Commentary
Sunday, 5/21/2017, Sixth Sunday of Easter
Faith in God = Heaven = Eternal Joy
First Reading Commentary Acts 8:5-8, 14-27
In today’s reading from Acts of the Apostles, we learn about the ministry of Philip, who was one of the first seven deacons of the Church, in Samaria where he went and performed many miracles. He drove demons out of people, healed many paralyzed and crippled people and because of Philip’s ministry, the people in Samaria were filled with joy.
If you read the beginning of this chapter, you will find that this occurs after the martyrdom of St. Stephen and Saul was still conducting his persecution of the Church. In fact, Acts 8:1 tells us that there was such a great reign of terror against the Church that people fled Jerusalem and were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria.
But Philip was dedicated and committed to the ministry given to him and did as Jesus had asked when He told the Apostles to go out and teach all nations. The Samaritans and the Jews did not get along with each other but that did not stop Philip either as he conducted his ministry by reaching out to everyone in the same way that Jesus did. Remember the Woman at the Well who was a Samaritan and the way that Jesus reached out to her?
This powerful ministry of Philip in Samaria should remind us of something else too. Remember that the people of Nazareth would not listen to Jesus because they could not get past seeing Him as the son of a carpenter. Remember too, that Jesus was a Jew and it was the Jews who put Jesus to death.
Again, we see that sometimes those who are closest to us are the least willing to listen to us. It does not matter how hard we try or how convincing our argument or how correct we may be, they simply will not listen. Jesus did much more than: try and He was much more than convincing or correct. After all of Jesus’ teachings, great works and Resurrection from the cross, there were many Jews who refused to believe. And yet, when Philip brought the gospel to Samaria and performed his great works, the people there were filled with joy.
They took the time to listen and they opened their hearts and believed. As a result, they reaped the rewards. The persecutors of the Church had nothing to offer but terror because of their wickedness. The point being, that wickedness will bring about great suffering but holiness will bring about happiness, joy and the eternal reward of heaven.
Acts 8:14-17 tells us that Peter and John went to Samaria and prayed for the people there so that they would receive the Holy Spirit because they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Peter and John also laid hands on the people and they received the Holy Spirit. In other words, Peter and John baptized the people and conferred the Sacrament of Confirmation on them.
During the time of the early Church and in fact, for many years, it was the bishop who would baptize and confirm new members of the Church. This would explain why before Peter and John went to Samaria, the people were only baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When they were baptized by Peter and John, they were baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And, when Peter and John laid hands on the people, they received the Sacrament of Confirmation and they were strengthened with the Holy Spirit.
But the important message for us in this event is that God is there for anyone who is willing to accept Him. God does not care where we come from or what our culture may be. God does not care what our beliefs may be before we are introduced to Him. God does not care if we are rich or poor. God created all of us and God only cares about our complete faith in Him.
Evangelize with Your Eye on the Prize
Second Reading Commentary 1 Peter 3:15-18
In his first letter, Peter tells us to always be ready to give an explanation for our hope. What he is really telling us is to always be ready to evangelize as we are called to do by our baptism. Peter is telling us to be ready to share our faith with anyone who may ask.
When we are asked questions about our religion by someone who professes a different religion, it is because they are hungry for the knowledge or they are looking for us to give them ammunition that they can use against us in an argument about our religion. We need to be able to tell the difference between the two before we respond but sometimes, that is hard to do.
So, Peter tells us to evangelize with gentleness and reverence keeping our conscience clear. Think about it. Does God want us to argue with each other about the way that we choose to profess our faith? If we allow ourselves to get into arguments about our faith, are we doing what Jesus would do? The answer to both questions is: no.
Jesus never wasted His time arguing with anyone and instructed His disciples and the Apostles to do the same when He told them to shake the dust off of their sandals at anyone who refused to listen.
Peter tells us that those who criticize and persecute us for our faith and religion will be put to shame. But we should not waste our energy trying to put them to shame because it is not our place. To do so would pass judgment and that authority lies with Jesus and only Jesus. Furthermore, if we allow ourselves to be engaged in such confrontations, we allow ourselves to promote the devil’s work. One of the devil’s weapons against us is: divide and conquer and we should always resist allowing the devil to use that weapon against us or to use us as pawns in causing division among us.
Peter reminds us that there is a much bigger prize than the personal satisfaction of winning an argument. That prize is the fulfillment of the promise of heaven. Christ suffered and was Resurrected in the Spirit so that He could open the gates of heaven for us and that is the Good News that we have to share. Some people will accept that truth and others will not. Either way, we should never take our eyes off of the prize.
The Way It Is
Gospel Commentary John 14:15-21
In last Sunday’s gospel, Jesus told us that He would prepare a place in His Father’s house and come back to take us there. In today’s gospel, Jesus tells us how to follow Him and promises to send the Advocate who will help us. Jesus made it very clear when He said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Sounds simple and it is but the message is a lot deeper than the words say by themselves.
We should obey the Commandments because it is the right thing to do and because we love Jesus which means that we love God and the first Commandment tells us to do that. We cannot obey any of the other Commandments if we do not obey the first one. Whenever we break any of the Commandments, we break the first one because our disobedience is a demonstration of our lack of love of God.
You may ask, “How can this be” and I will ask, “How can you love someone who you do not respect?” It is possible to respect someone who you do not love but it is very difficult if not impossible to love someone without respecting them. Therefore, you do not love God if you do not respect Him enough to obey Him.
But we are all sinners, which means that all of us break the Commandments and most of us break at least one of the Commandments every day. We may not want to but in our humanity, we are weak and we sin.
It is for that reason that Jesus made Himself the first Advocate and took our sins to the cross. But Jesus did not stop there. Jesus promised to send another Advocate who would stay with us and today’s gospel is not the only time that Jesus made that promise.
Our Advocate is the Holy Spirit who is with us always as Jesus promised and works inside of our conscience. It is the Holy Spirit who always encourages us to stay away from sin and encourages us to repent when we do sin.
Jesus also promised once again that He will come again. Jesus said, “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.” When Jesus makes His second coming, the mystery of the Trinity will be revealed and we will see all three persons in one God.
What Jesus said also calls to mind that as members of the Church, we are all part of the Mystical Body of Christ which means that we are one with Him. This becomes very real in a physical way when we partake in the Eucharist as the living Body of Christ enters our bodies.
But Jesus also said, “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me…will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” In other words, if we want the Trinity to be revealed to us and be with the Trinity in heaven, we must demonstrate our love for God by obeying His Commandments.
A good parent does everything they can for their children and all that they want in return is love, respect and obedience from their children. It is exactly that way between us and God.
