THE SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

The Martyrdom of St. Stephen, Annibale Carracci 1604, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.

Stephen said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed upon him together. They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him.      Acts of the Apostles, 7:55-57.

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St. Stephen is revered as the first person to die for love of God, Jesus the Son of God and the Holy Spirit of God. His words exalting Jesus the Christ as the Messiah were so offensive to those who heard them that they stoned him to death, even though that was forbidden in the Roman Empire unless ordered under Roman authority. It was the first taste of the persecution God’s People would undergo for the next 300 years from many different quarters. And note, Stephen was one of the first ordained deacons of the church. The word deacon means servant in Greek; he had been ordained to serve the people of God, and he demonstrated that by dying a martyr’s death, the first of many martyrs to enter God’s kingdom thus; he was God’s servant first. You may recall that his feast day is December 26. The contrast is presumably intended, the birth of an innocent baby on the 25th and the brutal death of a man refusing to betray all that the baby represented remembered on the very next day. And the power which gives life to the birth of Jesus, the strength which Stephen demonstrated in bearing witness to Jesus, and the second reading inviting “the one who thirsts come forward, and the one who wants it receive the gift of life-giving water” are all examples of the love God has for us, expressed in many ways. It is the power which gives us more strength than we know. And sometimes it is good to demonstrate that love in unexpected ways, the expression of which is left to each of us. God has given multiple examples; pick and choose!

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Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

The Ascension of the Lord, S. G. Rudl 1900, St. Wenceslas Church, Prague, Czech Republic.

Then [Jesus] led them out as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven.     Luke 24:50-51.

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Notes from the first reading:

1. Jesus’ disciples asked “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” In other words, they still expected the Messiah to be a conquering soldier! And Jesus said definitively, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority…” Remember those words the next time someone announces that the world will end on a certain future date. It is NOT for us to know!
2. Jesus quite clearly enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for “the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak”. The two men on the road to Emmaus were clearly disobeying that instruction, until, of course, the Lord caught up with them and, as a result, they voluntarily returned to Jerusalem.

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The Lord’s ascension into heaven effectively ended his bodily presence here on earth somewhat spectacularly. Death had no further power over him, and he was destined to be seated at the right hand of the Father. Consequently he had to depart this world. It was also to fulfill his promise to send the Holy Spirit to us and hence begin the era of the Holy Spirit which has lasted to the present day: “…it is better for you that I go away, because if I do not go, the Helper will not come to you. But if I do go away, then I will send him to you” Jesus said (John 16:7). In other words, it was necessary for the Lord to ascend to his Father in order to send the Holy Spirit to us, and inaugurate the time of the Spirit, in which we now all live. Remember that over the centuries before Jesus, God the Father slowly revealed the nature, the qualities, of God through the pages of the Old Testament. Then Jesus had to demonstrate totally and completely the identical qualities in his own life in order to be recognized as God’s Son. Finally, the Holy Spirit, sent by God, has been with us ever since, being the power through which we all strive to be good followers of Christ in the world, in fact to be Christ to the world as best we can. From the Ascension on, the saints have been the guiding men and women who have modeled themselves on Christ and shown us what it truly means to be Christ to the world. And we try our best to do exactly that. In fact, we have to exhibit the identical qualities of God in our lives.

For example, one of the first qualities revealed by God was power. Abraham was an old man, perhaps near 100, and his wife was perhaps a few years younger, yet God announced she would have a child. Sarah laughed at hearing this, and then argued with God! (Genesis 18: 10-15). She gave birth to Isaac. Anything is possible with God. Jesus had divine power, the supreme example of which was the raising of Lazarus from the dead. And each one of us has power too. Even a 6-year old has power! How? I ask altar servers sometimes, “Do you have the power to make your mother’s life today a total misery?” and then, “Do you have the power to make today one of the best days of your mother’s life?” The answer is clearly “Yes” to both questions. We all have power, but do we use it as Jesus would? Take a look at the lives of the saints; they used their God-given power to do great things, just as a 6-year old has. We know deep down what our powers can do in the way we conduct our lives. Another divine quality revealed through the Old Testament is that God is relational, unlike just about all the pagan gods of the time. Moses asked God for the divine name at the famous scene with the burning bush. God revealed the divine name, Yahweh, I AM WHO AM, at that moment creating a relationship between God and Moses, and through Moses to the entire Hebrew people. Jesus took this quality to the level of the infinite, when at the Last Supper he took some bread and said to his disciples “Take, eat, this is my body”. Each time we consume the consecrated host, we literally incorporate the Lord into our own body; the relationship is total. And so we, in our lives, must be open to others, welcoming to others, friendly to others, help others, just as the Lord did. It is a divine quality. God revealed other qualities through the pages of the Old Testament: God listens, God forgives, God loves freedom, God is loyal, God is merciful. Jesus displayed each one of these in his ministry, clearly and strongly. And so must we. 

