3rd Sunday of Easter (19.04.15)
Accountability
The lingering effects of World Wars give the word ‘accountability’ an ominous ring. But accountability has positive aspects, too, such as opportunities for the sharing of good news, or receiving well-merited rewards. A contrite honest accountability accepts that each person has a responsibility to account for their life before God and the effect that their life has upon others. In the presence of our forgiving God, accountability can bring a renewal of hope, life and light when we acknowledge our need of redemption.
Easter’s 3rd Sunday presents us with an excerpt from Luke’s ‘Acts of the Apostles’ (3:13-15,17-19). St. Peter’s plain speaking to his Jewish brothers and sisters initiates a ‘conversion’ reaction, as recorded at the start of the 4th chapter. Peter was speaking from his first hand experience of repeated personal conversion. The challenge for us, as today’s Christians, is our willingness to allow our own conversion experiences to underwrite and authenticate our promotion of Jesus Christ among those with whom we share our days.
Surely one of the most poignant of Jesus’ post-Resurrection conversations with Peter is when Jesus poses the triple question. Jesus makes no mention of Peter’s earlier triple denial but Peter must have associated it with that painful memory:
“So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”… (John 21:15-20)
Volunteered, contrite and honest accountability should not bring down humiliation and aggression on the subject. Jesus never employed such tactics nor would he have condoned his disciples, and even less his apostles, employing them. An old adage comes to mind – a spoonful of honey is more effective than a barrelful of vinegar!
The Jerusalemites who heard Peter’s post Pentecost preaching must have sensed an engaging humility, based on contrition, threaded through his words. Peter’s manner must have contrasted sharply with that of the Pharisees and other religious leaders to say nothing of the overbearing attitude of the Romans. Oratory – the art of formal speechmaking with eloquence and rhetorical language – can be either inherited or learnt. Either way, it requires considerable practice.
Peter’s seafaring background is unlikely to have equipped him for public oratory. For that matter, discipleship would not have come easily to Peter. From what are told, Peter was a head-strong, natural leader who commanded respect by the strength of his presence. There is an indication of this when, as Matthew recalls:“Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This (Crucifixion and Death)shall never happen to You.” But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” (Matt 16: 22)
It is deceptively easy to presume that what we want equates with God’s will for us especially when there is, to our mind, a clearly good, even altruistic, outcome to what we deeply desire. With a degree of incredulousness we hear ourselves thinking, if not saying – ‘How can God not want what I/we want!’ A willingness to submit our deep desires to God for his approbation is easy enough to proclaim with words that no longer demand thought – ‘Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven’ – (from the ‘Our Father’) but most of us stumble, perhaps as early as the first point of implementation.
Where human will transitions from the notional to hard reality is the preeminent stalking ground for Satan. Listen to how Satan undermined Eve’s will.
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1)
With a subtly calculated misrepresentation, Satan trails his seductive but false reasonableness and snares Eve, who snares Adam and, as they say, the rest is history – sadly.
Our era has seen more ‘Enquiries’, ‘Royal Commissions’ and the like than many a previous epoch. Is it that we are attempting to achieve a higher level of honesty than our predecessors or that we prefer to make a public display of partial honesty? Even on those occasions when a formally constituted enquiry finally publishes its findings, there are likely to be redactions, claimed as valid for multifarious reasons, obscuring a composite appreciation of what should be the truth. Public confidence in the enquiry process wanes and ‘the carpet’ has to expand exponentially to hide the ever-increasing amount swept under it!
The post Pentecost utterances of Peter and his companion Apostles, when talking publicly about Jesus of Nazareth, would have had a captivating and enabling quality that had little to do with oratory and much to do with the presence of the Holy Spirit within them. Their untrammeled preaching reverberated with a depth of honesty that would have struck deep chords in the consciences of their hearers accustomed, as they were, to hearing politically and/or religiously personally motivated utterances.
Peter’s words were clearly but a light accompaniment to his post Pentecost presence and way of life. The famous saying of St. Francis of Assisi to his brothers comes to mind:
“Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”
St. Francis expounded on this advice when he added:
“Where there is charity and wisdom,
there is neither fear nor ignorance.
Where there is patience and humility,
there is neither anger nor vexation.
Where there is poverty and joy,
there is neither greed nor avarice.
Where there is peace and meditation,
there is neither anxiety nor doubt.
(The Counsels of the Holy Father St. Francis, Admonition 27.)
We could imagine what a profound difference our ears and heart would register were we able to contrast the Sunday Creed as prayed in an average UK church with the rendering of those same words in the land of the Coptic Christians whose martyr-blood has been so recently shed.
It isn’t our inability to find appropriate words that holds us back from making a public expression of our faith when our Baptismal commitment challenges us to do so. Most often it is timidity, flowing from a fear of looking foolish. Many adult Christians do not know how to express their faith because they never do so outside of a formal religious event. As Christians participate less regularly in church services, their timidity increases and their voice, upon which the Lord depends, is stilled. St Paul tells the Ephesians in his letter (3: 1-3)
“You have surely heard the way in which God entrusted me
with the grace he gave me for you ….”
What is true of Paul is true of each Baptised person, the Faith with which we have been gifted is for others. Matthew 25:31-46 gives details of the accountability we will face under the heading ‘The Judgment of the Nations’. Don’t be misled by the words of the heading. We are not judged en masse but individually – there’s no hiding.