Pondering God’s commandments, with love

As we inch towards the Ascension and Pentecost, we see heartening changes in the incipient Christian community.

In the First Reading (Acts 8: 5-8, 14-17), we meet Philip, one of the seven deacons. He is in Samaria, where his preaching has fallen on good soil. The people are in awe of his words and miracles, and relieved to be delivered of evil spirits. On hearing that encouraging update in Jerusalem, apostles Peter and John are dispatched double quick to lay their hands over the Samaritans and pray that they too will receive the Holy Spirit.

Ever since King Ahab erected a temple to Baal in Samaria, its people were considered idolatrous. But they awaited a Messiah and were suddenly privileged to be at the forefront of evangelisation. Why?

Philip had ventured there because Jesus Himself had preached in the area (cf. the story of the Samaritan woman at the well) and wished that the Gospel be taken there after His Ascension. Thus, Jesus implied that the Good News of Salvation was meant to reach all. It is doubly significant that Philip, not an apostle but a deacon, whose main job was to relieve the apostles of menial chores, became the first foreign missionary in Christian history.[1]

Reaching out to Samaria has had profound, long-lasting implications; it fundamentally changed the course of early Christianity. The church in Samaria was to Jerusalem what a local church today (say, the archdiocese of Goa and Daman) is to the universal church. The arrangement sheds light on the hierarchical structure that has governed the Church for the last two millennia; it speaks volumes about the issuance and teaching of doctrine centrally, from the headquarters in Rome, so that all of Christendom is of one mind; and finally, it points to the communion of saints, or say, the fellowship of those united with Christ across space and time.[2]

For Christ to be present with His people across space and time is no mean feat; but to God, nothing is impossible. It is a fulfilment of what Our Lord had promised in his farewell discourse, just before His Passion and Death. He had said that after His Ascension, the Holy Spirit would be with the Christians until the end of times; the Spirit of truth would pick up from where He had left off, to illuminate and strengthen all the faithful. There is no denying that, since we keep the commandments, we grow in wisdom and stature, and live in spiritual unity and love of God. God is always in our midst.

But, really speaking, who has the strength to keep the Lord’s commandments? Only those who love Him will do so, says Jesus, quite plainly, in the Gospel (Jn 14: 15-21). Yes, it demands total commitment – difficult, but not unreasonable or impossible.

‘Total commitment’? This may be frowned upon when God asks for it. But then, don’t the spouses, children, bosses, friends, clubs, expect ‘total commitment’? Don’t we respect rules and keep promises; when we don’t, we quit – or are obliged to quit!

Why, then, should a relationship with the divine be any different? In fact, our commitment should have been infinitely stronger. If it isn’t, that’s because we have been accustomed to taking God for granted for far too long. ‘God will understand’ is a lame explanation and a convenient ruse to flout rules and break promises.

For example, the First Commandment: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.” It summons us to believe in God, to hope in Him, and to love Him above all else. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:5). Adoring Him, praying to Him, offering Him the worship that belongs to Him, and fulfilling the promises and vows made to Him are part of the virtue of religion.

On the other hand, superstition is a withdrawal from the worship we ought to give to the true God. Superstition is manifested in idolatry, as well as in various forms of divination and magic. Likewise, atheism is a sin against the first commandment, since it rejects or denies the existence of God.[3]

Yet, what is the in-thing? To keep God out of one’s day-to-day dealings, if deemed socially or politically expedient to do so. This is the antithesis of the First Commandment that we are expected to profess and practise. If this is so with the First commandment, what the score will be on the remaining nine is anybody’s guess!

Therefore, St. Peter, in the Second Reading (1 Pet 3: 15-18), counsels us to revere Christ as Lord, defend those who are on God’s side, and do the right thing, in the right way, so that none can point an accusing finger at us. “For it is better to suffer doing right, if that should be God’s will, than for doing wrong,” he adds.

We must draw courage from of Our Lord’s undeserved death for our sins. We too run the risk of being hated or even put to death for siding with God, but we may rest assured that we will be made alive in the spirit by the same God who has conquered sin and death: Jesus Christ our Lord.

A tall order? If we listen to God’s commandments—with our minds and hearts—pondering what they mean to us here and now, we will invariably be assisted by the Holy Spirit. Jesus has cautioned that the dark world of unbelief is incapable of understanding and accepting the Spirit of truth – which will be accessible only to those who love and revere Him!

[1] Philip famously converted an Ethiopian eunuch, thus inducting a black into the church at a very early stage. Then he proceeded to evangelise other areas up to Caesarea; Greece, Syria and Phrygia.

[2] Those living are said to constitute “the church militant,” while the dead who are in Heaven, “the church triumphant”, and those in Purgatory, “the church suffering.” Yet the three groups are in communion of the Spirit.

[3] Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P7G.HTM