Sister Maria Catherine Toon

Both the first and second reading this Sunday wax eloquent about the wisdom that God offers his people. It eludes the power-hungry and even those who govern us (1 Corinthians 2:6). God offers wisdom to the spiritually “mature.” By Paul’s definition mature means those who put on the mind of Christ to see the world through the lens of his Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10).

When the Israelites get a moment alone without Moses (without God, they think), their minds, and their hearts, go back to Egypt, filtering out their suffering. Our Lord is unrelenting, and impatient when the chosen people begin to show a marked preference for other gods.

Today the church gives us readings that examine both the hardship of living the life of the Gospel, but also the glory of our magnificent God and the vast and deep inheritance we have in him. Just prior to this reading from Acts, Paul and Barnabas have won hearts and minds through healing a man who had never been able to walk. But when others come to Lystra (now in present-day Turkey) they stone Paul, and leave him for dead. It is only when the “disciples gathered around him” that he was healed. From this, we can discern that believers prayed over him, (perhaps even the Apostles) and gave him the anointing of the sick. No small thing to narrowly escape death, and to be healed through the intercession of other believers.