Word to the Wise
Saturday, April 14, 2007 - Saturday in the Octave of Easter
[Acts 4:13-21 and Mark 16:9-15]Whether it is right in the sight of God for us to obey you rather than God, you be the judges. It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.
The words of Peter and John are very challenging. They were challenging to the leaders, elders and scribes to whom they were first spoken. They will be challenging to any authority to whom we might speak them, whether political or ecclesiastical. They are challenging to us who are all too silent about "what we have seen and heard," in the face of compromising actions on the part of those authorities. Perhaps if these words had been spoken and heeded years ago our Church might have been spared much of the agony of the child sexual abuse scandals! Perhaps Archbishop Romero would not have been assassinated (he spoke the words but was killed for doing so). The examples in our time are more than numerous enough to make it clear that Peter and John represent us all. Peter and John are compelled by their knowledge of Christ to speak out and to reach out. Their healing of a man at the temple gate places the religious authorities in a quandry. The authorities cannot deny the man was healed - he was too well known. But they cannot allow the talk about Jesus to continue. Their attitude is similar to modern secular authorities who take an agnostic position about God's providence and an atheistic position about God. ("We don't know how it happened, but it wasn't caused by God because God doesn't exist.") For the religious authorities faced with the healing their response is to try and keep it a secret. They are trying to pour the ocean of God's providence into their tiny religious/political tea cup and hide it in their circles. The excitement caused by the preaching of the apostles is not often seen in our time because we don't consider the good news "news" anymore! It has become a sort of "comfort blanket." The message is "Christ is risen!" All the rest of Christian life is dependent on that. How can we be silent about what we have seen and heard? AMEN
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