THE PEOPLE OF THE WORD
"The members of the church who had been dispersed
went about preaching the word." -Acts 8:4
The Jewish people loved God's
Word. God called them to meditate on it day and night (Jos 1:8; Ps 1:2). They
considered it more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces (Ps
119:72).
However, Christians were even more devoted to God's Word than the
Jews. After Jesus spent the day of His resurrection teaching the Bible for about
seven miles in the afternoon (Lk 24:27) and for several hours in the evening (Lk
24:45), the early Christians got the message that God's Word was extremely
important. From the moment the Church began at Pentecost, the members of the
Church devoted themselves to learning, living, and teaching God's Word (Acts
2:42). The apostles concentrated on the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4) to the
point that they were repeatedly thrown in jail for their uncompromised and
unstoppable proclamation of God's Word (see Acts 5:42).
Stephen proclaimed God's
Word so boldly and courageously that he became the first martyr (Acts 7:2ff).
Philip preached the Word even as he was escaping persecution (Acts 8:4-5).
Moreover, the Spirit even told Philip to run up to a stranger from Ethiopia and
teach God's Word (Acts 8:29ff). The first believers ever called "Christians"
were only given that name after a year of intensive Bible study (Acts 11:26).
The members of the church at Beroea welcomed the Word with great enthusiasm and
studied God's Word each day (Acts 17:11). The spirit of the early Church is well
expressed by St. Jerome: "Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ"
(Catechism, 133).
Father, may our hearts burn as the risen
Jesus interprets the Scriptures for us this Easter season (see Lk
24:32).
"No one who comes will I ever reject, because it is not
to do My own will that I have come down from heaven, but to do the will of Him
Who sent Me." -Jn 6:37-38
4/22/15
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment