Easter Week 4 Wednesday

Readings: Acts 12:24-13:5; Psalm 66 (67); John 12:44-50

So are the apostles coming or going? There are times when they do not know themselves, for the mission is being directed by the Holy Spirit and they are simply his assistants, being sent here and there according to his inspirations.

It is not helpful that a whole chapter, in which many things happen, is omitted between the first reading of yesterday's Mass and the first reading today. What, for example, is the 'relief mission' which Barnabas and Saul complete before returning to Jerusalem? It can only be the task they were given by the church in Antioch to bring help to the community in Jerusalem (Acts 11:30). Which means they should here be returning from Jerusalem, not going up to it! Some translations make the correction. It seems that the manuscript tradition of the New Testament is itself confused, does not know whether the apostles were coming or going! What seems more logical, reading all of chapters 11 and 12, is to take it that here they return from Jerusalem to Antioch, having completed the task for which they were sent to the 'mother church'.

We are then given more information about the life of the first Christians at Antioch. The teachers mentioned represent various nationalities and social strata (a friend of Herod, no less!) so that it is a fairly mixed, not to say eccentric, group. Barnabas and Saul are still listed in that order but within a few verses Saul will become Paul and the mission on which the Spirit sends them will become that of 'Paul and his company'. It is a very significant change in leadership roles.

What keeps the mission on track, however, is neither the prudence of Barnabas nor the zeal of Paul but the guidance of the Holy Spirit, sought in prayer and revealed to the community (unfortunately we are not told how precisely this revelation was given and received). What is most important is that the word of God continues to spread and to gain followers: that is the goal of the mission, the purpose of the Holy Spirit.

In our own efforts at responding to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit there are times when we do not know whether we are coming or going, whether we are moving forwards or backwards, whether we are acting wisely or foolishly. We can of course imitate the first Christians of Antioch and ask in prayer for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We can seek to respond to his inspirations as best we discern them, trusting that what then comes about is within God's plan, that it serves the spreading of God's word.

The gospel reading links easily with this, for Jesus talks there in similar terms: he has come to speak the word which he has received from the Father, this is the purpose for which the Father sent him into the world. This word of the Father, spoken by Jesus, stands as the judge of human lives, of all coming and going, of all progress and of all action. There is no need for anything further. The word itself will be our judge such that how we position ourselves in relation to that word is also our judgement, the criterion of our faithfulness.

Jesus comes and goes, he goes and comes. The apostles the same. The important thing is the spreading of the word under the guidance of the Spirit. When we look at the state of the Church we might wonder whether any effective witness is being given today. Are we coming or going? Are we on the way up or the way down? Are we too mixed, too diffuse, too divided, too eccentric? How can we hope to offer any secure and reliable judgement about things?

But the priorities remain the same and life continues on the two levels we have often seen in these weeks after Easter. There is the human level, what we do and what we think we are doing. But there is also the level of divine inspiration and guidance, what falls within the deliberate intention and foreknowledge of God, the ways in which our comings and goings serve the building up of God's kingdom. Prayer and the support of others are within our capacity. We trust that through these actions of ours the Spirit will continued to guide us, that even in spite of us the Word of God will continue to spread in the world and to gain faithful followers.