For a few days there was, in a sense after the Ascension, a sort of absence of God before the arrival of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday, 50 days after Easter/Passover (hence pente, the Greek for 5). A provocative friend of mine often suggested that it was at that “vacant” time that the empty seat at the table, once occupied by Judas Iscariot, was filled by a man rather a woman! Now there’s a thought to be pondered! One wonders. But Jesus had completed his vocation, to be Christ to the world, which is also our vocation, based on the gifts, the talents, that God has given us. Each one of us is a child of God through baptism. All was set after the Ascension, then, for the arrival of God’s Holy Spirit, to give each of us the strength, the power, to be truly children of God.

The Ascension of the Lord, unknown provenance.

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The Eternal Father, Veronese (undated), Hospital Tavera, Toledo, Spain.

[Jesus said] “I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”       John 14:26-27.

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It cannot be by coincidence that the first major crisis in the brand new Christian community, described in today’s first reading, has been linked with today’s gospel. Word was spreading among the earliest Christian communities that pagan men who had expressed interest in following the Lord had to be circumcised to become Christian. Now all Jewish boys, following God’s orders as stated in Genesis 17:11-12, had been made to follow that command for hundreds of years. So it was not too surprising that such a thought had occurred to the new Christians (who had not yet had that name applied to them; before then we were “Followers of The Way”) especially the ones who had converted from Judaism, probably the majority. Today’s first reading describes that first controversy in the fledgling church. Not surprisingly, it threatened to tear the infant community to pieces unless it was addressed. So, what theologians now call the Council of Jerusalem, namely the “apostles and elders”, met together and decided that it was not necessary for men to submit to that Jewish tradition in order to follow “The Way”. And so it was proclaimed. As such it has never been a condition for boys to be circumcised in order to become Christian. And so it was the first time that Jesus’ prophetic words in today’s gospel were put to the test.

And it is even more interesting if you apply that ultimate requirement of the 16th century Reformation for changes in Church teaching, the “sola scriptura” test. This states simply that if you cannot prove your case from Scripture, then it fails. Both the Catholic and the Orthodox churches reject this teaching. Indeed, this Council of Jerusalem event today supports this rejection. The early Christians were forced to decide what needed to be done for a man to become Christian. For generations the Hebrew people had circumcised all boys, following the clear command recorded in Genesis. Now the Christians had changed that rule. But Scripture clearly proclaimed that this was an absolute requirement if you took the Christian community to be Jewish; after all, it proclaimed Jesus to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah! However, the apostles and elders said it was not, and so, no circumcision. Looking at today’s gospel, Jesus had clearly stated that his followers would be guided by God’s Holy Spirit if and when this became necessary. Today’s first reading demonstrates the reality of Jesus’ promise, and the apostles and elders stated without hesitation that “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us” not to require circumcision for men wanting to become Christian. Such a conviction has been present in the church ever since that time. In fact, the 1871 First Vatican Council proclaimed the logical extension of this belief that when the pope speaks “ex cathedra” his proclamation is infallible, meaning it must be accepted by Catholics as true  and without fault. Apart from that papal infallibility statement, only two further teachings have been declared to be infallible. One was at that Council, with the proclamation that the Virgin Mary was conceived without sin, the Immaculate Conception. The only other time was in 1950 when Pope Pius XII declared the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary body and soul into heaven to be a doctrine of faith, to be accepted as true by all Catholics. Both those teachings had been present in the church from very early times. And so, even though they are not in Scripture, they are articles of faith to be accepted by all Catholics. No other teaching has been declared ex cathedra since 1950.

