In the first reading, reference is made to believers being scattered thanks to the persecution following the death of Stephen. Stephen spoke out and was stoned to death in Acts, Chapter 7. Saul of Tarsus was present at Stephen's death, holding the cloaks of those who stoned Stephen. Saul was later converted, rather spectacularly, and changed his name to Paul, which means "small." Since he was known for his persecution of the followers of Christ, he was not trusted at first. In this reading, Barnabas is sent to Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia, now in Southern Turkey, to bring the newly converted Saul to Antioch, in Northern Syria. Antioch is now called Antakya, and is now in Southern Turkey, close to the border of Syria. Tarsus is a little over 100 miles from Antioch by land.

The author states that the word of the Gospel is being spread at first only to Jews by those who have been scattered, but then the author says the preaching branches out to "Hellenists." Just who were these Hellenists? By definition, a Hellenist would be anyone who spoke Greek, and/or was influenced by Greek culture. According to the Greek Orthodox study Bible, there is a distinction between the "Hellenists" mentioned in Chapter 6, who were Greek-speaking Jews, and these "Hellenists," who were actually Greeks living in Antioch.

While Stephen's death and the following persecution scattered the believers mentioned here, this preaching to Gentiles was a direct result of Peter's vision and the conversion of Cornelius, a centurion, who is mentioned in Chapter 10. In his dream, Peter was told, "What God has made clean, do not call unclean." This spurred him to go to the home of Cornelius and resulted in the conversion of not only Cornelius, but his entire family. This was a very difficult step to take for Peter, who was raised as a devout Jew, which meant that he was forbidden to enter the house of a Gentile, or to have one enter his house. Peter's acceptance of Cornelius paved the way for the spread of the Gospel not only to Jews in the Diaspora, scattered throughout the Mediterranean, but to the whole of the Mediterranean world and beyond.

This reading also contains the very first reference to the disciples as "Christians," which means "partisans of Christ," according to the Oxford Study Bible. This was originally meant to be a derogatory term, but we "Christians" have embraced it.

The first reading ends with the prophecy that there will be a famine, and there will be an effort to help those who will be in need in Judea. The early church promises to help, but this is not simply disaster relief. This is the early church "family" taking care of another part of the family in need. They probably felt that, since we are all of one body in Christ, one member should nourish and care for another in need.

In the second reading, John asks that we all love one another, since God loved us first, and because love is from God. God is love, therefore we should love one another as God loves us. If we abide in God's love, then God will abide in us. He says that God's love is revealed by the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for us for our sins.

My favorite quote is, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love."

This seems to contradict the age-old demand that we fear God. John points out that if we love God, we will obey out of love. If we obey out of love, then we have nothing to fear on the day of judgment.

God loves us with an unconditional love. Being human, we know we are going to make mistakes, and give in to sin. We know that, through Jesus, our sins are forgiven, and as long as we keep trying to do what God wills, acknowledging that we sin and are not perfect, then God will forgive us. God loves us, whether or not we sin, but he also chastises those He loves. We should avoid sin, not because of God's punishment, but because we love God and want to avoid God's displeasure.

As a child, I had a wonderful grandmother I called "Mammo." She was loving, forgiving, funny, and comforting. I was not afraid of her, even though sometimes I misbehaved when I was at her house, but if I misbehaved, I was ashamed, and afraid of the punishment she might give me. I obeyed her because I loved her and wanted to please her. This is the kind of relationship we should have with God, and I think this is the point being made in this passage.

Personally, I prefer the image of God as a doting parent, who chastises those He loves, yet loves unconditionally; to that of a fierce entity, lying in wait and pouncing as soon as an offense is offered. Yet some people are afflicted with the latter view of their creator.

We often think this image of God comes from the Old Testament, but time after time there are references to God begging the Israelites to come back to Him, pleading with them to obey him and love Him, and saying that He wants obedience, not sacrifice. There are numerous places in the Old Testament of God telling of His love. For instance, God talks to Jonah, after Ninevah is saved and Jonah is sulking because he hates them. Jonah is upset over a bush that had been sheltering him while he was pouting, that died because a worm ate the root. God makes the point that Jonah did not grow the plant, and if he can be upset about the death of a bush, why can't God care about the death of thousands of people in Ninevah, and their animals? God's love does not only extend to humans, but to animals as well.

John's letter moves beyond love or fear of God. He points out that if we do not love others, then we cannot love God, for we know other people, and yet we have never met God. We must, therefore, love our brothers and sisters in order to love God.

This is not an easy task, as we all know. How can we reconcile ourselves to the command Jesus gave us to love our enemies? How do we bless those who curse us?

I am reminded of a friend of mine who spoke in a fit of pique some time ago, saying, "I love humanity. It's people I can't stand!" It's a lot easier to love an ideal than to love the person who cuts you off on the freeway, then makes an obscene gesture, or the person who vandalizes your front yard. We are not perfect. Jesus knew this, and told his apostles so. He also said it was not going to be easy.

Ideally, we should love the sinner, not the sin, but we are prone to be judgmental. We could try to love the person he or she could be or might become. We should see Christ in each person, and love that person, in spite of any faults he or she might have. I believe that is what St. Francis of Assisi, one of my favorite saints, was finally able to do. I certainly wish I was better at it. As always, being human, we are works in progress, and as long as we keep learning, loving, and praying, I believe there is yet hope for us.

The Gospel reading today is a continuation of the farewell message Jesus was giving to his Apostles in last week's reading. This farewell will not end until Chapter 17. Note that Jesus says, "I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete."

Joy? In John's Gospel, this message is set just before he and his apostles go to Gethsemane. He will leave the Passover seder and go through emotional agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, yet here he speaks of joy. He will suffer horribly over the next few hours, and yet he tells his Apostles to rejoice.

Jesus will be crucified in less than twenty-four hours. Yet, this is why he was born. He knows what he has to do, and that he will have fulfilled his purpose before the next sunset. He also knows He will be victorious, rising from the dead on the third day.

I have to admit, when I read this passage, I did a bit of a double-take. I did not remember the word joy here. Was it a surprise to you, too, that Jesus wants us to have joy? We tend to forget that joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit, as listed by Paul in Galatians 5:22. Jesus never said he wanted us all to be gloomy and depressing. He tells his apostles to love one another, and rejoice.

Paul lists nine fruits in Galatians. They are: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

If joy is a fruit of the Spirit also, and you shall know a tree by its fruit, then joy should be evident in our lives, and in our worship. This is not to say that when our lives are difficult, or someone dear to us is taken by death we cannot grieve. Jesus shed tears when he heard of the death of Lazarus. There should, however, be a deep, abiding joy in our love for God, and the knowledge that God truly loves us.

It is God's love, and that of Jesus Christ, that gives us joy. Without love our Christianity is dead. Without love, we are empty. Without love, how can we truly know joy? As Paul says, later, in I Corinthians, Chapter 13, "If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, and have not love, I am a ringing gong or a clashing cymbal." He points out that even if he has all the gifts of the Spirit, without love he is nothing.

Love is the cornerstone of Christianity. The very first thing I learned as a child was that God is love. Since we should know a tree by its fruit, then, as the old song says, "They shall know we are Christians by our love." Sometimes we fall short of this ideal. Perhaps we need to step back and think, "If others were watching me in my day-to-day life, would people know I was Christian by my love?" In spite of our many failures and sorrows, we all should strive for this ideal, for if we ever achieve perfect love, as St. Francis did, we will also know perfect joy.

I can hardly wait.

Amen