Vugt: History repeats itself

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

RECENTLY, I was reading the Acts of the Apostles chapter 4.

In summary, I want to describe here what happened in the early Christian community in Jerusalem.

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It was shortly after Pentecost that the wonderful event happened where the Holy Spirit of God came down over the Apostles and those holy women like the Virgin Mary who were gathered there in one house in Jerusalem. Inspired by that Spirit, they went outside and started full of enthusiasm proclaiming what Jesus had taught them before He was taken up into heaven.

In one day, they were able to convert more than five thousand people gathered there in Jerusalem and coming from all parts of Israel and neighboring countries. That was the beginning of the Church that Jesus of Nazareth had founded. Peter, who was appointed as the head of that Church, performed his first miracle curing a lame man through the power of that same Holy Spirit. The authorities of the Temple were extremely annoyed upon seeing this miracle and they ordered the arrest of Peter and his companions. They started to question them by what authority they were doing this.

Peter, without fear this time, told them straight in their faces: we did this in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the one you have crucified. Then those priests and lawyers just released them from prison with a strong warning not to do it again. But they continued preaching the Gospel of Jesus and they tried to put into practice in their community that same Gospel. They were one in Spirit, it said.

In chapter 5, we witness the incident of Ananias and Sapphira. They had sold their property and had kept part of the proceeds for themselves without telling the Apostles. That was fraud, and for that reason both of them dropped dead right in front of them. Another version of that incident has it that they were expelled from the Church. In any case, this shows how strict they were in that early Church.

In summary, the history of the early Church of Christ says: they were one in Spirit and they pooled their resources together for the benefit of all. The result was that there were no poor among them because everybody was given according to their needs.

Isn’t this a far cry from the Church that we are seeing today? If we compare the situation of the early Church with the situation of the Church today, we can make the following observations. The Church has spread out to all parts of the world including the Philippines. The Philippines is considered to be the only Christian nation in Asia. The majority of the Filipino people are Christians but they are divided among themselves in different denominations and so-called born-again Christians. Clearly, they are no longer united in one Spirit under the Roman Catholic Church. There has been a separation of Church and State which has led to a secularization of the majority of the Christians. Both the institution of the Church and the institution of the State have lost much of that Spirit of God.

The ongoing impeachment trial of Chief Justice Corona is showing very clearly that judges and lawyers on the one hand and congressmen and senators on the other are fighting with each other about pure technicalities and with dilatory tactics. The Spirit of truth and justice is nowhere to be found.

Also, the institution of the Church is slowly losing its credibility. That enthusiasm of the early Church to proclaim the Good News is hardly felt in the sermons of our priests. The basic Christian communities often lack that Spirit of solidarity and compassion for the poor and exploited.

So what is the message that history repeats itself? The Spirit of the early Christian community has been taken for granted throughout the ages until our own time. It poses the question to all of us: how serious are we in calling ourselves a Christian? Are we a Christian in name only? Is our nation really a Christian nation, where the Spirit of Christ is alive in all of us?

That wonderful event of Pentecost could happen again in our midst.

(For your comments, email nolvanvugt@gmail.com)