4th Sunday Easter - Year C

One of the advantages of tracking hurricanes is the possibility of preparedness; knowledge of the storm’s path and power allows those in close proximity to travel a predetermined escape route to safety.  A very different type of “tracking” is set before the praying assembly today.  We, the 21st century disciples of Jesus, are invited to track how the great and powerful breath of the Spirit moved the church’s mission slowly but surely beyond Judah to the rest of the then known world.  The inevitable spread of the Gospel and the amazing growth of the church in apostolic times prove tiny beginnings can result in astonishing ends.

In the 1st reading (Acts 13:14, 43-52) we see Paul Barnabas and others working diligently to bring the good news to all of Jesus’ sheep (Gospel, John 10:27-30).  We shall follow their movements when they are met with welcome as well as when their best efforts are rejected.  We shall marvel as the universal embrace of the Gospel reaches out to gentiles as well as Jews.  We shall learn what it means to persevere despite persecution and we will be challenged to ask ourselves, if we see any reflection of those first evangelizers in our own efforts for the sake of the Gospel.

Do we rejoice as they did at the very thought of proclaiming the good news and witnessing to its truth, justice and love?  Can we set aside, as they did, our preconceptions, our racial biases, our penchant for judging the worthiness or not of others?  Can we persist in embracing Gospel values and in living lives that will necessarily contribute to our lack of popularity within the current culture.

As we reconnect at this time each year with those who have gone before us in the faith and as we track their efforts and measure ourselves against the standards they set, we are also to be encouraged, as they were, by the visions of John the Seer (Revelation, 2nd reading for Easter 4,5,6).  To those first evangelizers and to us, John’s visions hold out the hope that when, at last, our lives have been spent in service of the Gospel, we shall find a lasting home with God and Jesus and all those who have gone before us, tracking the path plotted by the Spirit, wherever, whenever and however it may lead.