ARE YOU TRULY CHRISTIAN?

Reflections for the Sixth Sunday of Easter (Acts 8:5-8, 14-17, 1 Peter 3:15-18, & Jn 14:15-21)

As of 2020, 2.4 billion people identify themselves as Christians (PEW Research Center). What really decides if a person is a true Christian? Do we become Christians because we are born to Christian parents, were baptized, or regularly attend Sunday mass? Biblical historians tell us that the name “Christian” began to be employed first in Antioch as a somewhat derogative and dismissive way of referring to an insignificant ‘party’ that claimed to follow Christ. The ending ian in ‘Christian’ literally means ‘belonging to the party of’ Christ. This explains why Peter asks his congregation not to be “ashamed” if they are called by that term (1 Peter 4:16).

Also when Paul appeals to Herod Agrippa to be saved, he asks, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?” (Acts 26:28). Why would a king want to subject himself to the mockery of being called a “Christian”? However, what began as a satirical nickname not only stuck but also became the very identity of the followers of Christ. In the context of religious persecution of minorities in Asia, and secularisation in the West, when belonging to the party of Christ is becoming increasingly difficult, how can we embrace again our identity as Christians? What are the requisites of a true Christian? When and how can we claim to truly belong to the party of Christ? Today’s readings provide us with a non-exhaustive but useful checklist:

1. Do you incarnate the ‘Word’? If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. Here, Jesus gives us the first touchstone of a true Christian. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have usually been grouped under a common category ‘religions of the book’ because the Talmud, the Bible and the Koran are regarded in their respective religions as ‘the’ inspired book that regulates the lives of its adherents. The Church, however, rejects this category. The Catechism of the Catholic Church declares, “The Christian faith, however, is not a ‘religion of the Book’. Christianity is the religion of the ‘Word’ of God, of a word which is not a written and mute word, but the Word which is incarnate and living” (CCC 108, St. Bernard, Homily super Missus est, 4.11).

What does the Church mean when it claims that Christianity is not a religion of the book but of the ‘incarnated and living’ Word? Our identity as Christians is not founded on precepts and prescriptions of a ‘book’ but on our relationship with the person of Christ. Karl Barth in his 1928 book The Word of God and Theology asked himself an important question: when and how does the Bible become God’s Word? He responds that it is in the exchange between God’s Word and human reading and proclamation that the Bible becomes incarnate as the Word of God. The Bible is certainly important to Christianity but that does not make it a religion of the book because the center of Christianity is not a book but Christ. To be a true Christian, therefore, one needs to ‘Keep’ the word and welcome the incarnation of the Word in the reality of his/her life to the point that he/she can proclaim with Paul, I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live no longer I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20).

2. Are you sealed with the Holy Spirit? In the Gospel, Jesus promises that he will send the Holy Spirit, “the Spirit of truth”, as “another Advocate to be with you always”. The presence and accompaniment of the Holy Spirit become therefore inalienable marks of a true Christian. Paul reminds us that “In him you also when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13). Acts 8:16 presents an interesting case where people from Samaria had welcomed the Gospel through the proclamation of Philip and had been baptized but “the Spirit had not come upon any of them” for “they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus”. Why is it that despite their baptism, they had not received the Holy Spirit until Peter came and laid hands on them? The response to this question has long been searched in questioning the validity of Philip’s ministry, highlighting the difficulties in relationships between Jewish Christians and the new Samaritan converts or evoking the primacy of the office of Peter and John.

What is more important is the fact that the disciples in Samaria, despite having welcomed the Good News and being baptized in the name of Jesus still had to wait for the anointment of the Holy Spirit to become complete disciples. The Greek word translated here as “seal” is shragizo which means "to set a seal upon, mark with a seal”. In biblical times, a seal was a guarantee of a document or letter (Esther 3:12), that indicated ownership (Song of Songs 8:6), or as a warning against tampering (Matthew 27:66; Revelation 5:1). The first reading narrates how the coming of the Holy Spirit seals the converts in Samaria and transforms them into a Church. Every Christian, in baptism and confirmation, is marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit as a mark of guarantee, a sign of ownership and an attestation of protection.

3. Are you a missionary? The Church is not a private club of Christians. Jesus instructs his disciples before his ascension, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). In the first reading, this programmatic summary of the Church’s mission reaches a crucial stage. The Gospel so far proclaimed in the familiar territories of Jerusalem and Judea now reaches the geographically and culturally ‘distant’ region of Samaria. Various exegetes envision Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria not merely as geographical strategy points but also as figurative representations of three relational realities: Jerusalem represents those who are already disciples; Judea would refer to those who are positive to the message and person of Jesus, and Samaria would refer to the distant, the indifferent, and those who are opposed.

The seal of the Holy Spirit received through the mission of Philip, Peter, and John gradually enables the Church to overcome boundaries. This is indicative of the fact that the Holy Spirit seals us not for our private glory or privilege but in view of the Church’s mission to proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth. The mission is not the prerogative of a select few. It is the mandate and character of every Christian. Every Christian is called to witness Christ and his message in his/her immediate, familiar, and distant circles. Let us resolve to become true Christians who welcome the incarnation of the Word in our lives and witness to our sealing by the Holy Spirit in the mission field of our concrete life situations.