GOD’S WORD FOR THE DAY (based on Catholic Liturgical Readings)
DATE: 24TH MAY 2017
WEDNESDAY OF THE SIXTH WEEK OF EASTER
FIRST READING: Acts 17:15, 22 – 18:1
PSALM: Psalm 148:1-2, 11-14
GOSPEL: John 16:12-15
THEME: GO AND RESCUE!
When your baby is trapped in a storm, you would not mind running through the rain to save him/her. That is the kind of passion that God ignites in the heart of an evangelist. He/she cannot watch one single child of God perish in a raging storm.
Paul was a man who seized every opportunity to proclaim the Gospel. He preached in the synagogues of the Jews, in the public places of the gentiles and in today’s First Reading, we hear him preaching in the Areopagus of Athens.
Athens was the intellectual hub of the ancient Greek world. It was a city of philosophers – prominent among them were the epicureans and stoics. The Areopagus was the council or court of justice which met in the open air on a hill. It was the nerve center of Athens and the arena of the intelligentsia.
Naturally, faced with such an audience, Paul considered it expedient to speak to them using a language they would best understand. There were mixed reactions to his message. Some burst out in laughter while others became believers. Many years later, Paul, perhaps reflecting on this experience, would write: “While the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom, we are preaching a crucified Christ: to the Jews an obstacle they cannot get over, to the gentiles foolishness…” (1Cor 1:22-23).
It is true that the Areopagus is a place where we stand the risk of being mocked by scoffers and where preaching the Gospel may come with the feeling of being put on trial. However, the Great Commission mandates us to send the Gospel to everyone. The Gospel must be preached in the nerve centers of our time.
Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical “Redemptoris Missio” writes: “At that time the Areopagus represented the cultural center of the learned people of Athens, and today it can be taken as a symbol of the new sectors in which the Gospel must be proclaimed” (RM 37).
For fear of the challenges that await us in the modern Areopagus, some have coiled themselves in their shells and have chosen to incessantly churn out half-baked reasons why the church should not take the Gospel to everyplace. These are people who would prefer the Church to shrink and die gradually; but this is not going to happen, for in our time the Lord is raising up courageous young men and women who do not fear to preach the Gospel even in the den of lions.
The time is ripe for us to proclaim the Gospel on every platform where human beings can be found. The Gospel must be preached in the parliament, the judicial courts, the presidency and ministries; it must be preached in the universities and on social media. The Gospel must resound on the streets and in public places. Everyone must hear the message that Jesus saves! Let us preach the Gospel and trust God to do the conversion.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, fill us with your Spirit of Truth and give us boldness to preach your unchanging Gospel in a rapidly changing world.
Andrews Obeng, svd
DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES
BIBLICAL PASTORAL MINISTRY
(Ghana Province)
“May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace. And may the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all people” (St. Arnold Janssen).