The community of believers was of one heart and mind.
Acts 2:32-35
Hardly
and Easter goes by that I don’t remember family “picture taking” from
childhood, especially on Easter Sunday morning when we were all decked out in
our finest new “Easter clothes.” Back then we got new clothes twice a year –
when school started and Easter – so it was a big deal.
In
those days, people would never think of going to church without being all
dressed up. Most women wore hats and gloves and carried purses. Most men wore coats and ties. Boys wore
ironed shirts, shiny shoes and even ties sometime. Girls wore dresses and hats
and carried purses.
On
Easter, however, we went all out. There are innumerable photos in our family
album to prove it. I especially remember my brother and I all lined up, with
and without our Easter baskets, looking very frozen in uncomfortable shoes, bow
ties and slickly combed hair. It seemed that we took turns taking pictures of
each other – often Mom and the girls in one picture and Dad and the boys in
another. We were always smiling, even if it looked forced sometimes. Our
clothes were always pressed with an iron. Our hair was always combed. We always
stood there smiling into a blazing sun and trying to look our very best.
It
is what the pictures didn’t show that is worth mentioning today.
We have no shots of the screaming, yelling and name-calling that went into
getting ready. We have no shots of my Dad in one of his rages. We had no shots
of my mother, looking haggard and worn, late at night, ironing all those
clothes by hand for six kids, herself and my Dad, who never did learn how to
take care of his own clothes. We have no shots of any of the pain and struggles that we went through as a family back then. If you just look at our Easter
snapshots, you would think we were the Walton’s on “mood altering drugs!” Snapshots never
tell the whole story! They are only “snapshots” – moments in time!
Such
in the case today with the first reading! It is one snapshot of the church
during its infancy. If you read only that passage, by itself, you would have to
conclude that the church has gone to hell in a hand basket since then! In
reality, it is like the “Easter pictures” of my childhood. It only tells part of the truth.
In
the beginning, the church did have some days when its members seemed to be “of
one heart and one mind,” some days when “many signs and wonders were done,” and
some days when “they enjoyed the favor of all the people.” If we just read this
one reading and looked around the church today, we would have to conclude that
the church’s original luster and beauty has indeed faded. However, if you
continued to read on in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, you would start reading what Paul
Harvey called “the rest of the story” and the “rest of the story” would sound
very much like the church today.
Thank God that "the rest of the story" stories are included in the Scriptures. It helps us not to idealize the church in its beginnings and be discouraged by its weaknesses today.
In today's gospel, we read about the doubt of Thomas who refused to believe until he saw and touched Jesus' wounds personally. We read about a bunch of people walking away from Jesus because they could not believe his teaching on being the "bread of life." We read about some of Jesus' family who showed up while he was preaching to take him home because they thought he was "out of his mind." We read about James and John, the "climbers," who made a move behind the other apostles' back to get the best positions in Jesus' new kingdom. Then there is the betrayal of Judas, the denial of Peter and the total abandonment by all the apostles at the crucifixion except John an some women.
If
we kept reading on past the Acts of the Apostles reading today, we would quickly read about Ananias, and his wife Sapphira,
who made a pledge to give the proceeds of the sale of some of their property to
the church. Later, with his wife
knowledge, they held back part of the pledge and even lied about it. Caught in the lie, they both dropped dead. If
we kept reading, we would read about the future Saint Paul hunting down
Christians and having them killed and even holding the coats of those who
stoned St. Stephen to death. If we kept reading, we would read about Paul and
Barnabas having such a falling out that they could not work together and having
to go their separate ways. If we kept reading, we would read about Peter acting
one way around Jewish believers and another way around Gentile believers,
resulting in his being called “two-faced” by Paul. If we kept reading, we would hear about Greek and Jewish widows arguing over their fair share and apostles with “too
much to do.”
There
are many beautiful snapshots of the early Church in the Acts of the Apostles, but they are balanced by some snapshots of the ugly side of the early church as
well. Just as Jesus was fully human and
fully divine at the same time, his body, the church, may be of divine origin,
but it is also full of real human beings and human weaknesses! In spite of this, Jesus has promised to be
with the church till the end of time and has promised that even the power of
hell shall not prevail against it. Therefore, hang in there and hang on! If the church was supposed to be perfect, we would never have been invited to join - and, with us as members, that church would no longer be perfect!
Pope Francis washing the feet of men prisoners on Holy Thursday previously.
Pope Francis washing the feet of women prisoners this year on Holy Thursday.
