The readings are (to read them, go HERE):
Acts 4:32-35
Psalm 133
1 John 1:1 – 2:2
John 20:19-31
Collect of the Day:
Almighty Father,
you have given your only Son to die for our sins
and to rise again for our justification:
Grant us so to put away the leaven
of malice and wickedness
that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth;
through the merits of your Son
Jesus Christ our Lord.
What are the characteristics of the Church? This was the question I asked at a Vestry retreat I was leading for a small church I served about 20 years ago. In the States, the Vestry, or governing board, of a church will typically hold a retreat each year after new members have been elected. The retreat will last a day, or even two days. During the time together, the Vestry will delve into matters that are more weighty or long-term than what they might normally deal with in a regular Vestry meeting.
At this particular retreat, the Vestry divided up into small discussion groups at first. Each group was given a passage from the Acts of the Apostles that described the behaviour of the very first Christians — those apostles who had been close disciples and friends of Jesus, and the people that they had baptised into the Christian faith at the very beginning of the Church. I instructed the Vestry groups to read the passage I had given them and list the characteristics of the Church that were described in it.
One of the groups had the passage that is our first reading for today. It’s a short passage, and I will repeat it here.
“Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. 33With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. 35They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.” [Acts 4:32-35]
When the Vestry groups got back together they were supposed to say which characteristics of the church they heard in their passage. I don’t remember what the group who had this passage said, but I remember what they did not say. They made absolutely no mention of those early Christians owning everything in common instead of having no private possessions. That is quite a remarkable characteristic, but somehow they just glossed right over it and ignored it.
It’s not a surprise, really, that they would do that. Who wants to hear that we’re supposed to give up all our hard-won possessions to some group of people? Who wants to hear that those early Christians sold what they owned and laid the proceeds at the apostles’ feet to distribute to the whole group according to need?
Now have I done this? No, I confess I have not. But I understand it. I know of a community in the States where people come close to doing this. The community owns a religious publishing company that I used to work for.
This passage from Acts illustrates something about the Christian faith that is crucial: it is idealistic. It holds up great ideals and calls on us to look toward them, to aim toward them. It is by aiming toward the ideals that we actually begin to see them come to fruition — they actually begin to come true. Because by aiming toward them, we are proclaiming a belief in them. They become our focus.
I have often been accused of being idealistic, of not being practical or realistic about what can actually be accomplished. And when accused of this, I have generally responded that I would rather aim toward the ideals, if they are what is right, than to give up.
The idealism of the Christian faith also shows up in the reading from the First Letter of John. We will be reading from this letter throughout the seven weeks of the Easter season. This letter describes some of the basics of the Christian faith, and of Christian behavior, and it aims high. One might call it idealistic. For example, today it declares to us that God is light, and in God is no darkness at all. And it says if we walk in the light, we will have fellowship with one another and be cleansed from all sin.
And John says right at the beginning that the letter is written to declare to us — those of us who read it — what he knows to be true. He has seen the word of life, he has seen eternal life, and he knows what is necessary for us to see it ourselves. And he is saying, do not give up, do not settle for something less; believe in Jesus Christ, for he is the way to eternal life and to joy.
The same message shows up in the Gospel reading. This passage is often said to be about “Doubting Thomas,” as this apostle ends up being called, and we always read it the week after Easter. The apostle Thomas was not with the other apostles on Easter evening, when the resurrected Jesus appeared to them in the upper room where they were gathering. And when told of the event, Thomas refused to believe it until, as he said, he was able to put his fingers in Jesus’ wounds — he wanted to be that close before he would believe.
The following week, there was Jesus again. And he challenged Thomas to go ahead and touch his wounds. Thomas does not seem to feel that need, upon seeing Jesus, for he suddenly declares Jesus to be “My Lord and my God.”
And Jesus says “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
And John, the Gospel writer, then says,
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” [John 20:30-31]
To hold to an ideal is to believe even though we have not seen, or seen just a little bit. That is the state in which we live in this world, at least at first. We might be like Thomas, saying, “I will not believe it unless I see it.” And then the temptation is to turn aside, to shut our eyes and our ears to the reality that the Christian faith is all true and that Christ really can transform our life. It is as we live the Christian faith, as we take the risk of believing that it all is true, that our vision changes, our hearts are warmed, and the Christian life begins to unfold before us and we see the ideals actually can be real.
And so John gives us the testimony of his Gospel, and of his Letter, so that we might believe. And thousands of people through the centuries have testified that the ideals of the Christian faith really are true. John is exhorting us, challenging us, to believe them, and by believing them, to aim towards them, and by aiming towards them, with God’s grace, to have new life, a transformed life.
— By the Rev. Canon Liz Beasley