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Week Sixteen, Day One

Acts 16: 6-10

This story begins with the strange contention that the Holy Spirit wouldn't allow Paul and Silas to preach in “Asia.” It is an explanation as to why they went east rather than west to preach the Gospel. Interestingly, Luke explicitly refers to the Holy Spirit as “the spirit of Jesus.” This is the only place that phrase is used, but it is an important clue about how the early Church understood the Holy Spirit. When they were “filled with the Spirit,” they were filled with the Spirit of Jesus. Hence, they understood that Pentecost was the second coming of Jesus in the person of the Spirit. The Spirit of Jesus filled their lives, and, together, they became the Body of Christ.

Much of the Church looks for the “second coming” of Christ and forgets that we are called to BE the second coming of Jesus. We who are filled with the Spirit of Jesus should be doing the things he did: feeding the hungry, including the excluded, healing the hurting, reconciling the alienated and marginalized to God, and challenging the oppression of religion.

Under the influence of the Spirit of Jesus, Paul had a dream in which a man in Macedonia pleaded with him to come over there and help them. Just as the door to Asia closed, another door swung wide open. Paul “immediately” left for Macedonia. That prompt response is an important reminder.

We have a new puppy in our house, and, yesterday, he somehow became convinced that the person he was looking for was behind a closed door. That wasn't true, but, as he sat outside whining, I wondered just how often I have done that. Whining and barking outside a closed door that I thought had cut me off from what I wanted/needed. In the meantime, if I'd just turned around, or been more open to other possibilities, I might have heard a still small voice calling me down a better path. Why do we become so fixated on the half-empty part of the glass that we die of dehydration while a half-full glass sits before us?

Blessings,

Michael Piazza
President, Hope for Peace & Justice

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