Life-giving repentance: Inclusiveness and the Mission of the Church.
April 22, 2024 - Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Acts 11:1-18; Ps 42:2-3; 43:3, 4; John 10:1-10
In chapter 10 of the Book of Acts, Peter, a Jew, together with other six Jewish Christians went to the house of a Gentile, a Roman military officer named Cornelius. Peter did this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the action resulted in bringing Cornelius and his family to faith in Christ. Today, however, he has to justify his action before a group of traditional Jewish Christians who found it shocking that the apostle would do such a thing.
The conversion of Cornelius tells us a story of someone whose heart was athirst for the living God (Ps 42:3). As we are told at the beginning of the story, he was "a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God" (Acts 10:2). The Lord honored his desire for a personal encounter and sent His apostle to facilitate that encounter. But, those traditional Jewish Christians were taken by surprise that the Lord who should be concerned only with them "granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too" (Acts 11:18).
At the heart of today's first reading is an issue of inclusiveness. Nobody can claim a monopoly on God's grace of salvation. The division of the Church into thousands of different denominations goes against God's plan. It is also against God's plan when Christian communities become a club of an ethnic group or people of the same social status. We may like to associate ourselves with people of the same ethnic, religious, cultural, educational, and linguistic background, but the Church is a community of "a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages" that worships the Lamb of God and the One sitting on the Throne (see Rev 7:9).
The entire encounter between Peter and Cornelius was arranged in heaven and guided by the Lord. Without God's command, Peter would never dare to enter "the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them" (Acts 11:3). We see here the role of the Good Shepherd. In the entire vision, Peter recognized the voice of Jesus who used him to bring Cornelius and his household to God's fold. We should admire the boldness of the apostle who had to overcome his Jewish cultural background to do what God demanded from him. He probably knew that he would be criticized for his action by other members of the Church. However, by that time, he already knew that fearing what others may say about him could lead to another breakdown and tears of remorse (see Matt. 26:75).
Jesus "came so that they [His sheep] might have life and have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). It is the task of the Church to make this life available to all the people of the world without any prejudice or distinction. God wants to grant every person in the world "life-giving repentance," and we are called to be a vessel through which this transformative message of repentance and abundant life is shared with all people, regardless of their background, ethnicity, or social status.