Family Faith Reflections from Chris

The Catholic Church is racially diverse. But it wasn’t always that way.

Jesus spent virtually all of his public ministry in Jewish cities and villages, since he was born among them and was part of their culture. Therefore, most of the original Christians were converts from Judaism. They were Christians by faith, Jewish by culture, with all the rules, foods, and traditions that come with it.
 

About ten years after Christ’s resurrection the apostle Paul began a series of missionary trips beyond the Jewish nation, spreading the Gospel message to people of other cultures, especially Greeks and Romans. No one could have predicted his phenomenal success! Within just a few years, the scales had tipped and these pagan-turned-Christian members of the Church became the majority.
 
Change came hard for those first Christians from the Jewish tradition. Some adopted an attitude of superiority because we came first; others created rules that gave themselves greater rights than the newer Greek and Roman converts. Even some of the apostles (all of whom were Jewish converts) went along with this.
 

When Paul discovered what was happening, he confronted the apostles who had allowed this. He argued that all Christians become united to Christ through their baptism, and that everyone united to Christ would also be united to one another:

“All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free person, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 3:28).

James, one of the apostles, argued that Jesus had followed the Jewish laws, so his followers were bound to them as well. It seemed as if the young Church was about to be torn in two.
 
Then Peter spoke a few words that settled the matter once and for all. “God made no distinction between us and them,” he said. “On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they” (Acts 15:9-11). The apostles recognized his wisdom, and agreed.


May the Holy Spirit give us to the grace to live up to that ancient tradition, and may everyone searching for faith, seeking hope, and needing love find it here in our
community. “Peace be with you” — whoever you are.