outskirts of their faith. Once people began to regard the Galilean carpenter as a founder of a new religion instead of a proclaimer of God's present kingdom, the Spirit became more and more irrelevant. Forced by our Scriptures to acknowledge this force in the lives of Jesus' first followers, we created a yearly feast, revolved a formal sacrament around bestowing this power on young people and stressed the importance of Spirit-directed prayers during school exams. But more and more we relied on the church structures we created to guide us in the everyday living of our faith, conveniently exchanging Luke's fire, wind and noise metaphors for that of a peaceful, docile dove. We conceived of the Spirit solely as a comforter, and refused to acknowledge the Spirit as an instigator. By doing so, we exchanged the most freeing element of our faith experience for institutional security.

Perhaps one step in returning to our early Christian Spirit-filled faith would be to make Paul's statement to the church at Rome a part of our daily "spiritual" reading. "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, Abba . . . ."

MAY 20, 2007: THE ASCENSION OF JESUS

Readings:
Acts 1:1-11
Ephesians 1:17-23
Luke 24:46-53

One drawback of celebrating Jesus' ascension on the Seventh Sunday of Easter is that every three years we don't hear one of the most important readings in the Christian Scriptures: the Acts narrative of Stephen's death. Many Lucan scholars believe this passage contains the first biblical mention of the belief that when Christians die they instantly find themselves in the risen Jesus' presence. Before Luke's break-through theological insight, most followers of Jesus seem to have bought into Paul's I Thessalonians belief that they would have to wait until Jesus' Parousia before they'd have such a heavenly experience.

In our first catechism classes, many of us learned the detailed sequence of events which will take place after we die. Heaven, hell and purgatory were included in our exams. The difference between a general and particular judgment was embedded in our memory bank.

Yet, as we realize when we contrast Paul and Luke's idea about an immediate afterlife, there's no one consistent teaching on the subject running throughout our Christian Scriptures. What we learned in our catechism classes was simply a hodgepodge of ideas brought together and propounded by later theologians.

Our biblical writers weren't even consistent about the sequence of events after Jesus' resurrection. Is he still here among us, as Mark, Matthew and John teach? Or did he definitively ascend into heaven, as Luke in Acts claims? Even when we hear about an ascension, as we do in today's first and third readings, there seems to be contradictions.

In our gospel pericope, Luke appears to say Jesus ascends immediately after his Easter Sunday appearance to his disciples. But then he begins his second volume by telling us in our first reading that Jesus "presented himself alive (to his disciples) during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God." Quite a difference.

Some scholars point out we make a mistake when we presume every mention of an ascension is a definitive change of zip code. In John 20, for instance, Jesus tells Mary Magdalene he's ascending to the Father, yet returns later that evening for an upper room commissioning of his disciples. Perhaps Luke closes today's gospel by describing one of those "temporary" ascensions.

Maybe the best way to make sense out of such biblical contradictions is not to worry about them. In today's second reading, Paul, without mentioning the word "ascend," speaks about God "raising (Jesus) from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens . . . ." Yet the most important concept in this passage is the effect the risen Jesus is having in the lives of those in Paul's Ephesian community.

"May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call . . . the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe . . . ."

Is it possible through the years that Christians began to ignore the effect of the risen Jesus in their daily lives? The prerequisites for recognizing that presence were so demanding that it was easier just to adhere to a handful of rules and regulations and zero in on the rewards of the afterlife.

Those who experience Jesus working in their lives don't have to worry about what'll exactly happen in the future. They can even tolerate contradictions in their post-resurrection theologies. If Jesus is a source of life for them while they're alive, won't he also be a source of life after they die - no matter what form that life takes?

MAY 13, 2007: SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

Readings:
Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23
John 14:23-29

Karl Rahner often mentioned that there have been only four radical changes in Christianity. “The first three,” he contended, “happened in the church’s first century and a half; the fourth took place in my lifetime.”

The original two happened so early that our Christian sacred authors have to deal with them. The first sprang from Jesus’ delayed Parousia, demanding a switch from a “short term” to a “long term” faith. Paul refers to it in his first letter to the Thessalonians; the earliest Christian writing we possess. The second, the subject of today’s Acts passage, was the switch from being a Jewish to a Gentile church. (the third came in the second century, after the scriptural canon was closed, replacing Jesus and our sacred authors’ Semitic thought categories with Greek categories.)

Though some biblical writers imply these changes took place quickly and decisively, students of both Scripture and psychology know such fundamental transformations come about slowly, with much confusion and pain.

