(Sixth Sunday of Easter (C): This homily was given on May 17, 1998 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Acts 15: 1-35.)

"What would Jesus say about it?"

One of the challenges of preaching is to draw parallels between the events of the Bible and those of the contemporary world. Sometimes, as you might imagine, its very difficult to do. That’s not the case, however, with today’s first reading from the Book of Acts. The parallels between this event in the New Testament and the situation of the modern Church are many; in fact, they’re almost endless. Now just in case that worries some of you—fear not: I won’t be mentioning all the possible parallels in this homily. I’ll only be mentioning a few. But before I do that, let’s see exactly what’s going on in this Biblical scene. . . .

It begins: "Some men came down to Antioch from Judea and began to teach the brothers: ‘Unless you are circumcised according to Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved. This created dissension and much controversy between them and Paul and Barnabas.’" Why the dissension and controversy? Well, one reason for it was a very practical one. Let me explain it in this fashion: Imagine that you are a 40 or 50 year-old gentile man living in the city of Antioch at this time. You hear Paul and Barnabas preach about Jesus on several occasions and you’re intrigued; in fact, you’re more than intrigued—you’re actually thinking of getting baptized and becoming a Christian. But then you meet some of these Jewish Christians from Judea and they say to you, "Friend, it’s wonderful that you’re thinking of becoming a follower of Jesus. We’re overjoyed! But remember—becoming a Christian also means that you must observe all the ritual laws of Moses: all the dietary laws, all the purification rituals, all the laws of animal sacrifice. And it means, first and foremost, that you must be CIRCUMCISED—as soon as possible!"

Now what do you think of that, Mr. First-century Gentile?

I’ll tell you what my reaction would be: "Gentlemen, are you serious? Are you telling me that I will have to subject myself to a religious ritual in which someone will use a BIG, razor-sharp knife to cut me . . . there?! Well, isn’t that interesting! Thank you very much for that important bit of information! I’ll have to think about that one—for a LONG TIME!"

Now you know why Paul and Barnabas were so upset! They knew that gentile men would not have been very enthusiastic about getting circumcised (unless they were masochistic!). But the question was still a legitimate one: Were gentile Christians bound to all the rituals of the Mosaic Law or weren’t they? The question was legitimate because Jesus had never explicitly addressed the issue with his apostles during his earthly ministry. He did say to go and make disciples of all the nations, but he didn’t say what Jewish laws (if any) the people of those nations were bound to observe. In fact, Jesus had never said whether or not Jewish converts to Christianity still had to follow those Old Testament rules.

Was it too late to get an answer? Given the fact that Jesus had already ascended into heaven, was it still possible to find out what he would say about this issue--or was it too late? In no uncertain terms, the people in the early Church believed that it was possible. How? By looking to Peter and the apostles! The early Christians believed that Peter and the other apostles had received a special gift from the Holy Spirit to determine what Jesus would say about this (or any other) issue of faith and morals. That’s why Paul and Barnabas left Antioch and went to Jerusalem: they went in order to pray and meet with the other apostles--so that the Holy Spirit would reveal to them the mind of Christ on this question.

We heard the final decision at the end of today’s first reading. Needless to say, all prospective male gentile converts breathed a huge sigh of relief when they finally got the news!

Which brings us to the parallels with our own age: there are many questions that we have today that Jesus did not explicitly address during his earthly life and ministry—especially those that deal with modern moral issues. For example: "If I have a terminal illness, am I obliged to seek every possible treatment, even if there’s very little hope that my condition will improve?" "Is sterilization morally right?" "What about artificial birth control?" "Can women be priests?" "If a person has a homosexual orientation, will he go to hell?" Jesus didn’t address any of these issues directly in the gospels. Does that mean it’s hopeless, or can we still determine what the Lord would say about these and other such matters? True Catholics would answer that question almost exactly like the Christians of the early Church answered it: "Yes, we can know what Jesus would say. We can know it by looking to the successor of Peter (the pope) and the other successors of the apostles (i.e. the bishops speaking in union with him). The same Holy Spirit who guided Peter and Paul all those years ago now guides these men. They have the same gift that the original apostles had to determine what Jesus would say on issues of faith and morals."