Opinion

No jokes please, just break The Word

About a year and a half ago I felt convicted by the Lord to start breaking ‘The Word’ at mass. I am not a scripture scholar and to be honest while I passed my scripture classes in seminary with flying colours, little entered my head or my heart. If I write scripture exegesis today it is with much fear and trepidation yet with the confidence that that while the words are mine, the thoughts are His.

I always took the trouble to prepare my homilies but in time came to realise that most of them were what people wanted;  interesting stories, jokes, anecdotes and ‘practical examples’.  For this I received much acclamation and was constantly called to preach across the Archdiocese of Bombay.

When the people of this tiny parish in Malad East, to whom I  minister ( and they do the same right back)suggested the need for a better understanding of scripture, I thought to myself, why not do it where is should be, at the time of the homily. At every Eucharist, we are fed from two tables, the table of the bread (altar) and the table of the word (lectern). The ‘breaking of The Word’ is exactly what it means, explain the scriptures. It is not a time for lengthy catechesis, not a time for imparting life skills and most certainly not a time for a moral lecture.

In the Acts of the Apostles, Phillip is led by the Spirit to approach the Ethiopian eunuch, the finance minister of the Queen of Candace. He was reading the prophet Isaiah but had no understanding of it for he says to Philip, “How can I unless someone guides me.” (Acts 8:31) And guide him, Philip did. This is the role of the priest and deacon at Mass, to explain the scriptures.

So should we not tell an anecdote at all? Should we never crack a joke or share life examples? Of course we should but the question must be asked, what drives the homily, the anecdote or the scripture? If the anecdote or example helps deepen the understanding of the scripture then by all means uses it.

When we were in seminary we were taught a method of preaching a homily. The long and short of the method was this; begin with ‘a starter’, explain the scriptures, give a few examples and perhaps share a personal example (testimony). While this sounds excellent on paper the demand for a ten minutes homily leaves the explanation of God’s Word to barely two minutes. This is certainly no feeding for a hungry flock.

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Meet Apollo(s) the man not the spacecraft Saturday, 6th Week of Easter- Acts 18:23-28

In order to fully understand this text I suggest you begin your reading from verse eighteen. Paul leaves Corinth and travels towards Antioch in Syria. He takes with him his new found companions Aquila and Priscilla who had fled the persecution of the Emperor Claudius in Rome and who had pitched their tent ( literally for they were tent makers) in Corinth.

It is in Ephesus ( Modern day Turkey) that Paul makes a brief stop and leaves Aquila and Priscilla to minster, for he is received well and even though the members of the synagogue ask him to stay, he moves on to Jerusalem via Caesarea and then to Antioch in Syria. It is in this place that they were first called Christians.

Verse 23 signals the beginning of Paul’s third missionary journey. This journey is more a ‘review and renewal’ of the Churches he established on his first missionary journey, for Paul strengthens the disciples in these Churches. It is also a journey where he makes a long stop of three years in Ephesus. (Acts 20:31), the longest he has ever stayed in any place.

For some reason, St Luke, the author of the Acts, chooses to give us a snippet into the Church of Ephesus even before Paul sets foot. Perhaps he wants to lay the background to the Church in Ephesus. We know that Paul left Aquila and Priscilla to minister in Ephesus. We are now told that in the very synagogue a Jew by the name of Apollos arrives from Alexandria.

In order to get a clearer understanding into the mind and ministry of Apollos we need to look at where he came from. Alexandria, situated on the bank of the Nile in Egypt, was in the NT a flourishing city with one third of its population being Jews. The city was culturally sought after for it had its famous library, university, lighthouse and even a museum.  This is the city that gave us the translation of the Bible from Hebrew to Greek (Septuagint)

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The march of the unqualified – Friday, 6th Week of Easter- Acts 18:9-18

Paul wore many hats, yet he was qualified to wear very few. By human standards he was qualified to be a tent maker, which was his profession. Yet in verse eleven we are told that he become a teacher of God’s Word for a year and a half.  By divine mandate he became “all things to all men” a text he quotes to this very community when he wrote the letter to the Corinthians (1Cor9:19-23). It is this divine mandate that Paul follows on his missionary journeys.

