Imagine a nighttime view of the Bible lands from far above. It is thirty years after the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ: pretend you can see a gleam of light in the darkness for every baptized Christian below. The district of Galilee in the North of Israel blazes with many lights, as does Jerusalem and the surrounding area. Smaller groups dot the Roman roads going North. Larger gleams light Antioch and the busy ports of Ephesus, Thessalonika, and Corinth. There are even Christian glows in the distant capitals of Rome and Alexandria.

Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles, lit many of these far-flung gleams, his journeys covering Syria Province, Asia Minor, and Greece, ending his last trip in Rome. He warns the Thessalonians in his own hand: no dictation or scribal compilation. Christian groups are different, but many live with common property and earnings. They probably share a special meal on Sunday, Resurrection Day, when they remember Jesus breaking the bread and sharing the cup. What about interested persons who are curious but “disorderly” and do not share the congregation’s traditions, values, and practices? “Shun them!” Paul says. Unwilling to work? No food for you!

Jesus also issued a warning to his apostles when he chastised the Scribes and Pharisees: these and other sects within Judaism are really dangerous cliques and cabals who tout their style of belief and practice as superior and the godliest. While loudly demanding ritual purity and cleanliness, they are fetid sinkholes of “hypocrisy and evildoing.” Inside such “whitened sepulchers” (another translation), you find “every kind of filth.” They are the ones who cursed, berated, and entrapped Jesus.

May we recognize and pray for those who hinder our own sharing of the Good News, the love of Christ, and the Most Holy Eucharist!

Let Us Pray:

Dear God, create in us a clean heart that we may worthily proclaim your loving words and blessings to all we meet! Amen.