Welcome to the Pauline Family's "Year of the Bible"! We've been reading the Bible clear through this year. We've reached the New Testament, so read along with me. But first, let us pray:
Father,
When the fullness of time had come, you sent your Word in the One who said, “Whoever sees me, sees the Father.” No revelation can surpass this, until Jesus comes again in glory.
Open my mind today to the gift of life and truth your Word offers me through the Church. By your Holy Spirit, grant me wisdom and strength to put this Word into practice and to become, myself, a presence of Jesus for people who are looking for you.
Jesus, eternal Word and Son of the Father, live in me with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Today's chapters are Acts 11-13.
Centurion Cornelius' hair was still damp from his baptism at his home in Caesarea when the news of it stirred up controversy back in Jerusalem. Peter was challenged not for having baptized the Gentile and his household, but for having entered the unclean house and shared a meal with the family in the first place. He has to explain that he did everything under the clear guidance of the Holy Spirit. Peter's authoritative response gives us a picture of a bishop calmly presenting the truth of the Gospel even to people who are unsettled by its immediate implications. That calm explanation, and the witness of Peter's own docility to the Holy Spirit, drew the whole formerly contentious group into thankful praise for God's unexpected providence.
Meanwhile, in cosmopolitan Antioch, other Gentiles are starting to express interest in Jesus. The generous Levite Barnabas didn't need a vision of a tent coming from the sky to see the action of the Holy Spirit at work in Antioch. True to his name, "he encouraged them all" before heading off to Tarsus to bring the highly educated (and somewhat cosmopolitan) Saul to work with him. Soon these two would begin the work Paul became known for: missionary journeys across the Greek-speaking world. Their initial efforts are always directed to the Jewish communities of the towns they visit, for their message is: The promises made to Abraham have at last been fulfilled!
In this first section of the Acts of the Apostles, the scenes have continued to shift back and forth to Jerusalem. That will largely change as Paul's mission (first launched by the community of Antioch) becomes more and more the focus of Luke's writing.
Now that we're being introduced to Saul of Tarsus, it's time for me to introduce you to my single favorite volume on St Paul. This is the book I would recommend to someone who wanted to read one (only one) book that combined the life and letters of St Paul. Written by the noted Scripture scholar N. T. Wright, this is a flowing narrative that is Scripturally enlightening and historically sound. Paul: A Biography gives the reader a way of following Paul through the Acts of the Apostles and as he writes his letters and makes Paul the person that much more approachable.
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