We know from Chapter 18, that Paul’s sojourn in Corinth was not an easy one. He is unwelcome in the synagogue and as a result begins to minister to the “worshippers of God”, a term used for those who were not circumcised Jews but followed the monotheistic faith and even worshipped in the synagogues. But clearly Paul was afraid, for we are told that the Lord has to convict him in his belief.

It is in a vision by night that Paul is exhorted to “not be afraid and to speak”. He receives the assurance of Jesus’ presences in his life, an assurance that he will not be harmed and we know that God keeps his promise as we will see once again in today’s narrative.

Pauls’ year and a half ministry of teaching the Word of God in Corinth (note that he is not preaching but teaching) must have borne much fruit for we are told that the Jewish authorities made a “united attack” on Paul. He is brought before the pro-council of Achaia, a man whose name was Gallio who considered these accusations as an internal matter of the Jewish faith and not those of the state.  

The reaction of the mob seems a bit odd for they take their frustrations on a man called Sosthenes, whom they beat in front of the tribunal, hoping to elicit a reaction from the pro council who did not change his judgment in spite of the mob violence. The question is who is this Sosthenes and why was he beaten?

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Blinkers for a cause- Thursday, 6th Week in Easter- Acts 18:1-8

Paul arrives in the Greek city of Corinth after a rather lukewarm response in Athens. It is here (verse eleven) that he will spend the next one and half year ministering to the Corinthians. Sometimes the ministry of a year and a half spans just seventeen verses as  it does in this chapter and hence we look at 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 to understand the challenges that this mission field faced.

Paul is joined by his companions Silas and Timothy who have joined him after the persecutions broke out in Beroea.  His mission is also greatly strengthened by his acquaintance with a couple who have had to flee Rome due to the expulsion of Jews by the Emperor Claudius.

Aquila and his wife Priscilla will  then go on,  not only become Paul’s business partners, for they shared the same trade of making tents ( verse 3) but will also become his lifelong friends. We see that Paul sends his regards to this couple in two different letters that he will later write.

Paul’s trade is not to be trivialised as some childish pastime.  Tent s were important to those who lived in this part of the world and one can safely say that Paul was in the ‘real estate business’.  In another letter he will use the analogy of trading in a tent for a permanent structure in reference to the reality of death.

However, Paul’s trade does not distract him from his principal mission and that is to proclaim the word of God (verse5) a task that mostly met with stiff opposition or indifference.  The Corinthian community was a challenge for Paul both internally and externally. As we will read, the external challenges were predictable; persecution, accusations, beatings and false trials. But from                    1 Corinthians we also know that on departing Corinth, the community began to greatly disagree with one another on practically every issue from Baptism to leadership.

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Greek to Paul! Wednesday, 6th Week of Easter- Acts 17:15, 22—18:1

Chapter seventeen sees Paul arriving in three major urban cities of Macedonia (Greece), Thessalonica (the headquarters of the Roman governor), Beroea and Athens. These are major cities that are located on the Via Egnatia (Acts 17:1) a major Roman highway connecting the eastern and western parts of the empire. In each city he follows the same modus operandi. He will go to the synagogue and preach first to the Jews arguing from scripture (not telling anecdotes or jokes). The reception he receives varies in each city.

In Thessalonica, he argues with the Jews over three Sabbaths winning some Jews and many Greeks but incurring the wrath of the Jewish authorities who are jealous of him and his mission; a wrath that seeks to turn the city upside down with mob violence. In Beroea he meets with Jews and Geeks who are receptive but his mission is brought to halt because word reaches the Jews in Thessalonica who descend with their vile ways on the people of Beroea. Finally he arrives in Athens where he preaches both in the synagogue and marketplace and is met mostly with indifference leaving him with little success in this mission field.

It is remarkable how the parable of the sower (or should I say seed) comes to life in these three mission fields of Greece. The sower is the same, the seed does not change yet the soil determines produce of the harvest.  Perhaps we ought to ask our self how truly receptive am I to God’s word rather than the dramatic style of preaching?

Our pericope today focuses on Paul who is now addressing the Greek philosophers of the Areopagus which is both a hill and a council for it is they who desire to understand his teaching. Interestingly we know that Paul is not in Athens to teach, he had to flee Beroea and was waiting for his companions, Silas and Timothy. But Paul was a man on fire and was distressed to see the Athenians worship idols and so he feels compelled to speak.

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