The Gospel of the Holy Spirit

Meditation and Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles

Rev. Fr. Alfred McBride, O.Praem.

• Publisher: Saint Benedict Press
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781618905802
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

Written by St. Luke, Acts of the Apostles is often referred to as the Gospel of the Holy Spirit. In our new title, The Gospel of the Holy Spirit: Meditations and Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Fr. Alfred McBride guides the reader through this great book of the New Testament, verse by verse, illuminating its great meaning for Catholics of all times. While the Old Testament was God the Father speaking to his people, and the New Testament was God the Son speaking to his people, McBride shows how Acts is the revelation of God the Holy Spirit. The Gospel of the Holy Spirit: Mediation and Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles is a scholarly, yet immensley accessible, study of the Acts of the Apostles. It highlights the deep theological and spiritual meaning of Acts and shows the vibrant life of the early Church and its leaders, on fire with love for Christ. And it shows that the Holy Spirit was - and is - an active caretaker of Christ's Church and its people.

The Book of Paul

13

Ministers of the Word

FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY (Acts 13:1–14:28)

ANTIOCH AND CYPRUS MISSIONS (Acts 13:1–12)

PETER is the dominant character in the first twelve chapters of Acts, thus allowing that section to be titled “The Book of Peter.” There, the church of Jerusalem is the center of attention and holds the place of honor, as it always will. Now, the church of Antioch assumes central importance as a missionary base for the announcing of the Word to the gentiles. If Jerusalem is the doctrinal heart of the Word, Antioch stands as its communications center.

Luke opens with some comments on prophets and teachers. This is a repeat of an earlier idea that the church had clearly affirmed that the power to be a prophet and teacher was a gift-charism of the Spirit. The twelfth chapter of Paul’s first letter to Corinth is devoted to the role of such charisms in the church. This is the enforcement of a theme that the Spirit had given widespread guidance on many facets of the believing community’s life. The Spirit’s power is present in all phases of church life.

The liturgical scene in verse two includes the element of fasting as part of opening oneself to the Spirit. The act of fasting as a normal practice of piety recurs constantly throughout the Bible. People instinctively know that fasting is an act of self-purification that both clears the mind and sharpens the sensitivity of the soul to hear the Word of the Lord.

The Antioch community under the leadership of the “Council of Five”—Barnabas, Symeon, Lucius, Manaen and Saul—ponder in prayer their next evangelical move. The Word of the Lord comes to them, “Set apart Bamabas and Saul for me to do the work for which I have called them.” Bamabas is mentioned first as he is still the leader of the group. In time the roles will reverse as Saul rises to the first position. To hear the Word is not sufficient. More prayer and fasting is still needed to deepen their spiritual strength. The “laying on of hands” here is not an ordination gesture; it is just a ceremonial sending of the two missionaries.

More must be said here about the hearing of the Word. There is no doubt that the Christians described in the Acts possessed a phenomenal sensitivity to the movement of the Spirit (which also is a way of speaking of the hearing of the Word). To use imagery, this kind of listening appears to be a hearing of the heart. In meditation there is a time for concept making, for mulling over ideas about God and our lives.

This is important and legitimate, but must lead to something deeper, where the interior noise settles down and inner quiet prevails. This is more than a passive waiting. It is a tense attention, waiting, as Thomas Merton once wrote, “to hear the dim drums of Christ the Conqueror.” Our busy lives black out the normal practice of inner prayer. We could learn so much from the people of Acts. They also knew what it meant to be busy. The missionary record of Paul would exhaust any modern executive. Always they returned to the dynamism of the Spirit, to whom they listened in prayer, worship and fasting.

Now the first mission journey of Saul begins—setting out from Antioch for Seleucia, a Mediterranean seaport, sixteen miles west of Antioch. From there they set sail for Cyprus, where they will find a considerable number of Jews. They arrive at Salamis on the east coast of Cyprus and do some evangelizing in the synagogues. They travel throughout the island, preaching and teaching until they arrive at their main destination, Paphos, on the southwest side of Cyprus.

The main event described here is their encounter with a Jewish magician posing as a prophet. Surprising as it seems, there had been a sub-culture of Jewish magicians, and there are surviving documents to prove it. There is no objection here to the magic, but rather to the pretense of Bar-Jesus to the gift of prophecy. Not really a man of prayer, he is using trickery as a substitute.

Sergius Paulus, the local Roman leader and an intellectual, is anxious to hear what Bamabas and Saul have to say. The magician, now called Elymas (no possible explanation for the name change) seeks to undermine the two apostles. Saul, now officially named Paul in Acts, unleashes a fierce attack on the magician, and inflicts on him, by the power of the Spirit, a temporary blindness. The intensity of Paul’s punishing act is reminiscent of the Ananias and Sapphira affair. The story is told quite suddenly for there is no account of the interaction of Paul and Elymas. The assumption must be that he is impenitently standing in the way of the Gospel and Paul is thus moved to strike out at him.

And the proconsul believes.

THE MISSION TO PISIDIAN ANTIOCH (Acts 13:13–52)

The mission band moves from Cyprus back to the mainland in the southern part of Asia Minor. They debark at Perga in Pamphylia where John Mark leaves them. Paul is displeased with what he feels is a lack of dedication to the mission task. We well know that Paul is a tough-minded and tireless person. He expects a great deal of himself and is equally demanding of others. His comment of John Mark: “But Paul insisted that, as he (John Mark) had deserted them at Pamphylia, refusing to join them on that mission, he was not fit to be taken along now.” (Acts 15:38).

They journey on to Pisidian Antioch which is in southern Galatia. The many Antiochs will seem confusing. The popularity of the name for cities dates back to the time of Alexander the Great. After his death, much of Asia Minor fell to the control of the Seleucid family of whom many princes had been named Antiochus.

