Dearly beloved, St. Paul leads us today to reflect on variety of gifts needed for building the assembly of God. Note that he was not referring to personal gifts like wisdom, understanding, counsel, etc., but what builds the community of believers.
He outlines them in a hierarchical form:
* Apostles
* Prophets
* Miracles
* Healing
* Helpers
* Good leadership
* Many languages (tongues)
Are you wondering why apostles are first of the gift? It is because the Church had been SENT OUT by the Lord to the whole world. Due to the importance of family life, to sacrifice one’s family and comfort to GO to another place unknown is very difficult. How can we heal or prophesy or teach without someone sacrificing to move out of his or her comfort zone?
Misplaced Priorities:
Today, we place premium importance on the speaking of “strange” languages. By the way, what the Apostle refers to is NOT the kind of noisy buzzing rhythm we have now in the name of tongues. Due to the variety of languages and dialects, an apostle is endowed with understanding of different languages to help in ministering to the people.
The kind we hear now can never be used to evangelize people. Imagine a Fulani hearing one speaking in a language totally foreign even to the speaker, how will he or she appreciate the message of the Gospel. Rather, if one understands Fulani language (Fulfulde) and speaks it out, the hearer is likely to welcome the bearer of the Gospel message just because of the ability to speak his or her language.
May we appreciate our missionaries who had to learn and understand our native languages in order to preach to us. Germans even wrote and translated the Bible from English to Ewe. If we can fully fulfill the mandate given us by the Lord, we have to revisit the apostolic era. May both clergy and lay faithful be ready to sacrifice their mother tongue for the sake of a people who need to hear the Good News of salvation.
Another powerful way of understanding different languages is having and showing empathetic understanding like Jesus who went about doing good. Yesterday, he healed the sick, today, He has raised the dead.
Yesterday, Jesus was beckoned by the pagan soldier but today, seeing the mournful crowd and hearing that a woman had lost both husband and son, He showed compassion. Yes, loosing one’s husband and only son as a woman then meant a lot for the poor woman. In the absence of the husband, the son was a source of comfort. Yet, she had lost the only source of comfort too.
Yes, the leaders then at Nain understood the woman’s language but could not console her except Jesus who led every one to PRAISE God. Miracles are meant to lead us to praise God, not man. So, may we turn our attention to God who sends us out to serve as apostles, prophets, teachers, healers, helpers, and good leaders.
Peace and Joy!