The First Vatican Council 1870, image located in the Library of Congress.

The Proclamation of the Doctrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Pope Pius XII, 1950.

Today’s readings are therefore really an object lesson in the ability of the church to handle questions of faith whenever they arise. Although teachings ex cathedra are extremely rare, the church does have the ability to discern between levels of acceptable belief. For example, the church accepts that St. Bernadette was especially privileged to receive visions and messages from the Blessed Virgin Mary, but it does not require any of us to accept such as essential to our faith: we can accept or reject Bernadette’s experience as we wish; the church simply states it is “worthy of belief”. But, in contrast, the church does, for example, expect us to accept the Real Presence of Christ at Mass in exactly the same way Jesus expected such from his followers at the Last Supper. “This is my body” he said, and he meant it, ordering us for ever to “do this in memory of me”. And what will be our reward, if you like, for accepting God’s word and living God’s Way? Take a look at the second reading today describing our ultimate destination, our home: “The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb”. Amen.

The Sacrifice of the Mass, unknown attribution. 

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The New Jerusalem, The Apocalypse Tapestry c.1373, Château d’Angers, Angers, France.

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Then I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.            Revelation 21:1-2.

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Today’s gospel may well be one of the most challenging to understand, accept and live by: “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.” So we must rely on scripture scholars to help us. Jesus is talking of his “glorification”, which is to say his death and resurrection. It is noteworthy that Judas had just left the table in order to betray his Lord before Jesus said this. Those who remained lived out their whole lives spreading the words of life and love, all to be martyred (with the exception of John). Jesus’ utter determination to stand by his teachings and his identity as Son of God meant that he would glorify himself by upholding this teaching to the bitter end, death on the cross. His resurrection glorified God his Father as this action conquered even death. It is a unity of action which glorified God totally. And then there is the source of all this strength, even conquering death: “I give you a new commandment: love one another”. There is the heart of all Jesus’ belief, strength and power. Death cannot conquer love. It has met its match. There is the glory of which Jesus speaks. There is the overarching strength of Jesus’ conviction, love conquers all. The other two readings are the practical result. Paul and Barnabas encounter fearsome odds trying to convince others of the truth of Jesus’ teaching and example. Yes there is rejection and ridicule, but the goal is worth all the suffering. The result with be a new, glorious and shining example of the perfect city of love and life, the New Jerusalem. All the suffering, frustration and pain will be gone. 

Given all that, I think the quotation in the paragraph above is an attempt to describe, even analyze, love. The complete bond between Jesus, God’s Son, and God the Father is complete, eternal, total and binding. To see the one, as Jesus himself said, is to see the other. There are likenesses in human life. Two people who are utterly devoted to each other are completely open to those around them in the sense they welcome them into their homes, into their lives as if they are one person. They enjoy the company of others, just as the others completely enjoy being with them. There is something life-giving being with them. You feel strengthened having been with them. There is joy anticipating being with them. They reflect the love of God. It was to defend that love that Jesus died. To have denied it before the high priest, for example, would have meant denying the love he had for God, his Father. That was not possible. That meant he had to die. And that same love brought him back from death! That is how strong it was! It makes today’s second reading understandable. That new Jerusalem is the dwelling of God’s love into which each one of us is invited, to live with the source of love forever! And it explains the determination of Paul and Barnabas to continue in the face of hostility, rejection and denial; to give up would be to deny the love they feel towards God and the Lord. 

And so to us today. How does each one of us reflect God’s love for us in our lives, our relationships and our outlook to others? Jesus was open to everyone, save perhaps to the money traders in the Temple, where he saw contempt for the One he loved – and he was prepared to do something about it. How far is each one of us prepared to go to uphold our most cherished convictions in the face of criticisms or challenges to our faith? Is the love of God central to our love of others – or the other –  in our life? If God is being hurt in the course of a normal day at work, at home or wherever, how do we react in defense of the one we love? Silence is clearly not an option… And there is the rub. Jesus was prepared to die in defense of such. How far is each one of us prepared to stand up for our deepest belief? 

