Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Osmond Anike

Readings:

First Reading: Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 – They laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Responsorial Psalm: : Psalm 65(66):1-7, 16, 20 – Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.

Second Reading:1 Peter 3:15-18 – In the body he was put to death, in the spirit he was raised to life.

Gospel: : John 14:15-21 – I shall ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate.

Having been elected as one of the deacons to “distribute food”, Philip appeared to have apparently abandoned his duty and taken up the ministry of proclamation of the word of God. In today’s first reading, he took that ministry to Samaria and not only preached there but worked miracles as well. From our last week’s homily, we saw that there was a more urgent and pressing duty to be done in the nascent community than just distribution of food – that of preaching the word of God. The apostles refused to be drawn into the polemics of abandoning this urgent work in order to distribute food. This was the reason that the deacons were elected. But, as reality set in, they too realized that their services were direly needed in the area of preaching the word of God. They realized that the souls of the people were hungry for the word of God, but that there were few people available then who could provide this food for the soul. It was not that they neglected what they were elected to perform; it was that when one finds a more urgent task to perform, one plunges into it first before tackling other tasks. This is just common sense. But in the case of the deacons, it was more than common sense; it was equally a sense of missionary focus. If the message of Jesus is to reach the ends of the world, it has to be done first through preaching the word and then sharing of food can come afterwards. This is exactly the method Jesus used.

Philip’s missionary activities took him to Samaria where he worked many miracles. But he did not go there as an independent preacher. He was sent by the apostles who reserved the right to supervise him. It was indeed the apostles who supervised the mission of the church. The apostles needn’t have performed miracles in order to qualify to supervise Philip. Philip might have been a greater miracle worker; yet, it needed the confirmation of the apostles to authenticate his work. Indeed, his miracles needed to be authenticated because, there were equally other miracle workers competing with him. In fact, ever before the arrival of Philip to Samaria, a certain Simon the magician used to bamboozle the people of Samaria with his magic to the extent that the people believed that “this man is the Power of God that is called Great” (Acts 8:10). So much so was his renown that “all of them, from the least to the greatest, paid attention to him” (ibid.). Now, here comes another miracle worker in the person of Philip. How are the people to distinguish the difference? It is true that the passage stated that the people believed Philip; and that even Simon himself believed and was baptized. But to avoid any further residue of doubt, the apostles had to go to Samaria not only to authenticate Philip’s work, but equally to confer the Holy Spirit on those already baptized by laying hands on them. To prove that there were still some tincture of confusion in the people, vs. 18-25 tells us of how the same Simon was so thrilled with how the apostles were able to confer the Holy Spirit on the people through the laying on of hands, that he subsequently offered money to them to be given the same power as the apostles. Although the apostles used that opportunity to teach them that the gift of God is not bought with money, the fact that up till that moment Simon was still thinking of expanding his own magical powers was a pointer that he still had followers even when he and those followers were already “converted and baptized”.  The apostolic confirmation of the work of Philip was therefore very necessary to put to rest any further confusion.

In today’s world of confusion where every preacher claims to be the “authentic and independent” voice of God, it is important for us to learn that the message of the gospel is never a matter of an independent or private thing. The gospel message never goes unsupervised, otherwise, confusion would abound. Jesus literally supervised the mission of the apostles and the disciples when he was with them: he sends them on a mission with specific instructions; and they return to give account of how that mission played out. Sometimes the disciples misplace their enthusiasm by rejoicing over how the devil bowed before them. But Jesus quickly corrects them by redirecting them on where their enthusiasm should be: “rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven” (cf., Luke 10: 1-20); thus warning them that triumphalism is an inappropriate attitude for disciples, and that their ground for rejoicing should rather be the ability to be entered into God’s book. Over-enthusiasm and over-zealousness can make one lose focus. If there is no supervision, one might find oneself in a situation of misplaced priority. Therefore, our so-called “gifted miracle workers” and “gifted preachers” should be humble enough to allow such “gifts” to be supervised and authenticated. It is not true that when you are supervised the person supervising you is being “jealous” of your gift. Not at all! Philip did not perceive the apostles’ supervision as an act of jealousy. On the contrary, the apostles’ visit rather boosted his (Philip’s) own reputation even more than before. The attitude of triumphalism which Jesus condemned, and which, unfortunately has crept in to characterize many of our so-called preachers and miracle workers should be condemned by all. It does not promote the message of the gospel but rather brings unhealthy competition among preachers. In the end, it is the church that loses its credibility when there are so many contradictory voices each claiming to be speaking for the same church, all because of the unwillingness to submit oneself for supervision.

In the second reading, Peter tells us to always have our answer ready for people who ask us about the reason for the hope that we have. Christianity, nay religion as a whole, cannot just be solely an emotional act. Sure enough, emotions are there. But emotion devoid of rationality becomes delusion. At the same time, faith is much more than rational thinking. “Having our answers ready” is what St. Anselm of Canterbury described as, Fides Quaerens Intellectum (Faith seeking understanding). Karl Barth was so fascinated with Anselm’s manner of doing theology that he confessed that he (Anselm’s method) holds the “vital key” to understanding the whole process of his own theology. We don’t just recite our Credo; we have to apply some rational thinking in order to understand it: What is my reason for being a Christian? Why do I have to go to Church on Sundays? Why must I do good and not evil? Why must I love my enemies and pray for those who persecute me? Why must I turn the other cheek when I am slapped on one cheek? This is exactly what Peter is telling us in the second reading. Our quest to discover the reasons behind some of these pertinent questions will obviously lead to the deepening of our faith. To question our faith is not to be faithless; it is rather the journey of a sincere heart seeking to understand the deeper meaning of his/her existence. In the end, we may or may not totally comprehend every nitty gritty of our credo because there is the aspect of mystery that is involved, but we shall have been more enlightened to understand the reasons why we believe what we believe.

Jesus continues to deepen the understanding of his disciples in the gospel by linking love of him to the keeping of his commandments: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”. And his commandments include loving one another. In fact, this was the “new commandment” that he gave us during the last supper. Sometimes we claim to love God but sure hate our neighbors. The two are incompatible. When we apply the method of fides quaerens intellectum here, we have to ask ourselves: What does it mean to love God? Why must keeping of the commandments matter to me? Why have I not seen God in my neighbors? A deeper exploration of some of these questions will obviously help us in providing answers to people who ask us about the reason for the hope we have.

May the Advocate – the Spirit of truth – whom Jesus promised to send to us in the gospel of today, enlighten our understanding and lead us to the deepest truth of our faith! Amen.