Freedom and Reconciliation Sunday
Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23; John 14:23-29
I once worked in a village called Mayerthorpe, in the Canadian province of Alberta. It was summer, 2009, at St. Agnes parish. One Sunday, during my homily, I observed a spectacle. At Mass, there was this young mother (name withheld), with two young daughters. It seemed her daughters intentionally took turns to run to the back of the church; and, each time that happened, their mother goes after the one behind the church to negotiate with her on why she should return to her seat, and listen quietly to my homily. This back and forth with her daughters happened all through the homily. One question was on my mind, all through: is this not how God treats us, sinners, patiently negotiating with our freedom? Growing up in Nigeria, a spank or a dirty slap was enough to keep a child quiet and attentive all through Mass, not only for the period of the homily. But how often have we been spanked or rough handled by God because of our sins?
Surely, every human being, at the age of reason, has heard the word “love” before. Evidently, each person can tell a tale of love or what one considers as a love-experience. The parting of the ways starts when one wants to synthesize the various shades of meaning the word “love” encapsulates. Yet, there is only one understanding of love for Christians – sacrifice.
The young mother of our story and her two daughters were not enemies nor at war with each other; also, the Nigeria parent who spanks an unruly child is not on an abuse spree: both parents are navigating the troubled waters of freedom and love via reconciliation. The journey to bring “love” and “freedom” to each other’s proximity is “reconciliation.” Of course, “reconciliation” smacks off the idea of a warring party or conflict situation; only if we knew that “reconciliation” is the attempt at creating “love” and restoring “freedom” to its true meaning, only then, can we begin to appreciate the need and role of reconciliation in our lives. This is glaring from our first reading today.
History teaches us that St. Paul was a scholar of the Jewish Law (Old Testament) and very verse in classical studies. The contestation of Paul’s expertise, by people of less education, engenders a debate which challenges Paul’s legitimacy, an embarrassing situation seeking an arbiter to decide on the authenticity and veracity of Paul’s teachings. In a nutshell, Paul’s world was on a crumbling course, badly in need of rescue. Thank goodness, there was a commonly accepted locus of credibility – Jerusalem, and people of trust – the apostles. Therefore, the journey to Jerusalem is a love story, not a journey of rivals because the freedom to learn and the love of the truth are not at variance with each other. Paul and some of his challengers went down to Jerusalem to hear the truth and bring it back to other members of their community; for, rivals and enemies travel separately, not together.
The freedom exercised by those who do not reason and believe as we do is the possibility which offers us the chance to bring the faith to them. Freedom of religion and of expression are given by God and they are not obstacles to faith; rather, freedom opens the door of faith, provided that love is factored into the equation. Love is the necessary ingredient for the unfolding of reconciliation because it domesticates freedom through knowledge of the right use of freedom – freedom to love as God loved us in Christ.
Paul’s and Barnabas’ love of God and neighbour concretizes itself in their missionary journeys to bring the Christian Faith to others. Likewise, the freedom to accept or reject the Christian Faith is a fundamental right of everyone created in the image and likeness of God, which Paul’s and Barnabas’ hearers are exercising today. The respect for human freedom and the love for human salvation reveals itself in the degree of patience displayed by missionaries, especially Paul and Barnabas today. They accepted the journey to Jerusalem, without shame, to search for the truth, in order to assuage doubters!
The apostolic letter brought back by Paul and Barnabas, and the oral encouragements of Judas and Silas, manifest the goodness in freedom and love – reconciliation! “The Holy Spirit and us have decided,” says the apostolic letter to the gentile churches. “The Holy Spirit,” like freedom, blows where it wills, we only remark its presence without being able to determine exactly whence it comes or thence it goes! But one thing sure about the Holy Spirt is that it is never at variance with God, since it is the Spirit of God. Only love enables a Christian to see opportunity for good in every act of freedom, a freedom directed by God’s Holy Spirit for the reconciliation of the whole of humanity, and not for conflicts and wars.
Today’s gospel does not mince words in making the Holy Spirit the principal agent of reconciliation. For the Holy Spirit to be termed the “Advocate” presupposes a legal battle, because advocates and solicitors are lawyers who either defend or prosecute those brought before a tribunal. In its Johannine context, however, the Holy Spirit decides the veracity of God’s words and intentions. Here, precisely, is the link between the gospel and the first reading. The statement of the first reading to the effect that “The Holy Spirit and us have decided,” concretizes the promise and fulfillment of Jesus Christ that the Church will never lack the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Today, the Holy Spirit proves that Jews and Gentiles are both children of God. Consequently, the judgment of the apostle was guided by the Holy Spirit, the Advocate.
In reality, the intention of God is for the actions of Christians to flow directly from the Holy Spirit. In other words, just as the exercise of freedom flows freely from the human person, so does the Holy Spirit of God wish to flow from every Christian. When that happens, external laws become irrelevant, just as the presence of the temple is irrelevant in our second reading today, because God is the light of the heavenly Jerusalem, just as the Holy Spirit enlightens the actions of those he leads.
Only the power of love can guide freedom aright. Freedom, not conflict, opens the door of faith; so, those who oppose us are not our enemies, but those in need of conversion through our love and patience. Freedom as love and love as reconciliation makes true conversion and authentic worship of God possible. Violence only legitimizes falsehood and turns freedom into an enemy. The good news is that the Holy Spirit turned Advocate keeps alive and sustains every human effort towards love and freedom of the children of God.
*Assignment for the Week:*
Can you come up with an initiative of how to show God’s love this week by doing something out of love and freedom in addition to what the laws of the Church and State require?