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Paul- speaking truth to power- Friday, 4th Week of Easter- Acts 13:26-33

The lectionary breaks down the long homily of Paul into three parts. Today we hear the second part of the homily. Paul, in narrating salvation history, invites the listener to accept the reality of Jesus and His mission which was for “the forgiveness of sins” (13:38), and which would come about, through “a baptism of repentance” as preached by John the Baptist (13:24).

As I said yesterday, in proclaiming this salvation history, Paul does not fight shy to assign blame where it lies. Having already confronted his listeners to what God had to “put up with” – the Israelites (13:18) and by extension the people, he now lays the blame once again on the Jewish religious class for killing Jesus.

Paul reminds the Jews in Antioch of Pisidia of their great lineage; they are descendants of Abraham. In doing this he cleverly lays ground for the Jews in this region to distance themselves from the actions of “the residents of Jerusalem and their leaders” (verse 27) who “did not recognize Jesus, or understand the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath”.

Paul not only exonerates the Jews of Antioch, but in a way encourages them to disassociate with the murderous actions of their “bothers in Jerusalem”, “who asked Pilate to have him killed”(verse28), even though they found no guilt in Him. For a people under Roman oppression, the actions of their brothers in Jerusalem, that of betraying a fellow Jew to Pilate, the enemy, was tantamount to treachery and betrayal.

This is not the first time we see Paul so masterfully place his case before the people. He who was a lettered man will later tactfully incite the differences between the Pharisees and Sadducees in a trial in which they plotted to bring him down. It is sufficient to say that the children of this world are therefore not to think of themselves as mere lambs before the slaughter or as innocent as doves, without acknowledging their call to also be as wise as serpents in the face of their accusers.

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Change of guard-Thursday, 4th Week in Easter, Acts 13:13-25

Just to recap where we are. A great persecution has broken out in Jerusalem under King Herod, who had James the apostle beheaded. So pleased was he with the response of the Jewish authorities that he had Peter imprisoned with the intention of killing him too. But that night, while the Church prayed for Peter, an angel of the Lord released him and he took refuge in the home of the mother of St (John) Mark (the evangelist) and later went to Caesarea. Herod soon met his fate and was struck down by the Lord.

In all of this, Saul and Barnabas left Antioch for Jerusalem, taking with them John, who’s other name, was Mark (the evangelist). Remaining in Antioch were prophets and teachers (13:1) who, while in prayer, were instructed by the Holy Spirit to set apart Barnabas and Saul for the mission to Seleucia, Cyprus, Salamis and Paphos. After completing this mission, they finally arrived in Perga in Pamphylia where after traveling due north into the interior for over a hundred miles, our pericope for today brings Paul and Barnabas to the city of Antioch in Pisidia.

As I said before, there were several cities built by Seleucus Nicator (Greek ruler), and named after his father, Antiochus (Antioch). Under Augustus (Roman ruler), they had attracted a considerable Jewish population, among whom our missionaries had made many converts; and among the Gentiles, many proselytes. This explains the synagogue in Antioch where Paul and Barnabas arrive on the Sabbath.

At once you will realise that even though in Chapter 11:26 we are told they are “called Christians”, we can see that the Jewish character of the Early Church was firmly stuck with the apostle and disciples. Perhaps it was after the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem, that a clear break from worship in the synagogues took place.

There is also an interesting shift in the Church to be noted in today’s pericope. In Chapter 13:9 we are told that Saul is also known as Paul, and with this we see a change in the hierarchy of the Church. So far Barnabas has led the Church in mission; it was always Barnabas(first) and (then) Paul (Acts 11:30,12:25, 13:2 and 7), but now in 13:13 our pericope opens with a new leadership, “Paul and Barnabas” (see also 13:42,46,50 and also Acts 15:2, 22 and 35).

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 On your mark, get set…… Feast of St Mark the Evangelist-Mark 16:15-20

References to St. Mark are peppered through the New Testament. He is first encountered immediately after St James has been martyred (Chapter 12) in the Acts of the Apostles and he is referred to as John Mark. Luke who is the author of Acts records this in context of Peter’s release from prison. On realising that he was not dreaming about his release from prison, Peter “went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark.” Mark’s home was the home of refuge for many for we are told that “many had gathered there in prayer.” The epistles of saints Peter and Paul also refer to Mark simply as “Mark”. It is Mark who wrote the first Gospel and later became the first bishop of Alexandria, Egypt.

