There are two directions that I would like to suggest from today’s readings.
The first reading brings to life the beauty of the book of Acts is a blueprint for us as Christians today. Here, In selecting the successor to Judas, we have a very good example.
After Judas died the apostles number was only 11. If the Church had to grow and bear fruit to follow Jesus plan, it would need to grow exponentially and by that I mean to the power of two or three or more. If you are math savvy you will see that 1111 would give you a number like 285,311,670,611. Again, if you had 1212 you get a much higher number like 8,916,100,448,256. This is an exaggeration but the number 12 is very important in scripture. You have the twelve tribes of Israel and Jesus choose 12 disciples for a reason to build his Church. The important thing is that this was the perfect number for the Church to grow and 12 leaders could do more to expand the Church than 11. Peter was inspired by the Holy Spirit replace the 12th Apostle.
First the Apostles prayed in the Spirit. Second they choose only qualified individuals and thirdly they drew lots or in effect had an election. This is exactly how we choose a Pope today. We as a country should be so lucky to have this same process to elect a President today.
The apostles choose two qualified individuals and they ended up choosing Saint Matthias. Little is known of Saint Matthias but tradition tells us that he was a follower of Jesus from the beginning of His ministry and after Saint Matthias was elected, he expanded the Church around Cappadocia and on the coast of the Caspian Sea. He either died by stoning or beheading. Because of his actions the Church continued to expand. Jesus’s plan of 12 disciples exponentially spread the Gospel to the world and beyond, generation by generation to today.
The Gospel for today is almost the same Gospel as April 29th, but the verses were expanded for emphasis. The expanded part I will discuss later.
They both have this quote:
“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
Jesus certainly laid down His life for us, but how do we practice this in our daily lives. It brings up an image of combat and dark circumstances between good and evil. However, I might suggest another interpretation that you might already be doing in your daily lives.
I can only explain this by giving several examples. My wife who is a nurse has told me many stories of how she or a fellow nurse went an “extra mile” to help one of their patients. Another example would be a true story of a good friend of mine who is a policeman and years ago arrested a young man who had committed some crime. Being a policeman, he “he read him his rights” but also gave him a lecture and suggested to the man an alternative path. Years later they met again and the man thanked the officer, because that talk was a life changing experience for him. That extra mile the officer took was the turning point in his life.
There are many examples that all of us do to lay down our life for a friend. You take out your neighbor’s garbage when they forget. You hold the door for someone or put some spare change in a perfect stranger’s parking meter. The Sunday school leader. The Girl Scout leader. The coach. Giving your time, talent and treasure out of LOVE. You might very well see yourselves in these situations.
You are following Jesus command in this scripture to “love one another” and to lay down your life for a friend.That may only be an hour or a few minutes, but you take the time to spend it with someone else. That portion of our life that we could be having fun or just caring for ourselves, we give up out of love for a friend or a perfect stranger. That is laying down your life in a simple quiet way out of love.
The Church added something to the scripture of a couple of weeks ago.
“As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in His love.”
He is telling us not just to lay down our lives or some part of our lives and not only love one another, but He is telling us to “remain in His love”. He is telling us to stay in the state of grace. Yes Jesus knows that we will not totally be able to do it. He shared our humanity, even though He himself was sinless. Nonetheless, we can easily get back into the state of grace by repenting and saying an act of contrition and going to confession. I work every Saturday, so I have to make an appointment with my pastor or associate pastor and I enjoy our visit.Most importantly I receive the Grace of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
My Prayer for today is this. Lord, may the love we share for one another in our daily lives exponentially expand you Church, keep us safe and give hope to future generations. [Psalm 16 from two days ago.]
God Bless!
Bob Burford
Readings: Acts 1:15-17, 20-26; Psalm 113:1-2,3-4,5-6,7-8; John 15:9-17
