Authenticity (Tuesday, Easter 4, 2021)

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The more the early Christians were persecuted, they more they scattered. As they scattered, they continued to spread the Word of God, bringing more people into the Christian fold. Those who persecuted them wanted to put a stop to the Christian movement. But they did not know that they were even helping the movement to grow and expand. As they persecuted the Christian movement, they thought they were burying it and putting an end to it. But they didn’t know that seeds germinate and multiply when they are buried. Just like seeds, Christianity germinated, multiplied, grew, expanded and spread beyond frontiers.


But one thing that caught my attention is the fact that the early Christians never hid or concealed their identity even in the heat of the persecutions. They were proud of who they are wherever they found themselves. They spoke about Christ; they preached the word of God to all men and women. They were very authentic in their witnessing to Christ. They followed the footsteps of their master Jesus Christ who never concealed His identity to the Jews. Jesus was like an enigma to the Jews: it was not easy for them to understand Him and His mission. Already they had expected a conquering Messiah, but they didn’t see Jesus as one. And that must have prompted them to ask time and again, “If you are the Christ, tell us plainly?”


In response, Jesus plainly told them that He and the Father are one; in other words, that He is God. That was a very blasphemous statement for the Jews; nonetheless it was nothing but the truth about the identity of Christ. In John 10:31, the Jews picked up stones to smash His head for speaking blasphemously. In all of that, we see Jesus as a person who was true to Himself, who never concealed His true identity as God before the Jews. In the footsteps of Jesus, they early Christians were also true to themselves and never concealed their identity as followers of Christ before the hostile world.


Our time is in dire need of Christians who will never budge before a world that is hostile, antagonistic and suspicious of the Christian way of life. There are so many people who claim to be Christians, but in reality, they never show any concrete sign of being on the side of Christ. So many parade themselves as followers of Christ, as having being called to the sheepfold of Christ, but very few are authentic and true to that calling. Let us be Christian in name, thinking and action!


Prayer:

May the light of truth which we carry never become faint in our hands as we face the darkness of falsehood, Amen!


Have a blessed day!




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