We are now reading about Saint Paul’s second missionary journey having completed his first one with Barnabas. And just to recap so that we have a good background for where today’s readings are chronologically situated, suffice it to say, that they came back to Jerusalem, wrapped their first mission up with the first ever Church council, and now have re-embarked on their mission to spread the good news to “all nations” as the Lord had commanded.
We will recall that Paul had told Barnabas that they should revisit the places they had already been to. Barnabas agreed and wanted to bring along with them, once again, his cousin Mark (the future evangelist and saint), but Paul forbade it on account of Mark taking off and doing his own thing during their first mission while they were at Pamphylia. A huge quarrel ensued over this so that they parted ways for this second mission. Barnabas took Mark and they headed to Cyprus, while Paul, with the blessing of the Antioch community, instead took Silas as his companion. They returned to Syria and Cilicia, visiting those communities he had established in his first mission, and there’s a certain beauty in this pastoral care, which was attentive to their growth. He didn’t just plant the seed, and then let
them fend for themselves, but rather, he nurtured that seed by revisiting and watering it with holy encouragement, a great and holy example, prayer and the preaching of the word. Paul here, already gives us an indication of what pastoral care must never forget—consistent contact with the faithful, and communication with legitimate ecclesial authority appointed by God.
This is where we’re at when we begin today’s first reading. Paul has returned on the path they took to get to Jerusalem, in the opposite direction now, to Derbe and Lystra, where he invites this teenaged young man Timothy to join him on this mission. Even 15 years after this mission, Paul is still calling him a young man (1 Tim 4:12) and Timothy would eventually become one of his most faithful and loyal companions, with no less than two letters in the New Testament addressed to him by Paul. Timothy’s mother was Jewish, while his father was a Greek gentile. For this reason, he wasn’t circumcised, so that the issues discussed at the Council of Jerusalem would have had a personal impact on him.
Although circumcision was not necessary for baptism, it nevertheless appeased certain groups of people and helped in ways to build bridges of communication. As Paul would say elsewhere, being circumcised or not makes no difference whatever, but if it meant keeping the peace, then one may in good conscience concede to it. Timothy was therefore circumcised given the cultural sensitivities the people he and Paul were about to minister to. This is quite the lesson in learning to be flexible, which is different from compromise. For compromise does harm to the truth, whereas being patient with people’s weakness, and allowing them time to grow free, is essential. This we call flexibility. It’s almost like being there for a person grieving the tragic loss of a loved one. What does one say in the face of horrible pain? One needs to know when to share truth, and when silence is called for; when an embrace will help bring comfort, or momentarily walking away and giving that person some space would be even better.
This flexibility will be needed in difficult times of transition and Jesus contended with a lot of opposition when his opponents perceived his teachings as threatening and dangerous. They thought Jesus was trying to abolish the old older of things, and could not accept that he was merely perfecting those commandments, which he had given by the way, only they had no idea that it was God standing right in front of them. And as God, what does he do? He raises the bar.
“You have heard that it was said to the men of old, “You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment” [referring to Exod. 20:13, Deut. 30:15ff]. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment (Matt. 5:21-22). What so if I’m angry at someone, and hate someone, it’s now all of a sudden on par with murder? Well, what does Saint John say: “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15). Here we see an example of how Christ does not destroy the law for the sake of its destruction; rather, he builds upon the good while replacing it with the better. Is it clearer now? We have to chuckle thinking about the daunting task Paul was up against in trying to repeatedly explain this over, and over again to the new Jewish converts, but this is what love does—it suffers all things for the sake of the One who died out of love for us.
Paul now heads for new territory: Asia Minor, what we now know as Turkey. However, when he and his companions tried to go into the Roman province of Asia, originally intending going west to Ephesus (on the west coast of Turkey), the Holy Spirit intervened and Paul and his companions turned first north, then in a north-westerly direction so that they found themselves going through the territories of Phrygia and Galatia, where Iconium and Antioch were situated.
They found themselves headed for Galatian countryside which once had been so hospitable to Paul during one of his illnesses and later he would once again visit the disciples he had evangelised there (Acts 18:23).
When they then tried to enter Bythinia, a province lying along the shores of the Black Sea, through Mysia, they were again blocked by unspecified obstacles (perhaps landslides, floods, earthquakes, civil unrest or the like – it is unclear). It’s interesting how God’s guiding hand works sometimes, isn’t it?
