Today is the commemoration of Elijah.
Today's readings are Psalm 119.57-64, 1 Samuel 3.1-21, and Acts 16.1-22.
The circumcision of Timothy is a peculiar situation. I wonder if it's drawn your attention? While Paul and company are going around, delivering the news that the Church did not consider that people needed to convert to Judaism, he had a young disciple named Timothy circumcised. This should seem quite odd, as the decision of the Church seemed to be against circumcision. So what would provoke this strange behavior?
Sometimes we will curb freedoms that we have in order to reach other people for the Gospel. There are many times when, though we could certainly live in one particular way we might enjoy, we would engage in different behaviors because some of our freedoms would be offensive to others whom we know. Likewise with Timothy. To minister effectively to the Jews and show them the continuity of the Gospel with God's calling of Israel, Timothy would wish to avoid a stumbling block. The Jews would not listen to someone who was openly identified as a Gentile. So he made a move which would give him a hearing in the community.
The whole issue of "relevance" raises its head here. But I'd contend that Timothy's action was not one of conformity to a temporary cultural norm. It isn't like the pastor getting the very modern hairdo and wardrobe so as to communicate with a very modern audience. It is more like the pastor who can hear learning sign language to be able to communicate with an audience of deaf people. This was a fundamental move toward intelligibility.
May our Lord use us to communicate this Gospel to our world, boldly facing the challenges to that communication.
No comments:
Post a Comment