Nevertheless, in the end, the very end, the end of our world, we will do without these limitations. Our community will be commensurate with the human

Transcription

1 Easter 7.09 In our first reading from today we learn that the earliest community thought it necessary to choose someone to take the place of Judas. You remember that the Gospels speak of Jesus having twelve disciples. The symbolism of that number is clear. Just as Jacob had twelve sons, and just as there were twelve tribes of Israel, so now Jesus chooses twelve men to be a sign of the new Israel. But one of the twelve, Judas, proved unfaithful, and so now Peter tells the others that they must choose someone to take his place. The symbolism, apparently, was that important. There must be twelve building blocks for the new community. And that fact also explains why the Gospels preserved the names of the Twelve. However, we also see that although these twelve were symbolically very important, they were not the whole community. Our reading tells us that there were 120 of them gathered there together with Peter and the other ten, and among them was the mother of the Lord and some other women. The number 120 is also symbolic. To have a synagogue with its own council, 120 men were needed. Thus Luke is telling us that the first group constituted an authentic and legitimate Jewish community, although the new element is the presence of the women as well among them.

2 2 But the Gospels also tell us that within the larger community and indeed within its leadership, the group of Twelve, Jesus made distinctions. Before he chose the Twelve, he called four men to be his companions, the two sets of brothers, Peter and Andrew, James and John. So what do we draw from all this? Well, first of all, we can see that Jesus was not a loner. He called a community around himself. Second, we learn that there were levels or degrees of closeness to Jesus within the community. First we have the entire community, then we have the twelve, and then we have the four among these twelve, his first and most intimate of friends. So two circles within the large circle of the community as we draw closer to its hub or center, Jesus himself. But how far can we extend the outermost boundary of the outer circle? How big can the circle s circumference be? There we have to say that there is no limit. The circumference of the circle can keep expanding farther and farther and farther until it ceases to be a line, until it ceases to be itself.

3 3 Where, you might ask, is the proof for this last remark? I find it in the scene in the Gospels where Jesus is preaching and his disciples come to him to tell him that his mother and family are seeking a word with him, and Jesus pauses long enough in his preaching to the crowd to say: Who are my mother and my brothers? And looking around at those who sat about him, he said, Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother. (Mk 3: 34-5). But the first thought that crosses my mind when I look at that last quote is the apparent contradiction between it and our own understanding of church membership. We distinguish very carefully between those who belong and those do not belong to our church. In fact, we distinguish more strongly than many other Christian churches. For example, many Protestant churches welcome everyone to their services. The signs outside their churches often say: ALL WELCOME. And this external welcome often also means that those who come inside to their communion services are invited to take part in their communion. But few, very few, Catholic churches have such signs outside their buildings. And if they do, they should qualify them. For those who enter our churches will discover that they are not invited to take part in our communion service. Look at your missals. There you will see the

4 4 rules that govern participation in our communion. First of all, we do not welcome non-christians to communion. (I suspect that the Protestant churches might agree with us there. Their All Welcome may not extend to sharing communion with the nonbaptized.) But we do not welcome all other Christians, as many of them do. We welcome some who are not in full communion with us; e.g., Orthodox Christians, Assyrian Christians, and Polish National Catholics, but we do not welcome Protestant Christians. I suspect one reason for this distinction is the fact that we recognize the presence of the priesthood in the churches just named, but we do not see it present in the Protestant churches. What do you make of all this? Shall we just throw the whole thing open? Would that not be more like Jesus who says anyone who does the will of his Father is his brother and sister and mother? It would seem so. On the other hand, Jesus did draw some people more closely to himself: the four, then twelve. And common sense tells us that you cannot have an identifiable community unless it has its own identity, and an identity is not possible unless there are norms and laws. No, we cannot remain ourselves if we have no identity, and we cannot preserve our identity without norms and laws.

5 5 Nevertheless, in the end, the very end, the end of our world, we will do without these limitations. Our community will be commensurate with the human race. Or so we see it in faith. Jesus will be all in all. There will be one head and one body loving itself. But until then we have to stick by the rules. At the same time we have to be open to every single human being in respect and love, for this person, if he or she is attempting to do God s will, is Jesus and therefore our brother and mother and sister. Amen.