Eventually they arrived at Troas, which was just 16 km from ancient Troy and was a Roman colony and an important seaport between Macedonia and Greece to the west and Asia Minor. Paul would return to Troas later on, following his work in Ephesus on his Third Journey as we have stipulated in his Second Letter to the Corinthians (2:12). It was either on this second mission or on the third that a church was established here and again he kept in consistent contact with these converts.
It is here in Troas that Paul had the dream of the man from Macedonia as we read in the first reading, calling for aid, and they responded immediately to this dream given its divine character. Again, interesting how the Lord guides us.
Macedonia was where Alexander the Great ruled as king, a province in what is now northern Greece. It was the place where Alexander the Great was king whose father was King Philip, after whom the city of Philippi was named. Paul would eventually found the Church there and write to these Christians in his famous Letter to the Philippians. Caesarea Philippi, where Peter confessed Jesus as Messiah, was also partly named after this King Philip. Christ’s message therefore finally would get to Greece, and eventually to Rome so as to reach vast territories of known civilizations back then. This is where scholars also believe Luke would have joined Paul and his cohort given it is the point in Acts where he begins writing in the first person plural.
One man’s dream, was God’s expansion ideas for the Early Church. This is why we should never diss people’s dreams when they tell us they believe they were out of the ordinary. At the same time, not everything is a revelation from God. Be prudent… and always charitable.
Now, for today’s gospel. Just as Paul and Timothy, and Barnabas and Mark and all the apostles travelling the world fulfilling Jesus’ command to baptize all nations, had to undergo massive confrontations and persecutions, so too all of us will come up against some kind of opposition at some point, inevitably, if we’re trying to live our faith seriously and as our number one priority.
John recounts for us here Jesus’ promise that we would be despised, and even if you do not know anyone in your immediate social circle who despises you, on account of Jesus’ name, just know that somewhere in the world, there are Satanists who call upon the Devil to ruin us, and oligarchs and politicians, who are mere pawns in the hands of the powers to be, who deem us as threats to their empires and wish to annihilate us with no less vehemence then an Emperor Nero who torched his very own Rome, his home, so as to blame Christians for it and have an excuse for setting them on fire, many of them dying martyrs during his diabolical reign. Was Satan infuriated with the early Christians or what? But we serve someone greater than Satan, and that’s why, my brothers and sisters, if you are currently undergoing any suffering for your faith, Jesus encourages you in today’s gospel,
“If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you do not belong to the world, because my choice withdrew you from the world, therefore the world hates you” John 15:18.
How many people strive, do their absolute utmost, to be admired by the world?
How many try to find meaning in their lives and joy, by giving themselves to things that truly cannot accomplish this for them as God intended? Back in our readings from Acts, we saw that even under great duress and after being stoned by the people, almost to death, the apostles and followers of Christ glowed with the Holy Spirit and joy. Where are we trying to find our joy? In a human embrace? In a bottle of wine? In the mesmerizing playgrounds of casinos? In having our name and picture splattered all over the internet? In seeing a simple arbitrary number grow and grow in our bank account, even when we know that we are always given enough for our necessities and to live simple and holy lives? Where will we find our joy, if not in God? Hence, Jesus here is telling us that by his choice we have been removed from the world’s system, and the worldly ways of living life, and so that kind of world hates us.
Let us just remember that the Lord has given us another world… the world of believers… the world of those people who are struggling just as you are to live your faith, but are always there at your local parish striving to build community and participating in building up God’s Kingdom. This is the world that will never end. All other worlds, all other empires, come and go, and even this universe will fade away, but you… your soul… your glorified, resurrected body will never disappear, so courage and go out there and thank God for this brand-new day, whatever the Lord may bring your way, because it is another opportunity to get closer to him, the source of true and unending joy.
Add comment
Comments
Jesus has the most encouraging words for the ones who want to follow Him. Where can we find someone like Him who lifts us up while we struggle and while we are condemned by the world? Thank you God for teaching us the way of Calvary and smile in suffering!
As we go through life, we begin to realize more and more, that Jesus alone has the words of everlasting life, and when saints like our Blessed Mother, the Queen of all Saints, tells us to listen to him, she really does know what she's talking about. :)