Commentary
Sunday, 5/19/2019, Fifth Sunday of Easter
God Opens the Door
First Reading Commentary: Acts 14:21-27
Paul together with Barnabas continued traveling throughout Greece strengthening the spirits of the disciples, appointing elders and exhorting them to keep the faith saying, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”
We all have hardships and the hardships that we experience in everyday life are designed to keep our attention on God so that we appreciate Him as the only one who can save us from the problems that we encounter in this life. Hardships are designed to strengthen our hope of being with God in His Kingdom where there are no hardships. When we accept our hardships for the blessings that they truly are in the end, they prepare us to be with God.
But some of our hardships, we bring on ourselves through sin and the bad choices that we make. Those hardships are not the blessings designed to keep our focus on God relying on Him for help. The hardships that we bring on ourselves are a result of the evil one getting into our heads and conning us into making bad decisions.
That brings us to the heart of what Paul was talking about when he said that it is necessary for us to undergo hardships. He was talking about religious persecution brought on by those who have allowed themselves to be conned by the devil. If we are to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, we have to stand up to those who will criticize us and persecute us for our faith.
Paul and Barnabas prayed and fasted and allowed God to let them know who He had set aside to be elders then Paul and Barnabas prepared the new elders to go out to the public and become evangelists proclaiming the good news. They were given the authority and the responsibility of promoting the growth of the Church.
If someone came to you and told you that you have been chosen by God to carry out the task of growing the church, how would you respond? Would you question how this person knows that God has chosen you? Of course, it makes sense to want to know that there is some legitimacy and credibility to this person who is telling you that you have been selected to such a high honor. Thing is; you never know when, where, why, how or through whom God will speak to you. So, in the end, it is a matter of faith.
So how would you react? What if it meant turning your life upside-down? Would you be willing to do that for God? What if it meant listening to criticism from your friends and family? Could you and would you be willing to stand up to the pressure? Would you ask, “why me”?
Think about Mary when the angel Gabriel came to her. Her faith was not shaken in the least. In her human curiosity, she wanted to know how she could be with child since she was a virgin but in her faith; she knew that nothing was impossible for God. So, when Gabriel said that to Mary, she said, “May it be done to me according to your word.”
Mary gave the right answer and set an example for all of us to follow. We do not know if any of the elders that God chose through Paul and Barnabas rejected the calling but we do know that the Church grew.
Paul and Barnabas continued their travels in Greece and then sailed back to Antioch in Syria. That is where Paul and Barnabas had been commissioned by the Christians to spread the good news to the Gentiles and they were commended to the grace of God for their work. They reported to the Church what God had done with them and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
Paul and Barnabas were commended but notice that they reported that God opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. They did not take the credit themselves. That is humility but more importantly, we know that all good things come from God. It was God’s work. It was God reaching out to all of His children and not just the Jews so that is the way that Paul and Barnabas reported it.
Anytime something good happens in our lives, it is God’s work. It may be the result of something that we do on our own or it may be the result of something that someone else does. Whatever the sequence of events; that lead up to something good for us; it is God’s work and we should never discredit that. All we have to do is give God His praise and glory for opening another door for us and say, “Thank You.”
God’s Place Is with the Human Race
Second Reading Commentary: Revelation 21:1-5a
John saw a new heaven and a new earth. The old heaven and earth had passed away and the sea was no more. A New Jerusalem came down from heaven adorned as a bride and a voice from the throne said, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race.”
In this vision of heaven by John, it is clear that Christ is the groom and the Church (the people) is the bride. This is at the core of many of the Church’s teachings and beliefs and is consistent with Jesus’ teaching on marriage and divorce, Matthew 19:1-12, and that teaching, is consistent with the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ—Christ and the Church as One Body.
Before our Savior was born, we knew that He would be known as Emmanuel—God is with us. From His throne in heaven, God tells us that His dwelling place is with us.
All believers spend their lives preparing themselves to be with God in heaven and we should. But the beauty of it all is the fact that God has decreed Himself that His dwelling place is with us. What better reason could there possibly be for wanting to get to heaven?
The voice went on to say that God will wipe every tear from the eyes of the people, that there will be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain because the old order has passed away and the One on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”
Just stop and meditate on that for a moment. Try to imagine the most beautiful place in existence, a place where there is nothing but absolute perfection, peace and happiness. I have a tough time trying to imagine just what such a place looks like or would be like because our human minds cannot totally conceive the greatness, the happiness, thee beauty and the peace of heaven.
What I do know is that heaven is infinitely better than anything here on earth today. But I am sure that we all can imagine a place where there is no war, no poverty and no crime of any kind. I can imagine that and would love to be in such a place.
In last week’s commentary I said that Revelation is the most beautiful book of the bible. Today we are given more reasons why that, is true. The promise was renewed to wipe away every tear, Jesus proclaimed that He makes all things new and God decreed that His place is with us.
John was blessed with the opportunity of seeing the New Jerusalem—the Kingdom of Heaven in all of its splendor and beauty so that he could tell us about it. We should have but one priority in this life and that is to make ourselves ready for the next life.
It’s All About, Love
Gospel Commentary: John 13:31-33a, 34-35
Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and God will glorify him at once.” Simply put, The Father and the Son are glorified in each other and that is because they are; One.
Then Jesus told the disciples that He was only going to be with them for a little while longer and gave them this commandment, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples…”
If we believe in Jesus and follow His commandment of love, He will be glorified in us and we will be glorified in Him. Jesus is telling us today that the way to achieve this glory is to love each other as He loves us. Jesus is telling us that no matter how much we pray or go to church or try to live our lives apart from sin, if we do not love each other, we cannot be glorified in Him.
In previous commentaries, I have pointed out that we cannot love God if we do not love each other and we cannot love each other if we do not love God. They go hand in hand and one depends on the other. The disciples needed to depend on each other in order to get over Jesus leaving them and in order to carry out their ministries. Jesus wanted the disciples to understand this when He commanded them to love each other after the Last Supper.
We need to depend on each other too. There is no such thing for any of us as never needing help or assistance from someone else. Jesus does not want us to help each other because it is a nice thing to do or because it may seem like the right thing to do. Jesus wants us to be there for each other and have each other’s back because we love each other.
But what is really important is that Jesus does not want us to love each other because He commands us to do so. Jesus wants us to love each other because we desire to be glorified in Him and have Him glorified in us.
Two saints who definitely got this right immediately come to mind when I think about this. They are St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta and St. Katharine Drexel. We do not have to go to the extremes that they did but the genuine love of our fellow human being should be in our hearts just as it was in theirs.
