By Most Rev Prakash Mallavarapu
Archbishop of Visakhapatnam
At Easter celebrations we the members of the Church, the People of God are offered the joy of renewing our Baptismal life. Those of us who truly renewed our baptismal promises are supposed to live a new life in Christ. A fresh beginning to live as baptized people. It is both personal and communitarian.
This newness has to be evident to ourselves in our personal life and in the community in the new initiatives we take to implement the teachings of our faith in our life. We are supposed to be like our first generation Christians whose “new life’ they embraced was so evident that others outside the Christian fold could see, recognize, and appreciate the “new way,’ the Christian way of life. This way was different and the followers were different and distant from the rest. They attracted and influenced others that seeing them many began to embrace this new way.
This new way also challenged and threatened the “old (or other) way’ to such an extent that they started persecuting the followers of this new way! Jesus Christ is the source and foundation of this “new way” We in the Christian community today are supposed to be followers of this “Way of Christ” in our today’s world! Post Easter days remind us of the first generation Christians and Christian Communities inviting us to see if we are striving to be followers of this “Way of Jesus Christ.”
A New Community emerged with members ‘born anew” in “Water and Spirit: In the days after Easter the liturgy of the Word of God draws our attention to the Risen Lord who visits his disciples, the Eleven, and others who believed and followed Him before His passion and death on the Cross.
With His resurrection something new and extraordinary has begun in a tangible way! The selected readings from the Acts of the Apostles tell us about the life of this new community of believers in Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed as the Messiah, Savior and Lord. This new Community had some unique features that distinguished them from the Jewish Community to which they belonged: faith in Jesus of Nazareth as the Lord and Savior, one who was crucified and died, but now is risen from the dead and is alive. This faith leads them to repentance and change of heart, and to receive baptism. With that there is the commencement of a new way of living.
Two things in particular, distinguished this new community from the rest: one, their way of life, “sharing” and living in “communion” with one another; two, their coming together for the “the breaking of bread” and “sharing in the Cup” in memory of the death and resurrection of their Lord and Savior, who “gave up His body in sacrifice” and who “poured out His blood for the remission of sins.” The new community lived under the guidance of the Apostles with Saint Peter as the leader. They were the primary witnesses of Jesus Christ who lived among the people of the time and died on the Cross, was buried but raised: He is alive after His resurrection!
Pentecost was the “Day of Public Witness” to Jesus whom they believed: The “new” and the “different” WAY that is taught and proclaimed by Jesus Christ in His words and actions was set before these disciples, especially the “TWELVE,” and they “left everything” and followed this Master, Jesus of Nazareth.
The arrest, the condemnation, and His death on the cross, interrupted the journey of these disciples: the Master died and was buried . And the question before them, naturally, was “what next?” and “how?” We should note here one fact: “They did not altogether abandon their Master and Lord!” On the contrary, they were huddling together though sad, confused, anxious and afraid! We should say, they found themselves at “the crossroads!”
But, the Proclamation of the Good News of the Kingdom inaugurated in and by Jesus Christ has to be taken forward. They were small in number at the beginning held together by their faith in Jesus of Nazareth, as the “Messiah,” the fulfillment of the “Promise” made to their fathers through the prophets. Empowered in the Holy Spirit, renewed and strengthened in their faith by their encounters with the Risen Christ, they launch their mission of proclaiming to the people the truth about Jesus of Nazareth: he is truly the Messiah, Christos and Kyrios, the one who saves His people from their sins. This was their mission!
It is not just proclaiming the truth about Jesus of Nazareth but it was the transformation of their life, their way of thinking and the way of living their life, individually and collectively: ready to live and die for their faith in Christ. Communion and fellowship in love, sharing their goods and possessions with others, etc. were the visible signs manifested in this new Community of believers. They were men and women on mission!