LIFE OF EARLY CHRISTIANS    -  XAVIER JAMES L.S.

                                                (Acts: 2:42-47, 4:32-37, and 5:1-16)

 

Acts 2:42-47, 4:32-37 and 5:1-16 deal with the lives of early Christians, which made a great impact on the new believers.  The believers devoted themselves to Apostles’ teaching, fellowship, worship and prayer.  1. The teaching or instructions of the apostles contained the teaching of Jesus and it was shown how Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.  2. In fellowship, the believers spent much of their time together discussing, teaching, encouraging, and challenging each other.  They enjoyed one another in the family bond that the Spirit created.  This fellowship was a tangible manifestation of love for one another.  This was also an expression of sharing with poorer members of this new community.  3. In worship, they broke the bread, shared ordinary meals together and also remembered the significance of the death of the messiah, which became the Lord’s Supper.  It was an occasion for reflection and expressing thanks to the Risen Jesus and praising him for what he accomplished.  4. The prayer was conducted privately and also together as a group.  As Jewish Christians they kept up the customary Jewish prayer by going to the temple.  They were blessing and praising God asking him for guidance and for boldness in proclaiming the gospel. 

Today, this is highly exercised in the Basic Christian Communities.  Some parts of India it is very vibrant.  If we can really progress as the body of the church then we need to go to the roots.  Church has to be a communion of communities, where all believers are recognized and accepted.  They come together in the name of risen Christ and share the their joys and sorrows in the light of the word of God.  They strive to live together and to be united, “in one mind and heart”.  The church is a participatory one, where the gifts and the charisms are realized, activated and utilized for the growth of the Christian communities.  The Church is to witness faithfully and lovingly the risen Lord through the lives of the believers.  This community is a leaven of transformation in this world and serves as a prophetic sign daring to point beyond this world to the ineffable kingdom that is yet fully to come.          

The community life was a vibrant one and they enjoyed the togetherness.  The Gospel about Jesus was accepted with reverence and joy.  The miracles were the climax of receptivity to the gospel message (Acts: 2:43).  Living together in the community was to develop a sense of new community.  It was also true at that time of Jesus that the Qumran community near the Dead Sea led such life (Acts: 2:44).  The commitment to Jesus and the work of the Spirit in the early Christians’ lives produced completely a new attitude to their property.  There was a new outlook and new vision of reality.  They realized that not to accumulate wealth for themselves but for Christ and for the care of his people.  It was a voluntary one and not mandated by the apostles.  Belief in Jesus had freed them from amassing wealth to sharing.  They also met in the temple and also in some wealthy homes, for coming together was vital in the initial stage in any way of life.  Fellowship and spending time together were to deepen relationships and serve one another in the early Church.  Today in the Urban and also some rural parishes people have gone away from each other.  The believers sometime feel disconnected, uncared for, unloved.  Keeping this in mind the Church has now encouraged the faithful to come together in small communities to renew their relationship.  The Pope and some documents have repeatedly emphasized this need for the well being of the believers.  Many dioceses in India have worked hard to initiate and nurture this ministry in the areas.  If such life is actualized then many more will come to believe in Jesus.      

In Acts: 4:32-37 and also through out the Acts of the apostles Holy Spirit is powerfully at work in transforming the lives of those new believers and shaping this new community with great power and witness to resurrection.  Unity, generosity and powerful witness are some key characteristics of the group.  A point to be noted is that the basic day today needs were met among the believers (4:34).  The very fact that the verse say, “they sold everything they owned and put the mite at the feet of the apostles” means that they submitted themselves to the authority of the apostles.  The life in the early church was characterized by the extra ordinary generosity and a caring sensitivity to the poor.  This is contrary to our natural tendency to focus on ourselves.  What is significant here is the presence of Holy Spirit that prompts a desire of giving.

In Ananias and Sapphira’s case, they kept back the part of money and tried to deceive the apostles and Holy Spirit.  It was no obligation to give money (5:1-11).  Just as in the Old Testament Adam and Eve sinned and blamed each other so in the new beginning the apostles did not want the recurrence of the same phenomenon.  The believers were joyful people and they shared their joy with others.  Christians are always considered to be joyful ones.  In reality today we see many Christians contradict themselves in gloom.  It is very challenging to be a Christian.  Many who could not forgo something in their lives hardly ever joined this fold.  The early Christians through their lives witnessed the risen Lord.  They were held in high esteem.  The people saw their lives and testified for their love relationship.  After reading and reflecting these passages I strongly feel that we need to go back to the source and begin our life anew.  In our context we need to give more importance and stress to the Basic Christian Communities and Basic Human communities so to live out our Christian Call in a meaningful manner.