Faith

Beaten, bruised but not buried – Tuesday, 5th Week in Easter – Acts 14:19-28

How would you define a successful mission in the Church today? Packed to the rafters is what most people look for. If not, a great music ministry and a wonderful riveting speaker. Throw in a couple of miracles and healings and you have the makings of a successful Church mission.

But what if a Church mission ended in division and chaos? What if the visiting minister was booed? What if a group of disgruntled Christians disrupted his service and then stoned him and left him for dead? Would you call that mission successful? If your answer is NO then you just called the first missionary journey of Paul a failure.

Paul has worked miracles and performed healings. He has given the most moving sermons and drawn crowds to his words. He has travelled land and sea to make Christ known and yet he was not always met with acceptance. His first mission almost left him dead.

The text of today will tell us that Paul having been left for dead will retrace his steps. He will visit the same cities he ministered to, but he does this not with his head hung low. If Paul has boasted it has been of the many stripes on his back, his jail sentences, shipwrecks and hardships.

What is amazing is his fortitude! The fourth gift of the holy spirit. But even more was his ability to “strengthen the hearts of the disciples” (verse 22). Here is a man who truly identifies with the people of God. Here is a man who suffers great hardships and persecutions. This is not a motivational speaker but rather a moving exhibition of the kingdom of God. He has walked the talk and hence with authority has the ability to tell us that the kingdom of God demands persecution. This is the badge of honour we must wear when we present ourselves before the Lord.

But Paul is also a practical man. He knows the Church must be strengthened in his absence. He leads the Churches into prayer and fasting so that they may be guided by the Holy Spirit. We know that after a period of discernment, they appointed elders in these Churches.

The first missionary journey may be seen as a failure in the eyes of the secular world and perhaps even for many Church leaders today. For God, this was the way the Church was to move forward, with stipes of humiliation on its back. We are told that they made “many disciples,” a claim the Church sadly cannot make today.

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Faith

Not how you look but how Jesus is looked upon – Monday, 5th week of Easter – Acts 14:5-18

While preparing this reflection I was looking for something new to write or say. We want things to look and feel different; black and white seems boring and a splash of colour may get the eyeballs. Hopefully, the reader or the viewers’ attention will be snatched away from the thousand other articles or channels on the Internet vying for your attention and be drawn to what “I” have to write or say.  Clever lines and well-articulated thoughts do draw people’s attention. Yet the reality is that God’s word is often repetitive for a reason and not to charm us every new season.  

Paul and Barnabas are on the first missionary journey that takes them from Antioch in Syria to the island of Cyprus and further to the coastal city of Perga in modern-day Turkey. From there they travel north, about 220 kilometers to Antioch of Pisidia (in Turkey) and then further east, to Iconium (14:1-7) and then south and southeast to Lystra and Derbe which were cities of Lycaonia.

Paula and Barnabas are missionaries who bring the NEWS of Jesus to draw people to a NEW way of life in Jesus in order to establish a NEW community of Jesus. Yet this mission of Paul and Barnabas is predictable and repetitive. There is no novelty when one goes out on mission. There are just two scenarios that play out; receptivity or resistance.

As I said earlier, you can look for something new to say in today’s text but that is clutching straws at best. If you look at today’s text, especially verses 8-18 it sounds so familiar. A reading of Acts 3 is when the penny drops. Paula and Barnabas do a Peter and John! The narration of what happens in Lystra almost seems to be cut, copy and paste job when you read what happened to Peter and John in the temple of Jerusalem.  

In both narrations there is a lame man from birth, in both cases the apostle looks at him intently. In both cases they were commanded to “stand up” and both sprang to their feet (allomai, in Greek). In both the narratives the response of the people was to create a ‘cult’ around the apostles which in Lystra went a step further to worship. In both cases the apostles sharply rebuke such a cult and reiterate the agenda of the mission; it is Christ alone who is to be proclaimed and worshipped.

