Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

Lectionary: 299

I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One.
They do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.

 

While our tradition insists that there is no other name by which we are to be saved, it also recognizes the hostility this belief arouses. That opposition is not necessary or instinctive; it is a choice people make from many possible responses. We hope they will accept the Good News for, as Saint Peter said, we have come to believe and are convinced he is the Holy One of God. With that conviction how could we act differently? How could we not speak of it to loved ones and announce it to strangers?

And we should have some compassion for that hostility for we recognize our own reluctance. The Word of God “comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable,” and each of us can remember more than a few moments when we felt afflicted by the demands of the gospel. Like children we whined, “Do I have to?” And complained, “But they don’t have to, why should I?”  And, “But I don’t want to be different than everybody!” or “But I got to be me and not like everybody else!”

Convicted by the doctrine of Original Sin and recognizing its systemic infiltration of our hearts – which we hoped were pure! -- we hate to make atonement for our personal sins; and are more reluctant to atone for the sins of our ancestors. “Who can repair the damage of ancient crimes? Can’t we just forget it and move on?” We understand the world’s opposition all too well for it starts within our hearts.

The Lord does not require us to repent, repair, or atone before we listen to him. We don’t have to meet certain (impossible) standards before we come to him. First he calls us; and then he consecrates us in truth; and finally he invites us to penance. In great mercy he reveals our sins to us, and we see them in the light of his mercy. We could not bear it otherwise. How sweet it is to be loved by you!

As Saint Peter spoke to the crowds in Jerusalem on that first Christian Pentecost, he had not forgotten his denials in Herod’s courtyard. But neither did he hesitate to remind the citizens of their killing of Jesus. Because the Apostle had sinned and received mercy, he welcomed their turn to the Lord:

He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand persons were added that day.