Wednesday of the
Fifth Week of Easter
(Acts 15:1-6; John 15:1-8)
An orthodox Jewish woman writes of her ordeal to keep her
head covered at all times. According to
Jewish law married women must never show their hair in public. It was a bit difficult until the woman
started to wearing wigs. Then she had
the best groomed hair of all without infringing the law a bit. Her trial gives us a sense of the dilemma
facing the Jesus movement in today’s reading from Acts.
Surprisingly the text describes Pharisee’s who believe in
Jesus. With reason they say that to be
Jesus’ disciples, people have to keep the Jewish law. After all, Jesus always obeyed the law and
taught his followers to do likewise. Nevertheless,
expecting Gentiles to eat kosher, as Paul fully realizes, will severely hamper
the outreach of the gospel. The issue
begs for wisdom as everyone realizes when the matter is taken to Jerusalem.
Many people today leave the Church because of what they
perceive as unreasonable rules. It seems
rigorist to them that one cannot remarry after entering a frivolous marriage in
their youth or that they commit a mortal sin when they use artificial
contraception to prevent a pregnancy that would threaten a woman’s life. We should realize that such positions are not
arbitrary regulations but truths born of study and prayer. We need also to pray for those who depart
from our ranks for these reasons – that they sincerely search for God’s will
and do not balk at every sacrifice God demands of them.
