Understanding the Word

By Br. John R. Barker, OFM

The story of the early church takes another dramatic turn with  the baptism of Cornelius and other Gentiles. Cornelius was a  Roman centurion who is described as “devout and God-fearing,”  or a “God-fearer,” a term that describes a non-Jew who accepted  Jewish monotheism and even attended synagogue. Before the scene  in today’s reading, Cornelius had received a vision in which he was  told to send men for Peter. Before they arrive, Peter has had a vision in  which he comes to understand that it is God’s will that the Christian  proclamation extend to the Gentiles. The Lectionary reading omits  Peter’s brief summary of the Christian kerygma, during which the  Holy Spirit falls upon the Gentile listeners (see the first reading  from Easter Sunday). The charismatic gifts of speaking in tongues  and glorifying God give proof to Peter that God has indeed called  Gentiles into the Christian fold. 

The emphasis in the reading from First John is on the priority  of God’s love for us, the foundation of everything. This love has  been made most clearly manifest in the person of Jesus, whose very  presence in the world, and whose salvific death, give incontrovertible  proof of God’s love. Those who are “of the world” (4:5) do not  recognize this gift of the Son and therefore do not know God’s love.  And if they do not know God’s love, they do not know God, who  is love. As John has said many times already, those who truly know  and love God are “begotten by God,” and as such are (imperfect)  images of God who, like God, love others. 

This week’s Gospel is a continuation of last week’s, in which  Jesus referred to himself as the true vine and exhorted his disciples  to “remain in me.” Jesus develops this theme now by explaining  that to remain in him is to love him, and to love him is to obey his  commandment. Once again, the relationship between Jesus and his  disciples reflects the relationship between the Father and the Son.  To love Jesus is not just to obey him, but to imitate him, specifically  his sacrificial love. Those who truly remain in Jesus cannot help but  become like him, which means those who remain in Jesus will be his  image in the world.

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