Two scenarios stand out to me in this week’s scripture reading. The first is how the Holy Spirit acted throughout the new community of believers. The people shared everything because they believed in the mission to care for one another. They had a common love for God and for one another. It’s not easy living in community. You have to work at it daily just as you have to work on your spiritual life. When you’re out of the habit jealousy enters into your thoughts. A sister of a religious order once stated, “Do you think it is easy living with thirty women”.
The second scenario is when Peter and the disciples were thrown into prison and the angel of the Lord opened the gates and let them out. They were arrested because of “jealousy” of the high priest and Sadducees. Jealousy is a powerful detriment. Jealousy can make us mad with vengeance, and anger. It can cause us to say or do things we normally wouldn’t. It can make us suspicious and fearful of the other. The root of jealousy is not of light, but of darkness.
These two scenarios show us what the early church was up against. Think about what was happening. Rumors of a man raised from the dead, who gave hope to the hopeless, caused people to want to live together and share everything with their members. Something had to be driving them to understand their life differently.
Have you ever been so changed by an event that it caused you to re-examine your whole life? What was that experience? How did your family and friends react? Did you continue to grow and mature in this new way or did you go back to the old way of living?