The Sacred Heart of Jesus 1955, Rocathour.

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Jesus appears to his Disciples at Lake Tiberias, James Tissot c. 1890, Brooklyn Museum, New York City, NY, USA. 

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When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” They answered him, “No.” So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish.          John 21:5-6.

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Today’s gospel scene is reminiscent of the call of Peter which was the gospel a few weeks ago. At that time, I invited you to put yourself in Peter’s shoes and react appropriately to the holy man, Jesus, who happened to be in that place at that time. Peter had caught nothing, laboring all night long with nothing to show for it. The holy man suggested, no doubt gently, that he should pull out again and cast his net down one more time. Now, if you put yourself in Peter’s shoes, wet, cold, exhausted and craving for rest, what would YOU have said to the holy man who was clearly no fisherman? However there must have been something special about this holy man, because the fisherman did go out again, caught a huge number of fish, and then fell at Jesus’ feet and told him to leave him as he was “a sinful man” (Luke 5-8). Jesus, of course, had no such intention; this was the man to whom he would entrust everything. He was the first leader of Jesus’ church. Now look at this scene in today’s gospel. Once again they have caught nothing, but without question or retort, they cast their net out once more as the Lord instructed them, on the right side of the boat as Jesus specifically told them, and the same miraculous catch resulted. Jesus is to be believed, be followed and obeyed. He was, is and will ever be the road to heaven. 

Now one thing attracted my attention in this scene. Jesus seemed to be very direct when he told the fishermen to cast their net on the right side of their boat. My thought was “what difference does it make? And that’s when at the age of 80 I learned something new. With ancient shipping, as most people are right-handed, steering the boat was, by convention, through a steering oar attached to the right-hand side of the boat, at the rear, or stern. So “steering board” became starboard, the ship’s right-hand side. With the steering mechanism  there, it was clearly easier to dock the vessel on the other side, especially when entering a port, utilizing the left-hand, or port side. When casting their net out to sea therefore, it would be much less likely to be caught up with the steering mechanism if it were cast out on the port side.

The Bark of St. Peter, after a drawing attributed to Giotto, no date, The Royal Academy, London, UK.

So Jesus seemed to have been breaking convention in his instruction to them telling them to cast their net out the starboard side! One might ask why? One commentator suggests that it is very unconventional  to reconcile, to be loving, patient, kind, gentle, understanding and self-controlled. Certainly Hollywood would find that so, being much more used to the opposite! But of course the Lord wouldn’t; it would be normal to him. Another claims “The act of casting the net on the right side of the boat also holds symbolic significance. In biblical and cultural symbolism, the right side is often associated with favor, blessing, and honor”. Yet another says “Jesus is not just giving fishing advice to the disciples in this verse; he is using it as a metaphor for faith and trust in his divine power. Jesus shows them that when they follow his guidance and trust in his words, they will experience abundance beyond their wildest expectations by instructing them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat after they had been fishing all night without success. The disciples witness a miraculous catch of fish by heeding his words, demonstrating Jesus’ authority over nature and emphasizing the importance of faith and obedience in the Christian walk”. With such a difference of interpretation, each one of us has to make up our own minds!

The longer gospel today has an intimate conversation between Jesus and Peter. Jesus asked  Peter three times if he loves him – three times! Anyone familiar with the Passion narrative would instantly connect this triple question with Peter’s three denials in the high priest’s garden that he even knew Jesus! After the Lord asked the question for the third time, Peter responded “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you” perhaps with a little exasperation! It was as if Jesus was making sure that Peter had, indeed, reformed and was now ready for anything. Indeed he was, to the point of martyrdom years later. Now remember here that we are all free agents. The gift of total freedom that each of us enjoys extends everywhere. Jesus, the God-Man, cannot compel us to love him. We are utterly free to respond to the gift of love, the invitation to the company of Jesus, the strength resulting from that and the quiet, confident happiness which springs from it. We are completely free to reject all of it, to the delight of the Devil! Or we can accept it, and the challenges which flow from it, but which makes us all better people. And there is a glimpse of the final result in today’s second reading from the Book of Revelation, the most challenging and strangest in the Christian canon. All present cry out with an ecstatic cry, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing.”  Happiness is always from the other, love isn’t love ’till you give it away, as the song says. The Apocalypse reveals that the other is the Lamb of God, the sinless pure offering made on our behalf and for our salvation, the utter embodiment of life and love for us, always giving and always caring, jumping for the sheer joy of life. 

