Word to the Wise
Tuesday, May 5, 2009 - Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Easter
[Acts 11:19-26 and John 10:22-30]It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.
Sometimes a very simple and seemingly insignificant (even trivial-seeming) line can carry a big message. Why should the disciples be called, "Christians?" Why not Nazareans, or Jesus-ites? There's a whole lot of background in the picture. "Christos" in Greek means roughly the same as "Messiah" in Hebrew/Aramaic! To be called "Christian" means to be a "Messianist!" We need to remember that "Christ" is a title, and not the last name, for Jesus! There is another element to this which is also important. To be called "Christian" means more than an individual personal commitment to Jesus. It is a name given to a "movement," and eventually a "church." St. Paul describes this as the "Body of Christ." This is the "horizontal" dimension of faith - the love of neighbor! To be a Christian means to be part of a collective reality as well as a person with an individual faith. There is no such thing as being a "Christian alone." AMEN