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Galatians 2: 1-2, 7-14
Brothers and sisters:
After fourteen years I again went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas,
taking Titus along also.
I went up in accord with a revelation,
and I presented to them the Gospel that I preach to the Gentiles–
but privately to those of repute–
so that I might not be running, or have run, in vain.
On the contrary,
when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Gospel to the uncircumcised,
just as Peter to the circumcised,
for the one who worked in Peter for an apostolate to the circumcised
worked also in me for the Gentiles,
and when they recognized the grace bestowed upon me,
James and Cephas and John,
who were reputed to be pillars,
gave me and Barnabas their right hands in partnership,
that we should go to the Gentiles
and they to the circumcised.
Only, we were to be mindful of the poor,
which is the very thing I was eager to do.
And when Cephas came to Antioch,
I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong.
For, until some people came from James,
he used to eat with the Gentiles;
but when they came, he began to draw back and separated himself,
because he was afraid of the circumcised.
And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him,
with the result that even Barnabas
was carried away by their hypocrisy.
But when I saw that they were not on the right road
in line with the truth of the Gospel,
I said to Cephas in front of all,
“If you, though a Jew,
are living like a Gentile and not like a Jew,
how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
The Word of the Lord.
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In the early Church, Christians would not only gather together to celebrate Mass weekly, they would also share a common meal known as the agape. Today, we might call it a potluck.
Everyone brought what they could. The richest Christians brought the choicest foods, such as meat and wine. While the poorest might bring a loaf of bread, if anything.
For the poor, that potluck was not only an opportunity to gather socially; it might also have been the only solid meal they’d eaten all week.
Today we could imagine a similar potluck being held by the Missionaries of Charity in Newark. They and their guests would have little to offer – perhaps fruit and crackers. Meanwhile, we could bring anything we wanted – steaks and a bottle of wine.
In theory, it’s a beautiful idea: all of God’s people coming together as one, foreshadowing the divine banquet in heaven. However, Saint Paul identifies two problems in that early Christian practice, which can still surface today.
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In our first reading, Paul accuses Peter, Barnabas, and others of separating themselves from the Gentiles during their potluck. The laws of the Old Testament were still fresh in their minds, leading Peter and the others to separate themselves from the Gentiles.
While everyone gathered in the same place to share a meal, the non-Jewish Christians were forced to eat separately.
Secondly, the rich would sometimes hide their gifts, creating separate tables for themselves, leaving the poor to eat whatever was left over – you might say, fruit and crackers. Paul was grieved by such a stunning lack of charity!
As he states in his Letter to the Galatians, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Meaning, a church ceases to be Christian if it embraces class or ethnic distinctions.
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So, what might this mean for us?
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Every Sunday you and I gather around the altar to share a meal. We gather physically as one body. The challenge is to embrace this practice spiritually, seeing everyone as an equal – a “Christ-bearer” – regardless of our race, politics, social, or economic background.
May we strive, each in our own way, to break down those barriers that separate us so that we may be, not only in word but also in spirit, one in Christ Jesus.
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Image credits: (1) Westwood First Presbyterian Church (2) Potluck, Wikipedia (3) Beyond Foreignness