From scripture we know that Mark plays an important role in the Church. He is made mention of in the travels of St Paul and Barnabas who was a close associate of Paul.   After their mission in Antioch (Acts 12:25) Barnabas and Paul return to Jerusalem with Mark.  Mark, however, did not complete his travels with these apostles, eventually causing a significant falling out between Paul and Barnabas: And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Come, let us return and visit the brethren in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are. “And Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark.

 But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp contention, so that they separated from each other; Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of the Lord [Acts 13:36-40]. One reason Barnabas may have been more favourably disposed to Mark is that he was his cousin, as we learn from Paul’s letters.

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No solo artist, this one – Tuesday, 4th Week of Easter- Acts 11:19-26

The pericope of today would be akin to a movie flashback. Suddenly we are taken back to chapter seven where the story had branched off with Philip’s ministry to the Samaritans and the eunuch of Ethiopia. Now we are brought back to the moment where the Church was scattered following the martyrdom of Stephen.

We were told in chapter seven that barring the apostles who stayed in Jerusalem, the rest were scattered. This scattering must not be seen as an abandonment of the faith, for the disciples continued to preach in the name of Jesus with great success, a case in point being Philip himself.

We are also told that the other (unnamed) disciples went to Phoenicia, located along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea stretching through what is now Syria, Lebanon and northern Israel. There were some who also went to Cyprus and Antioch. The early Church was convinced that the mission of Christ was to be preached only to the Jews and this they did faithfully (verse19). But the Lord had other plans for His Church.

We read in this pericope, that some from Cyprus and Cyrene (in modern-day Libya) who heard the word (perhaps Gentile converts to Judaism) took this message to the Hellenists (Greek speakers) in  Antioch. I am so tempted to think of these people as the first “lay catechists” of the Church, for while the disciples had a one track agenda of evangelization, the Lord used people with a Gentile background to speak to the Gentiles. The connection must have been instant, for we are told that a “great number became believers and turned to the Lord.” (verse24).

So successful were these “lay catechists” that on hearing the news in Jerusalem, the apostles sent Barnabas to Antioch. This is the third time we hear of Barnabas in the Acts of the Apostles, and we always hear his name spoken well. It is he who sold his land and laid the proceeds at the apostles’ feet (4:36-37) and who vouched for the authenticity of Saul’s transformation before the apostles in Jerusalem (9:27). Now he is mentioned as a “good man full of the Holy Spirit and faith” (verse 24).

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Them and Us- Monday, 4th Week of Easter- Acts 11:1-18

Most Christians are prone to believing that there is one and only one Pentecost in the Bible; namely the Jerusalem Pentecost, which has found its way in many works of art. Yet the Acts of the Apostles is called ‘the book of the Holy Spirit,’ for precisely this reason that the book resounds with the work of the Spirit descending on the Church at several places and times.

In the Acts we hear of the Samaritan Pentecost (chapter 8) and the Gentile Pentecost (Chapter 10), thus making it clear as Peter said, “that God shows no partiality”(10:34). But this fact was hard to digest for the circumcised believers (Jews who now followed Jesus). So what really was their problem?

Leviticus 11 made clear that one was prohibited from eating certain animals that the Gentiles had no problem relishing (the pig being one of them.) For a Jew to sit at the same table with a Gentile was itself unthinkable. To eat from the same table, food that was prohibited, was considered an abomination. No wonder then that Peter got anything but a hero’s welcome when returning to Jerusalem; for he had gone down on two counts irrespective of the successful mission that had brought so many to the Lord.

Peter does not take the “criticism” personally or give into his own temper tantrum, the once knife wielding, ear cutting aggressive man has now been transformed by His own personal Pentecost. This is a transformed Peter with the gift of wisdom for he now “explains to them step by step” the events that led him to not only go to the uncircumcised, but also eat with them.

Make no mistake, the Holy Spirit requires our openness, and Peter himself did not get the message all at once – the message that God wanted him to take His Word and mission to the uncircumcised. By Peter’s own admission he says, “three times “he was told that what God had made everything clean and hence he must not call them profane.” Peter acknowledges how long it took him to be open to the new direction the Spirit was leading him to, and so he gets it when the disciples at Jerusalem are mad at him and reluctant to accept his actions so quickly.

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