By Fr. Tirso Villaverde
Pastor of St. Bartholomew Parish
Later this month, on May 23rd to be precise, Christians will celebrate the feast of Pentecost which is the day traditionally known as the “Birthday of the Church.” We Christians know it very well as the day the Holy Spirit came down upon the apostles and disciples in tongues of fire which came to rest on the head of each of the disciples gathered in that room. Scripture tells us that not only were the Twelve Apostles there but Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was also present along with other disciples. Pentecost is considered to be the day the Church came to life because, on that day, the followers of Jesus received the power and authority to go out into the world to preach the Good News.
Beginning on the day of Pentecost, the disciples of Jesus began to go out to all the parts of the known world at the time and announce the message of Jesus. I would like to point out a brief fact in this article. Namely, what helped the Christian faith to spread as quickly as it did?
The Christian faith spread among people of Jewish background and, eventually among people who were labeled as Gentiles, that is, non-Jewish people. The Christian faith spread almost like wildfire in the Gentile world because it offered something that the general population could not find in their own religion.
The religion of places like ancient Greece was, as we know, consisted of a system of beliefs around many gods. However, the ancient Greek gods were oftentimes petty and fickle. A lot of times, in fact, the ancient Greek gods did not display any sense of a higher standard of morality than the one to which the people were accustomed. In other words, the world of the gods was not any different from the world of human society. The gods were known for backstabbing one another, conniving against each other, and looking out only for themselves. This was behavior that the people had been seeing in every other human being. As a result, many of the Gentile people had grown very sickened and disappointed by the behavior of their gods. They longed for an experience of the divine that called them to a higher standard.
This is exactly what they found in Christianity. They found in Jesus a God who was not fickle. Rather, they encountered in the Christian God a deity who actually cared for His people that He was willing to die for them. The ancient Greek gods were too busy in their own affairs really to care about what was going on with human beings. For the Greek gods, human beings oftentimes were simply pawns in their own games. But, for the Christian God, human beings were actually creatures of the highest value that God would even humble Himself to die on a cross, an instrument of torture. The ancient Greek and Gentile world finally encountered a deity who saw them as beloved sons and daughters rather than pawns that sometimes get in the way of the gods’ plans.
Furthermore, the ancient Gentile world also saw in the Christian God a deity who was willing to call Himself to a higher standard of living. Not only that, the Christian God also expected that His followers also adhere to a higher standard of morality. The society of the ancient Gentiles was one that was marked with promiscuity and immorality of every sort. It appealed greatly to them to live a faith that called them to a higher morality than the one their society had currently been living. To top everything off, they also found in the Christian faith the promise of a great reward for remaining faithful to that higher standard of living.
As a result of the demands that the Christian faith placed on the ancient Gentiles, the faith spread rapidly. The people welcomed the opportunity to worship a God who considered them to be beloved children and friends rather than slaves or pawns. The people embraced the way of life that the Christian faith demanded of them, not because it was rigorous or stringent but because it called them to a higher standard of living that promised eternal life with God as a reward for their goodness.
May we who already profess the Christian faith find in it a new and refreshing way of life that changes our perspectives. May our faith remind us of the higher calling that we have received by virtue of our faith in Jesus. May we always be true to the standards that our faith demands of us and, thus, enjoy true life here on earth and eternal life in heaven. •
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