Revelation Scriptures, The Glorious Majesty of God’s Throne in Revelation 4.

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The Woman Caught in Adultery, Sunflower Seeds, SND Blogs.

“Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.   John 8:5-8.

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Our Lord, Jesus as we call him, Y’shua bar Josef as his friends would have called him, was a very clever man. He was perceptive, could read people accurately and know when they were friendly and when they were out to get him. In today’s scene, they are definitely out for his blood. Someone had discovered a woman in a compromising situation which clearly demonstrated that she was committing adultery. The Jewish law on that point is pretty clear: “If a man commits adultery with the wife of an Israelite, both he and the woman shall be put to death” (Leviticus 20:10). In fact, any adultery was punishable by death. (And, by the way, where was the man caught in the very act in this scenario?). So those who had any dislike of the Lord thought they had found their ultimate weapon. If he agreed that the law said that, and the woman should be put to death, they would retort that here was the man who preached forgiveness even concerning the hated Romans! Guilty of duplicity, Orwellian doublethink! If, on the other hand, he said she should be forgiven, then he would be be trashing the law of Moses and be guilty of blasphemy! Damned if he did; damned if he didn’t! So what did the Lord do? Knelt down and wrote in the dust something not recorded in Scripture, unfortunately. It is the only occasion in the gospels that Jesus wrote anything! However, his enemies persisted: Answer! Answer! And he did: “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her”. See the picture above. Not going against the Law, but placing an impossible condition on it. People in those days lived in fairly small communities. There were no gigantic cities back then. Jerusalem was estimated to be about 80,000 strong at that time. So probably those who disliked Jesus would certainly know each other, probably churchy types, strict adherents of the Law. They would also know each other, their histories and habits. Anyone who picked up a stone would have invited all sorts of memories and lapses to be remembered and giggled over, so it was not advisable to even begin…. They drifted away, leaving the terrified woman alone. Note she did not admit her sin and ask forgiveness, but Jesus forgave her anyway but told her not to sin again. Adultery remained a sin, and still does. But those who admit it, know it is wrong and resolve to amend their ways and seek forgiveness in the sacrament of Reconciliation, are forgiven. No stoning necessary, just personal reform and determination to change. Whether the injured partner forgives is another thing altogether, but that is a different matter. 

The other two readings today talk of new beginnings, Ezekiel talking of God placing the divine spirit in the people to make them ready to settle once more on their land. This concerns the Babylonian exile which was to end with the arrival of the Persian king Cyrus the Great who defeated the Babylonians and issued a decree permitting the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple. Many did, but probably more remained as they had become very successful in Babylon. But one change has been noted by scholars studying this period which is significant. Prior to the exile, the Jewish people were so-called monolateralists. That means that other gods and goddesses were recognized and respected in Jewish households. After the exile, monotheism dominated and all other beliefs were absolutely rejected. In a sense, therefore, the people of God had undergone a change and were now, as it were made perfect. Ezekiel’s prophecy had come to pass.

A similar transformation is captured in the second reading. “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” it says. It continues, “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness”. And the consequence of this is clearly stated: “…the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling in you”. And now, if we return to the dramatic story in today’s gospel, the woman who was almost stoned to death now confronts a life-changing moment; will she or won’t she change? And here we all are, approaching the end of Lent, which invites us to change for the better. We may not have the luxury, as it were, of a dramatic moment where we face possible futures in that same way. But we are all invited to consider such. Will we attempt even a little change for the better or not? God is calling us to do exactly that, and only each one of us can answer that call.

Heaven and Hell, Camposanto Monumentale di Pisa 13th century, Pisa Cathedral, Italy.

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