Luke ends the Jerusalem Gentile/Jew discussion by having the apostles and elders state, “. . . It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities . . . .” Though cut and dried, we know these authoritative words informing Gentiles that they didn’t have to convert to Judaism before converting to Christianity aren’t going to settle the problem once and for all. Paul’s letter to the Galatians reminds us that the “discussion and debate” lasted long into the future. Some who remembered that the historical Jesus originally intended to reform Judaism, found it difficult to share his faith with people who didn’t know how to distinguish a lox from a bagel.

The transition would have been quicker and easier had everyone shared in the visions the author of Revelation experienced. The writer steps out of this world into a place in which reality takes on a different hue. “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb. The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb.” I presume God’s will would be well-known in such a place.

John’s Jesus reminds us that we don’t share such a glorious existence on earth. We depend on the Spirit to guide us in the changes we make. “The Advocate,” Jesus promises, “the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have told you.” It’s no wonder, having lived through the first two basic changes that John goes even further in chapter 16. There Jesus proclaims, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.” It’s clear to John that sometimes the Spirit leads us to truths which seem to run counter to what they believed the historical Jesus originally wanted them to hold.

That’s why John’s Jesus places his comments about the Sprit in the love context permeating his Last Supper discourses. Jesus states, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them and make our dwelling with them.” At least 35 years before the fourth gospel, Paul demanded his Corinthian community love whenever they’re doing anything under the Spirit’s inspiration. (I Corinthians 12-14)

Given human nature, it takes a while before love of one another wins out over the dissensions and debates prompted by the Spirit.

By the way, the fourth change Fr. Rahner claimed happened in his lifetime was Vatican II’s teaching that there’s no longer a sacred culture or language. Any culture and language becomes sacred when we employ it to express our faith.

We’ve got a long way to go before we begin to accept Swahili as sacred a language as Latin. Still lots of discussion and debate.

MAY 6, 2007: FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

Readings:
Acts 14:21-27
Revelation 21:1-5a
John 13:31-33a, 34-35

Luke mentions some significant items in today’s Acts reading. Perhaps the most significant is most frequently overlooked. “After proclaiming the word in Perga (Paul and Barnabas) went down to Attalia. From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now accomplished. And when they arrived, they called the church together and reported what God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.”

The evangelist is narrating the end of what many believe is Paul’s first missionary journey. Where do Paul’s evangelizing junkets begin and end? Most falsely guess Jerusalem. Today’s Acts pericope tells us it’s Antioch.

Paul’s made such a lasting impression on Christians that we regard him to be an independent faith contractor: a proselytizing Lone Ranger, answerable to no one but God. Luke paints no such picture. In Acts, Paul is a member of the church in Antioch. He and Barnabas are sent out by that community, and, as today’s reading tells us, the pair report back to that community.

If modern Scripture scholarship teaches us anything, it’s that you can’t properly understand any biblical text without understanding the community behind the text. Early Christianity only exists within the context of communities. These churches are at the heart of the faith Jesus’ first disciples passed on to us.

The author of Revelation informs us that such communities are a prefiguring of the “new heave and new earth” which many first century Christians anticipated. They were convinced of the message which the “loud voice” proclaims in our liturgical selection. “Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.”

The only problem was that this old order didn’t instantly disappear. It continued to show itself both in the external persecution which those for whom Revelation was written endured, and in the internal tensions which threatened to tear the community apart for whom John’s gospel was composed.

This latter situation is clear from the many times the evangelist has Jesus, during the Last Supper, reminds his followers to love. “I give you a new commandment,” he states, “love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should have love for one another.” Jesus gives this command against the background of a foot washing. As I’ve mentioned before, Sister Sandra Schneiders’ 1961 Catholic Biblical Quarterly article pointed out that Jesus’ actions that night not only demonstrate that it’s the Christian community norm for “superiors” to serve “inferiors,” but, as Jesus demonstrates, such service should extend beyond the superior’s “field of expertise.”

Jesus wasn’t an expert foot washer. Yet he chose that form of service to demonstrate his command of love. As his encounter with Peter showed, he wasn’t in total control of the situation once he picked up the basin and poured water into it.

Sister Sandra insists that true Christian communities are based not just on people doing things for others, but people doing things which at times cause insecurity for the doer. That’s true love of one another - the kind of love John longs his church to experience; the kind of love Paul must have encountered in his Antioch community.

It’s interesting to speculate what Paul would have done and been had he not committed himself to that specific group of Christians, and they to him.