Our Lady of Lourdes Church and School

Our first reading today reminds us once again of the importance of Baptism and its centrality in the life of the early believers. When we listen to such narratives as this in Church together, we can’t help but be attentive to the manner of our own experience and living of baptism. A key element in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles is that the grace and the responsibility of baptism is intended for the whole world, and not just for a select few. While there were those in the life of the early church who would happily have reserved baptism to devout Jews who were followers of Jesus, the wisdom of the early Church embraced not the few, but the many. The whole world was to be engaged, according to the commandment of Jesus in Matthew 28: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.* And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” This commandment to evangelize is the heart of the Church’s purpose, our reason for our existence.

The Gospel isn’t very clear about how we are to evangelize. However, it does go out of its way to make an observation about two distinctive points. Jesus calls us to keep his commandments (including the commandment to make disciples, to preach the good news, etc). He also speaks of the gift of the Holy Spirit who guides us and enables us to open human hearts to the good news of Jesus Christ.

I recently googled “The commandments of Jesus”, and was struck by the results. I assumed that the gospel was referring simply to the commandment to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart…. and love your neighbor as yourself”, maybe “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”... But imagine my surprise when I noted that Jesus offered us more than 50 commandments throughout the gospels. These commandments include the two I just noted, but also many more that I really don’t think about as quickly: “Repent” (Mt 4:17), “Follow me” (Mt 4:19), “Your light must shine before others” (Mt 5:16), “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt 5:44), “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily* and follow me” (Lk 9:23), “Feed my sheep” (Jn 21:17)...

We could go on and on, but the point is this… Baptism lived, looks like a person who follows Jesus and who keeps his commandments. As our gospel today points out: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me.” (Jn 14:21)

If I am to take seriously, for a moment, what it means for me to truly grow into my discipleship of Jesus, I would have to take seriously his invitation to follow him, to listen to his teachings and to observe his commandments. John’s gospel reminds us over and over again of the truth we find in John 3:16, the most quoted passage of the New Testament: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” The following verse reminds us that following Jesus and living our lives in such a way as to observe his commandments is not about our self-judgment, or about feeling guilty. Rather, it is about living into the fullness of the invitation that Jesus offers us: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn* the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

The very basic upshot of this way of thinking suggests that if I am to be a disciple of Jesus, then first I must know what Jesus actually teaches and what he expects of his followers. It is important for me that I work to understand his commandments and how they apply in my own life. This is not about having other people tell me what to do or how to be, but rather, it is about my making a real choice to reflect on the words of Jesus himself. This is a non-negotiable starting point. That Jesus loves me is a given. If I am to love Jesus in return, then I must come to know him and what he stands for. St. Jerome is attributed with making the observation that “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” For this reason I find I must take to heart the teaching of the Church that “urges all the Christian faithful… to learn by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures” all that we can learn of Christ. (Dei Verbum, n25).

The long and the short of it is this… if we are to have any integrity as disciples of Jesus, then reading scripture must be an integral part of our life of faith. If we are to come to know and love Jesus in truth, then we must be familiar with the commandments and words of Jesus in the scripture.  Perhaps, as we prepare for Pentecost, now is a good time for us to consider developing a Spirit-filled resolution to discover (again, or for the first time) the wonderful joys of reading and studying scripture regularly.