What I write now is out of love and not jealousy or envy. (Perhaps some readers or viewers may allow their minds to drift towards such a thought.) The internet has opened up a new world for the work of evangelization and this field must be exploited to the fullest. The focus, however, cannot be on the evangelizer. This is a constant struggle which I must confess to having fallen prey to, from time to time. The very medium of the internet is fast and glitzy and there is a danger that the message is overshadowed by the messenger, the proclamation by the proclaimer.

We who proclaim Christ from a pulpit or a mass media platform must constantly ‘tear our clothes’ like Paul and Barnabas when we release that we were being ‘worshipped’ rather than Christ. While presentation helps, evangelizers must not get caught up in how they look but how Christ is looked upon.

Evangelists must review their mission and if need be, renew it. Satan will stop at nothing especially if he wants to snare a preacher with a billion followers on YouTube and distract him with incidentals (read himself) rather than focus on the mission (read Jesus).

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Faith

Virtue lies in the middle – Friday, 4th week in Easter – Acts 13:26-33

Most of us have been cautioned against making the mistakes that others have made. These well-intentioned tidbits of advice are gently offered in the hope that one does not have to learn the hard way. Sure, one can put their hand in the fire and learn first-hand, but while that is good in theory it is rather daft in reality. It would do well to heed a good warning.

Paul is doing the same while delivering a Sabbath homily to the Jews and also to those who “fear God.” It was not uncommon for Gentiles to attend sabbath services. But this homily is delivered with kid gloves not because he is afraid but so as not to offend and with a clear goal to win over.

Paul has to speak the truth about the death of Jesus. Yet he has to place that blame very gently at the door of those who killed the author of life. He appeals to the Jews of Antioch and addresses them as “children of Abraham.” In doing this he alienates the blame for the death of Jesus and places it on the “residents of Jerusalem.”

Yet for a greater cause, he speaks rather of the ‘ignorance’ of their Jewish brothers in Jerusalem than their viciousness. They who had read the words of the prophet each sabbath, were unable to ‘recognize’ the messiah when he came. But even more, it was the leaders of Jerusalem who inadvertently fulfilled the prophecies when they condemned him to die even though he was innocent.

Paul is sensitive to the mission. Sure, he could have called a spade a spade but then what would it have achieved? So much of our life is all about dishing out the truth in the way we think people ought to hear it. Condemnation gets us very little; conversation achieves much. This could have been a fist-thumping, finger-pointing, and name-calling homily. Yet the truth was delivered with love. For truth without love is cruel and love without truth is sentimental. Paul shows us how to balance both; virtue lies in the middle.

What was the result? Verse 42 which is not part of our text tells us that as Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people urged them to come back the next sabbath and speak about these things. Were they converted? I guess their hearts were warmed and their mind was open. The next sabbath ‘almost the whole city had gathered.’ But where there is good news, bad news is soon to follow and what we are told is fueled by ‘jealousy.’ (verse 45).

For now, let us be inspired by Paul. These were not some smart life skills he was employing; these were skills of love.

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Food

PRAWN FRIED RICE Din Tai Fung-style

For Prawn Marinade

– 10 large fresh prawns

– 1 tsp neutral oil

– 1/2 tsp salt

– 1/2 tsp white pepper

– 1/4 tsp baking soda

For the Fried Rice

– Neutral oil, to cook

– 2 cups white rice, day old and refrigerated

– 4 spring onion, chopped, whites and greens separated

– 4 eggs, whisked

– 1 tsp salt

– 1 tsp sugar

– 1/2 tsp white pepper

– 1 tsp chicken bouillon powder

Clean and devein the prawns then marinate with salt, pepper, baking soda and oil for 10 minutes. Pan-fry with a little oil on both sides until cooked through, about 2 minutes, then remove and set aside. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in the same pan over medium heat and add the white part of the spring onion. Cook for 30 seconds until fragrant then add the whisked eggs.

