THE
DECISION TO BE A KING
Read John 14:23-29
Jesus said, "Do not let your
hearts be troubled." Does this
mean Christians should live in a
constant state of euphoria, blissfully
untroubled by anything around them?
When the church in Antioch was troubled,
that troubled the church in Jerusalem!
They wrote with concern, "We
have heard that certain persons...
have said things to disturb you
and have unsettled your minds"
(see Acts 15:1-2, 22-29).
The fact is, there are things we
should be troubled about: the sins
that are not recognized as sins,
for example: cultural values accepted
as Christianity; our failure to
love our enemies; the unchallenged
addiction to power and prestige
in all places; mediocrity encouraged
as if there were nothing else to
strive for; the continued existence
of the death penalty, of poverty,
violence and war in nations peopled
by believers in Jesus Christ; and
worst of all, perhaps, the fact
that so few members of the Church
are saying anything to "disturb
us and unsettle our minds!"
Christians are among those who do
and approve of these things.
When is it good to be troubled,
and when is it not? Jesus gives
the first clue, because when he
said, "Do not let your hearts
be troubled," he continued,
"and do not let them be afraid."
Disturbance rooted in fear is not
Christian; disturbance rooted in
love is. This is the difference
between a watchdog and a prophet.
We see people in the Church whose
basic stance seems to be defensiveness.
They themselves seem to be "disturbed
and unsettled in their minds"
because of all those people out
there who are undermining the Church
with new ideas, new ways of explaining
Scripture, of celebrating the liturgy,
of understanding Christian morality,
even of praying. Are they right
in what they criticize? Sometimes,
yes. But in the measure that their
disturbance seems rooted in fear
and defensiveness, it is suspect.
When the "apostles and the
elders, with the consent of the
whole church" in Jerusalem
responded to the disturbance among
the Gentile Christians, they said
it was because "certain persons...
with no instructions from us have
said things to disturb you and have
unsettled your minds." The
troublemakers were not acting in
union with the Church. And we should
be concerned about anything that
is divisive.
Prophets also speak "with no
instructions" from anybody
except the Holy Spirit. So the church
in Jerusalem met to discuss and
discern. They came to a decision
based on three things: Scripture,
the spiritual experiences of those
involved, and practical concern
for the sensibilities of those who
had to live with the decision (see
Acts 15: 7-9, 12, 15-18, 28-29).
They listened to the Holy Spirit
speaking through all the members,
intent on arriving at unity and
peace. When they made their decision,
it was "with the consent of
the whole church."
All of us have to be concerned about
everything that is not renewed by
the reign of Christ because by Baptism
we became sharers in his kingship.
As his stewards we need to take
responsibility for bringing "all
things in the heavens and on earth
into one under Christ’s headship"
(see Ephesians 1:10 NAB 1970). We
are driven by a divine restlessness
until every area and activity of
human life has been brought to fulfillment
under his life-giving reign.
The greatest obstacle to this is
fear. We fear what we might lose,
what might happen to us if we do
not sing in harmony with our culture,
if we raise our voices against the
chorus of the crowd. And down deep
we think it is hopeless. We are
overwhelmed by the strength and
numbers of the powers in place.
We think nothing can be done, that
things will always be as we have
always known them to be.
To this the risen Jesus says, "Do
not let your hearts be troubled
or be afraid... Take courage; I
have overcome the world!"
QUESTIONS
