Acts 6:1-7; Psa 32(33):1-2,4-5,18-19; 1 Pet 2:4-9; Jn 14:1-12
Theme: Discrimination and Favoritism Among the ‘Saints’
The first reading presents us with the first recorded problem in the early Christian community. The problem of discrimination and favoritism. How can we understand the apparent contradiction between the descriptions of the life within the early Christian community in Acts 4:32-35, and the first reading of today (Acts 6:1)? The first Christian community, as described in Acts 4:32-35, seems to have been comprised only of the Jewish converts of two linguistic distinctions: the Aramaic speaking Jews whom Luke describes as Hebrew (Hebraioi) (6:1); and then the Greek-speaking Jews, the so-called Hellenists (Hellenistai). In the same family of Christ, some were seeing themselves as Hellenists (Ἑλληνιστῶν) and some were seeing themselves as Hebrews (Ἑβραίους). And this mentality became obvious in the distribution of material goods among those in need in the community. The very beginning of any favoritism is always the mental discrimination. Once, one begins to have the attitude of “These are my people, these other ones are not”, his attitude becomes anti-Christ.
The result of this attitude of ‘my own people’ was the neglect of the Hellenist widows in the daily distribution of common goods. And this brought about murmuring. Why did the Hellenists murmur? Why could they not have gone directly to the leaders of the community (i.e. the apostles) to make their complaints? Several times, we act like these Hellenistic Jews. Instead of speaking out against an observed injustice in our Christian community, we decide to murmur and gossip. It may be out of fear, or as not to be known as a complainant, or not to appear as challenging the leaders of the community. But an injustice or discrimination or any form of ant-Christian attitude within our Christian communities should be spoken out.
But not minding the approach used by the Hellenistic Jews to make their problems known, it did not stop the Twelve from handling the issue. This is to tell us that what is important is not so much how we come to know about the existing problem in our community but the fact that there is a problem
which needs to be addressed. We should not say, “Nobody has boldly come to me”, “Nobody has brought the case officially to me”, “I have not received any letter from the group, or their representatives, and until I receive official report, I can do nothing”. The apostles heard the murmuring, and possibly made investigations, and discovered that the contents of the murmurings were in order, so they sought immediately for a way to resolve it. As a leader of any group, be it ecclesial or secular, be it large or small, you have an obligation of being attentive even to the murmurings of your members.
In order not to go about solving the crisis, and the spreading of the Word of God suffers, the apostles made a division of labor. They did not say, “Oya bring everything to us, we will handle it”. They were sincere to themselves, that although it is of great importance to resolve the crisis within the
community, it must not be at the expense of their own mission of spreading the Gospel message. As a leader, you can never handle all the works in your office, community etc. You need to dedicate some to others, and trust that they will deliver. You need to know your main call and handle other ones through other members of your work area. For instance, that you are a school manager, and you were comfortably handling everything when you had 100 students, should not blind you from seeing and admitting that now you have 400 students, the situations are no longer the same and you really need to
involve more people in the administrative work. Why are you afraid of entrusting works to people?
In the gospel reading, we have something similar in Jesus’s community. Right from chapter 13 of John’s gospel, the evangelist tells us that Jesus’s hour to leave the world and to go back to the father finally arrived (13:1). The Twelve left everything to become Jesus’s disciples, looking forward to when they would occupy ministerial and senatorial positions in Jesus’s kingdom. But on the contrary, they had virtually gained no appointment or promotion since they left their occupations to follow Jesus.
And now, Jesus is telling them that it is time for him to leave them and go. Come on!! Go where? What becomes of us if you go? Jesus must have sensed the disciples’ frustration, and so he began to console them. But unlike in the first reading where the apostles found an existential solution to their community crisis, Jesus tells the disciples that he is going to prepare a place for them at his Father’s house. When it appeared to Philip that Jesus seemed not to be capable of rewarding them, that it has reached time for him to settle them, he began to tell them story, shifting their recompense to his father’s house, he requested a direct access to the Father (Jn 14:8). It is as if Philip was saying “I have seen that you have nothing to offer me since everything you have belongs to the father, please my dear, show me the Father, I have no time to waste with you any longer…show me the Father, for that is all I need, since my recompense is with him”. It would seem as if Jesus was trying to make up for what the disciples humanly had anticipated to gain from following him, but he was actually telling them that He is the only thing they need to possess because he who possesses him, possesses the Way to his happiness, owns the Truth that gives meaning to his life, and possesses the Life that knows no death, no discrimination.
The first reading and the gospel are therefore not contradictory. Yes, while we live on earth, we must fight against every form of discrimination and favoritism, but we must never lose sight of our ultimate need: Jesus and a place of rest in him. The early Christian community had common material
goods for their bodily upkeep, but they had no Jesus living in them. The one thing which should be common among them (i.e. Jesus), they did not have, and the result was discrimination and favoritism. We may have come from different places, having different cultures, different languages, different names, but in Christ’s family, we are no longer to categorize ourselves by those criteria, because as St. Peter tells us, we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Pet. 2:9 NRS). Our common identity therefore is ‘chosen people of God’ and our earnest desire should always be to have Jesus always with us. Jesus wishes that we be with him wherever he might be, in the same way, wherever we find ourselves, we must struggle to have Jesus there always
with us. Only one who has Jesus lives against discrimination and favoritism since he sees everyone as his or her co-chosen of God.
Fr. Nnamah Chukwuezugo.