Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Lectionary: 289

The Apostles and presbyters, in agreement with the whole Church, decided to choose representatives and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. The ones chosen were Judas, who was called Barsabbas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers... Upon their arrival in Antioch they called the assembly together and delivered the letter. When the people read it, they were delighted with the exhortation.

Except for the writing of Saint Luke we might imagine a rivalry between Antioch and Jerusalem. Antioch enjoyed status in the Roman empire; its natives were Roman citizens. The Greek-speaking city was a major transportation hub of the empire, with roads crossing east and west, north and south. It could boast of its academics and arts. Jerusalem, on the other hand, was dominated by a religious minority, given to quarreling and rebelliousness with the Roman overlords. It claimed an ancient history but that only complicated its ability to move with the times. 

Christianity was born in Jerusalem and would always look back to its spectacular birth at Pentecost, but the new religious movement found an eager welcome in Antioch. Paul and Barnabas, native sons of the Greek city, knew its culture and its people. With the go-ahead from Jerusalem the charismatic city sent missionaries across the Hellespont into Europe, to Athens, Rome, and the distant ports of Spain. 

If we imagine a rivalry between the cities, we don't find support for that theory in the Acts of the Apostles. Skeptical at first, Jerusalem embraced their distant sisters and brothers, honored their faith in Jesus, and probably suspected that many externals of their developing religion might soon be strange and unfamiliar. Gentile Christians would eat food the Jews could not stomach. They would worship in unfamiliar Greek; and then, many other languages. Their songs would reflect their beliefs about Jesus but they might repurpose old pagan melodies to fit the new doctrines. 

The Gentiles of Antioch had no memory of Jesus; he had never walked their streets or taught in their synagogues. But they had the Spirit of Jesus. That was clear. And so Jerusalem hailed them from afar and encouraged them to spread the Good News of his death and resurrection. They should enjoy the freedom of this new Way. When the city introduced the word Christian, indicating a widening rift between Judaism and the Way, Jerusalem accepted it. There was no turning back. 

Eventually the center of Christianity would settle farther west, in Rome, but Luke knew nothing of that future development. The Churches of Jerusalem, Egypt, Syria, and Byzantium would develop their own liturgical rites in their own languages even as the more dynamic Roman Catholicism spread throughout western and northern Europe, and later to the Americas, Japan, China, and the Pacific nations. Jerusalem would always enjoy its honor as the birthplace of Christianity but would have less influence on its development. 

Saint Luke's account in Acts remembers how the Spirit of God embraced both cities and enabled them to honor and trust one another. Radically different by culture, language, and history, they shared the confidence that the Lord guides the faith and its development for all time to come. 

When Pope Saint Paul VI expanded the college of cardinals from 72 to 115, elevating bishops from Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the Pacific islands, he radically altered the face of Catholicism. Its language is no longer Latin; it might be called Roman but it's universal. That is, Catholic.