Scramble, cooking briefly until 80% cooked then add the rice in. Turn the heat up to high and cooking, stirring for about 2 minutes. Season with salt, sugar, pepper and chicken powder and stir-fry. Taste and adjust the seasoning as desired. Add the green parts of the spring onion and the cooked prawns (reserving a few for presentation) in and toss until well combined.

To assemble, place 3 prawns into your bowl then fill with the fried rice. Gently flatten the rice then invert onto a plate.

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Faith

Even if these forget, I will not, I could not and I cannot forget! – Thursday, 4th week in Easter – Acts 13:13 -25

Barnabas and Saul set out on a missionary journey to Cyprus. That journey would take them from the island of Cyprus to the mainland of Turkey. Acts records this place as Pergia in Pamphylia. It was a coastal harbour city which docked ships from Paphos. From here they will travel to Antioch of Pisidia, a 220-kilometer journey north in the region of Galatia.

But before this journey begins there is a shift in Church leadership and perhaps the first rumblings of the chords of discontent. Up to now, scripture accorded an honorific precedence to Barnabas. He is mentioned first and then Saul is mentioned. Saul continues to be addressed by his Hebrew name; now he is called by his Roman name, Paul, and he is mentioned before Barnabas.

We do not know precisely why this reversal of leadership took place. Scripture records it without much fanfare, installation or anointing. This massive change in leadership is mentioned by a very insignificant name change. Popular belief holds that Saul’s name was changed when he encountered Christ on the road to Damascus. Rather, it is not at his conversion but at the change of leadership that his name is recorded as Paul. This is not uncommon; the Popes continue to take on a new name when they begin their pontificate and God changed the names of the patriarchs to indicate their new calling.  

But this new role came with difficult choices. The author of the Gospel according to Mark, John Mark himself, decided to leave the trio and go back to Jerusalem. Remember, he is a cousin of Barnabas. Did this change of leadership, from his cousin to what he may have considered a usurper, create this rift? We know that a rift did take place. Acts 15:36-41 testifies to the unpleasant parting between John Mark and Paul and the reluctance of Paul to reintroduce Mark to the mission. Was this the first ‘schism’ of sorts in the Church? Whatever the reason, we know that the mission of the Church was not thwarted. The Church does not belong to man!

Paul and Barnabas now head to Antioch of Pisidia. They enter the synagogue on the Sabbath. This tells us that the Jewish character of the Early Church did not change. It was perhaps after the council of Jamnia in the year 70 AD when a curse was placed on the Christians and Gentiles, that the Church developed a more ‘Christian’ character of its own. For now, the early church had a strong Jewish bent.

The synagogue service has in many ways, influenced the structure of the Eucharist we celebrate today. The ‘Word of God’ had a reading from the Torah and then a reading from the Prophets followed by a commentary or a homily which did not have to be given by a priest. Jesus was given this same honour when he came to his hometown and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. In this case, we are not told what the texts of scripture were but we have a very lengthy recorded homily, given by Paul.

In this homily which spans the text of today and tomorrow’s liturgy at mass, Paul takes us through the highlights of salvation history. He is addressing Jews and Gentiles. We know this because of his address; “You Israelites AND others who fear God.”

While I recommend a reading of this homily, I want to highlight one line in particular for our reflection. In narrating the exodus narrative, Paul refers to the disobedience of the Israelites. “For about forty years,” he says, “He (God) put up with them (Israelites) in the wilderness.’

I want to make this our reflection. God put up with the Israelites but God DID NOT give up on them. This line which clearly rings of God’s frustration with his people for 40 years also holds the compassion of a parent to a wayward child. Can a mother forget her baby or a woman a child within her womb? Even if these forget, I will not, I could not and I cannot forget you! Pray for parents who struggle with wayward children.

While this line of scripture consoles us in this generation it must also confront us. Are we pushing God’s buttons a little too much? Is he ‘putting up’ with us as he did with the Israelites? Is this covenant only being held by Him and that too dangling precociously by a silken thread?

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