May 31, 2009 Cycle B
Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11 Galatians 5:16-25
John 20:19-23
The story is told of the Buddhist headmaster who assembled the young students around him. He said to them, “Times are very hard. As you can imagine it takes many resources to keep our school open. We are in desperate need of funds right now and I’m afraid we are forced to resort to unsavory measures in order to survive. Today I must send you into the town on the other side of the hill where many people of affluence live. You will need to steal whatever you can – money, valuables, food, if we are to continue.”
One student spoke up, “But you have taught us that it is wrong to steal.” The master agreed, “Yes, I have. And it would be wrong if it were not absolutely necessary. Take only what we need and no one will suffer. However, you must be very careful so no one recognizes that you are stealing. If you are caught the reputation of our school will be tarnished forever. Do you understand the task I have given you?”
In stunned silence the students looked at one another and then at their master. He starred at them. “Do you understand?” he asked again. They nodded.
“Very well” the Master said, “Now go and get the things I have put on the list.” The students left the room reluctantly taking the list of items from their teacher. He called out, “Remember, no one can know.”
As he turned back to the room he noticed one student remained. “Why are you still here? You should be with the others.” The boy answered, “But you have given us an impossible task.” The master asked, “How so?”
“You taught us no one could find out we were stealing, but if I were stealing then I would be the first witness to my own actions.”
“That’s it!” the head master shouted with joy. “That is the lesson I am trying to teach you in all of this. Now, go run after your brothers and bring them home.”
Time and again Jesus prayed for His disciples and asked that they be consecrated in the truth. Many in society today have become quite adept at deceit and at justifying our machinations. We have devised any number of ways to rationalize, putting our own needs before the needs of others and the common good.
The second reading from Paul’s letter to the Colossians speaks in clarity about those things that are of the flesh and lists those areas that set us apart from God’s ways. But then assures us that if we live in faith and in trust, we will inherit the fruits of the Holy Spirit and they will sustain us against all odds in a society that strikes against honesty and integrity. For we are all called to honor, regardless of the cost, the holiness of truth. The truth that is rooted in the reality of God’s love and the sacredness of every person as created in the image of God. --- Are we not?
But let me turn with you again to the other Scripture passages we heard today. They are two different versions of the Pentecost event --- when the Spirit of God came down and formed Jesus’ surviving followers into the community of the Church.
In that first reading from the Book of Acts, St. Luke tells the story of the Spirit coming to the disciples in the form of a violent wind and fire that enabled them to speak and be heard in every language. Then the Gospel takes place on Easter night when the Risen Jesus appears and breathes upon them the gift of His Spirit.
These are two very different stories. Yet both stories are set in the same place. They are set in a room in which Jesus’ followers have shut themselves out. In the Luken account from Acts, the disciples have gathered in Jerusalem. Jesus has returned to God. The disciples are alone and lost, having no idea what to do next. In the Easter Gospel John writes that the apostles are terrified. That they are now marked men, they are considered collaborators with the disgraced Nazarene Rabbi.
Then the Spirit of God “blows” through their barricaded room. And like a great wind the Spirit drives them out of their safe place to begin the work of proclaiming the Gospel of the Risen Christ. The Spirit, the very breath of God, transforms their fear into purpose, their despair into direction, their disgrace into peace.
In both Luke and John’s Pentecost stories, the Spirit of God compels the disciples of Jesus to break out of their safe gathering place and to be about the work of proclaiming the reign of God.
The Scriptures all speak to us about the struggles that we have to be honest and full of integrity. To be a people who find peace despite the discord and chaos around us. But the Spirit empowers us to put aside our fears, our doubts, our inadequacies, to really be God’s agents of peace and reconciliation in our own community and family. It is the Spirit of God that transforms us and recreates us in that unique and mysterious love that binds God the Father to God the Son, and binds us to God and to one another.
Amen. Amen. Msgr. Tom, Pastor Christ the King