Word to the Wise
Friday, April 9, 2021 - Octave of Easter - Fri
[Acts 4:1-12 and John 21:1-14]"Leaders of the people and elders: If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a cripple, manely by what means he was saved, then all of you and all the people of Israel should know that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; in his name this man stands before you healed. He is "the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone." There is no salvation through anyone else nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved." [Acts]
The claim that Peter makes before the Sanhedrin, the highest authority in Judaism at the time, is astonishing in its scope even in our own day. Although it is set in the period before the destruction of the temple, which took place less than 50 years after Jesus' death and resurrection, it reflects the Christian preaching that was going on at the time Luke composed his gospel portrait of Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles is the second volume of that portrait. If the Jewish leadership at the time found the claim utterly mystifying, even in the face of the healing of a cripped beggar, what can be said of succeeding generations over 2000+ years of Christian witness?
The teaching of the Catholic church on non-Christian religions is clear that explicit faith in Jesus Christ is not required for "salvation." One may find this teaching in the documents of Vatican II. This does not take away the salvific power of God's plan. Christ died for all people. In thinking about this, I find that I benefit from the actions of many people whom I have never met or even know about and must take it on faith from the witness of others, whose testimony I trust. It is the trustworthiness of the witnesses that keeps the faith alive but God's purposes are not ultimately frustrated by those who are not trustworthy! The Acts of the Apostles reveals the courage and excitement of the Spirit-filled witness of the first Christian preachers. In our own time, can we afford to do any less? AMEN