Acts 15:7-9, from Friday’s first reading:
After much debate had taken place,
Peter got up and said to the Apostles and the presbyters,
“My brothers, you are well aware that from early days
God made his choice among you that through my mouth
the Gentiles would hear the word of the Gospel and believe.
And God, who knows the heart,
bore witness by granting them the Holy Spirit
just as he did us.
He made no distinction between us and them,
for by faith he purified their hearts.
For reflection:
Paul has been so often called “the Apostle to the Gentiles” that it can come as a bit of a shock to hear Peter saying that the early Christians were “well aware” that God chose him to first proclaim the Gospel to those who were not Jews. Luke details this in chapters 10 and 11. Even there, we only get a sketch of the struggle Peter had to go through to understand this expansion of God’s plan for mankind. It is clear the earliest church did not take this insight and run with it immediately! And so it has gone through all the centuries of the Church: progress in the growth of the Kingdom is a slow and messy business, often with controversies extending over decades and more.
The outer Church is always decaying and falling apart, while the Spirit is renewing and energizing it from within. This reflects a similar process going on in each of us throughout our lives. Our task, in general, is this: to “let not our hearts be troubled” but to “have faith in God and faith in Christ” so that renewal and energizing can continue.