Homily for 6th Sunday of Easter 2010

The events described in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles may seem very remote and inconsequential for us today. But the issues underlying the arguments are still very much with us. One group, Jewish converts to Christianity, was insisting that a particular traditional practice was essential for salvation, namely, circumcision. Today, also we hear of particular practices or beliefs that are claimed to be essential. For example, some bishops going to the Second Vatican Council were saying that a vernacular liturgy was an impossibility! Latin was so closely related to a Catholic identity that some could not conceive of a different Church. And some people still speak as though the Church will never prosper unless it goes back to using Latin again.

Demanding circumcision challenged faith in Jesus as the sole means of salvation. That is central to the Gospel. The risk is that many disputes within the Church today do the same thing forgetting that it is Jesus who saves.

And in the process the early Church took to resolve the dispute we see the structure of the Church beginning to evolve. The Church in Jerusalem still had a pre-eminent role in sending missionaries and resolving disputes. There in Jerusalem was held the very first, what we would now call a Church Council, presided over by the apostles and elders. Later, of course, the centre of the Church moved to Rome where Peter went. That first Council is the basis of every Council ever since although the apostles would not recognise the Church now. Our reading today omits all the discussion that took place merely giving the decisions that were taken to resolve the problem.

It is interesting to see what the meeting in Jerusalem decided. Again, the requirements they set down seem remote and unimportant to us. Perhaps, even more strange to us is what they did not say. They could have laid down a lot of thing. But the criterion was that they not impose unnecessary burdens on people especially gentile converts. Would not that principle was invoked more often today. The Church confirmed Paul and Barnabas in saying that Gentiles did not have to be circumcised. In one fell swoop this decision meant that salvation was for all, not just Jews. It meant that women could also be equal members of the Church. The Church would now not be seen as just another Jewish sect, of which there were a number, but would be a movement in its own right.

All the apostles asked was that Gentiles abstain from eating meat that had been offered to pagan idols and then sold in the marketplace, abstain from meat from which the blood had not been drained, and from eating animals that had been strangled. And finally abstaining from marriage within the degrees of blood relationship forbidden in the laws laid down in Leviticus (18:6-18). That is what is meant by "fornication" in the reading. It is not fornication as we understand it today.

Underlying all those requirements is a sense of the sacredness of life. Blood was seen as the life force in a person. And secondly a care to avoid compromising faith in Christ with too much a familiarity with other pagan values. We still have our pagan idols of all kinds which tempt us. So the demands made were not ones which excluded people but enabled the Church to include those who were different.

Christian Baptism is an inclusive sacrament. There is nothing physical or psychological, race or gender which could make a person ineligible for Baptism and hence be offered salvation. Faith in Jesus is always central.

As if to underline this, our reading from the Apocalypse describes John's vision of the new Jerusalem coming from God. What he is trying to say is very much the same as Jesus says in the Gospel today. God wants to make his home with his people. Over the twelve gates of the heavenly city on earth were inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. And on the twelve foundation stones of the city walls were inscribed the names of the twelve apostles. So the Christian Church does not meant to destroy the faith of Judaism but gives it a new foundation, namely Jesus Christ.

And this new city is God condescending to come down to our level in Jesus and dwell with us. So that the intimacy that exists in God between Father and Son is shared with us through the Holy Spirit.

We are seen as people of the resurrection by our active faith in God and our unselfish love, not by a external mark or custom however sacred we might regard it. We like the early Church still have the difficult task of interpreting the Scriptures for what is appropriate for our time and place. This is far more difficult than a simply complying with an ancient custom. For this we need the Holy Spirit to guide us.

Happy Mother's Day!

Fr Graham