Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter
(Acts 16:11-15; John 15:26-16:4a)
For a generation after Jesus’ death and resurrection, his
followers worshipped along with Jews in local synagogues and the Jerusalem
Temple. Like their fellow worshippers,
they were immune to Roman law that had everyone worship the Roman gods. Then Judaism experienced a crisis. The Roman army responded to a Jewish
rebellion by destroying the Temple. The
rabbis had to reform Judaism giving greater emphasis to studying the Law. They also disassociated themselves from those
who claimed Jesus as the Messiah.
Left unprotected from the Roman law to worship their gods,
Christians were persecuted by both Jews and Romans. Needing help, they found it in Jesus’ promise
in today’s gospel to send an Advocate who would demonstrate to the world that
Jesus was truly God’s Son. Christians
came to understood that they need not fear desolation. Christ’s Spirit, the Advocate, was with them
to withstand the persecution.
The Holy Spirit remains with us today. We must take courage
in this fact and turn to him with our needs.
Where we are being persecuted, we need to speak up with the truth. Where there is doubt about procedure such as
how to justly recognize women in the church, we should turn to the Spirit with
confidence. We need not fret that Jesus
is not among us. He has sent his Spirit
in his place.
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