The cities usually picked were known for their sizable Jewish settlements. The missionary strategy was to bring the Gospel first to the Jews and then to the gentiles. Normally, they received a mixed reception at the synagogues. They generally made some converts, but as soon as they would turn to the gentiles, those not converted would become quite angry and raise more or less powerful opposition against the missionaries.

From this time on Paul began to emerge as the leader. Historians guess that he was at the point about 38 years old. The Acts of Theela, a second century work, described him as a “sturdy little balding bowlegged man, with meeting eyebrows and a somewhat hooked nose, full of grace. Sometimes he appeared like a man and sometimes he had the face of an angel.” We have no way of really knowing what he looked like, though there may be some merit in the description from Theela.

His enemies at Corinth said his bodily presence was weak and his speech contemptible. He admitted himself that he was rude in speech, but not in intelligence. His sermons in Acts are not quite the best clue to his preaching, for in the Acts he spoke with the careful outline of a stylized preacher. Turn to his epistles and you get a better idea of how he really preached. His words rushed out like lava from an active crater. He simply burst with the message.

He was not a poet, yet from him came some of the most exalted words in all of Christian literature. The most notable example was his hymn to love in 1 Corinthians 13. There he told of preachers who must do more than speak with the tongues of angels, for they must burn with love. There is no question that Paul, one of the greatest religious figures that ever lived, burned with the love of Christ to a degree almost unimaginable.

On the Sabbath day, at Pisidian Antioch, they attend the synagogue services. After the readings, the recitation of the Shema (“Hear O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore you shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole being and with your whole strength.”—Dt. 6:4), and the eighteen blessings, the guests are asked to preach. Paul stands, in the style of the Greek rhetor (speaker), and not like the rabbi who sat for the discourse.

His sermon reflects Stephen’s use of Old Testament stories of salvation, Peter’s account of the passion and his citing of David to support the fact of Christ’s resurrection. He is well received and asked back to preach again. Gradually, they make a number of converts. In time, the whole city acquires an interest in the famous speakers. But once the gentiles show interest, and Paul and Bamabas display an equal enthusiasm for converting them, the old guard who had not accepted the message are filled with jealousy and move to the attack.

Paul quotes to them from Isaiah 49:6 that the Word of God would be preached to the gentiles. In fact, here we have a theme that becomes a sort of church strategy. The inability of so many Jewish Christians to respond to Christ—while a moment for mourning and regret has a positive sound, for it starts the evangelists turning toward the gentiles. Paul and his sturdy followers were to be the light of nations, a title which Vatican II assigned to the document on the church.

The gentiles of Antioch receive the Word with joy and glorify the Lord. The old synagogue establishment is not content simply to disagree. They influence the powers that be to initiate a harassment of the missionaries. Eventually, the heat is so great that Paul and Barnabas “shook the dust from their feet” and left for Iconium.

REFLECTION

1. The New Testament Christians were conscious of gifts received from the Spirit? Am I aware of gifts to me from the Spirit?

2. We diet to control our weight. Why would we fast?

3. The Council of Five hear the Word of the Spirit. Do I take time to quiet my inner life so I can hear the Spirit?

4. What is the significance of Antioch for the early church?

5. There was a sub-culture of Jewish magicians. What restriction did they put on such practice?

6. Is any reason given for Paul striking Bar-Jesus/ Elymas blind? What might I infer?

7. Paul’s treatment of John Mark demonstrates that he is a very demanding leader. Do I see this as a weakness or a strength?

8. Why are there so many cities named Antioch in Asia Minor?

9. What is the missionary strategy of Barnabas and Paul? Who hears the Gospel first? Why?

10. In addressing the assembly at Pisidian Antioch, Paul stood like a Greek orator and did not sit as a rabbi would. Where would he have learned this? Which would I find more effective?

PRAYER

HOLY Spirit, inspiration of all missionaries, you now send Barnabas and Paul on the first missionary journey. You draw from Paul his leadership qualities and so he becomes the head of the mission. Paul feels himself led by you and sent by you. I am attracted to such conversation with the Spirit. I have much inner sensitivity to acquire. Holy Spirit warm me with your presence and lead me to hear you and follow your call.

14

Joyful Missionaries

THE ICONIUM MISSION (Acts 14:1–7)

ICONIUM—which still exists today as the town of Konia, Turkey—serves as a typical example of the scenario we shall see regularly now. First, the apostles preach at the synagogue. They find a favorable response until gentiles get into the picture, at which point the old guard rebels and institutes serious opposition—stoning in this instance. At least in Iconium the opposition must have been growing slowly, for the text says that Paul and the brethren stayed a considerable amount of time.

As always, Paul preaches with “boldness,” the courage that Spirit bore. Paul must also have possessed unbelievable physical energy, for he shows no particular signs of exhaustion while he maintains a frightful pace by any standards. “Road lag,” the ancient form of jet lag, plus the look of angry faces and the pelting of stones hardly seem to phase him.

In 2 Corinthians he details his missionary suffering not as a complaint, but as a series of trophies that the Spirit had strengthened him to achieve (see 2 Cor. 11:16–29). There he tells of imprisonments, beatings, five scourgings, a stoning, and three shipwrecks. He withstands danger from robbers, traitors and his own peoples, in the city, in the wilderness and at sea. He experiences sleepless nights, hunger, thirst, exposure to cold, and lack of shelter. Without being irreverent, it is almost a description of a divine superman. Yet we know from every saint we have ever heard of that the spiritual power from God makes all this bearable. Christ unlocks personal resources of stre...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• The Book of Peter
• The Book of Paul
• Conclusion
• Back Cover