for April 23
Thursday of the Second Week of Easter

I distinctly remember when I first learned that the Latin root of the word ‘obey’ comes from ‘to listen.’ At the time, this seemed like the ultimate get out of jail free card to an adolescent committed to the belief that rules were meant to be bent, if not broken. I only needed to listen to them, but not necessarily follow them.

I suppose that was a developmentally appropriate response for an adolescent. And over time, I’ve discovered there are so many more things to listen to than just rules and directions. Consider how different it is to listen to and follow the thread of a story, or to listen and follow along with the music, than it is to listen and follow the rules.

So when Peter and the Apostles announce to the Sanhedrin in today’s first reading that “we must obey God rather than men,” I hear ‘listen’ echoing in that word ‘obey,’ and I think of that kind of listening that is more appropriate to the arts than it is to authority. Remember, this passage is set in the fifth chapter of Acts, in the earliest days of the Christian community. There hasn’t even been a doctrinal dispute among the Apostles yet (although that’s coming in chapter 15), much less the centuries of theological reflection and the development of a catechism and of code of canon law that are the background noise when we hear this passage. At this point in the life of the Christian community, there are few, if any, rules to obey. There is, however, someone to listen to.

Peter and the Apostles call themselves ‘witnesses.’ They have heard and seen how Jesus lived and what God did by raising Jesus from death. They testify to experiences that have transformed how they understand themselves and how they understand the entire world. “We are witnesses of these things,” Peter and the Apostles claim, “as is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey [God].”

Although people in church circles speak easily of receiving ‘the gifts of the Spirit’, that’s a pretty bold claim. What must it have been like for the Apostles to put themselves in the same category alongside the Holy Spirit for the first time? The Holy Spirit is a significant actor throughout the gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. The presence of the Spirit is the thread of continuity that ties together the ‘time of preparation’ before Jesus, his life and ministry, and the life of the new church. When Luke mentions the Holy Spirit, it means that God is present and at work. This is the gift that Peter and the Apostles now possess. To receive the gift of the Holy Spirit means nothing less than to receive the gift of recognizing what God has done in raising Jesus and how that has changed everything in the world.

To see God at work is not an inevitable result of rules meticulously applied and fastidiously followed. To see the Spirt moving is a gift, and it requires a gift from us in return in order to receive it. We have to give ourselves over to following where the story and the music—where the Spirit—leads us.

But where do we see the presence and action of God in our world? Where is death transformed into life? Though we may be quarantined alone or nearly so, death, discouragement and despair are clamoring constantly around us and so much easier to pay attention to than signs of resurrection and life.

The way the Acts of the Apostles presents the (admittedly idealized) response of Peter and is companions to their world-changing experience is strikingly simple: witnesses to Jesus Christ shared meals and the things they possessed in common and spoke often of his life and ministry. In our own world-changing times, perhaps such simple steps, taken wherever we find ourselves, are sufficient for us as well.

“God does not ration the gift of the Spirit,” today’s passage from the fourth gospel reminds us. The gift of the Spirit—of awareness of God’s presence—is abundant, overflowing, freely available, to all would listen and follow.
—BJ Brown

Today’s readings are found on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops website.