Acts of the Apostles

Editorial note: for some reason I haven't been receiving notifications of comments, and so I have only today published a series of them on recent posts. Hopefully, I will have this resolved today. I do very much appreciate your words.

I have been doing lectio divina on the Acts of the Apostles, and over the coming months (or years? It took me two years to finish Matthew!), I will jot down observations that I have in my journal that seem to be worth sharing.

"concerning Judas who was guide to those who arrested Jesus" [1: 16]

The word 'guide', oddly enough, is used mostly in a negative way in the New Testament, usually to lampoon the Pharisees and scribes who styled themselves as "guide[s] to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness" [Rom 2: 19]. Ironically, Judas indeed is guiding the blind and those in darkness to the one who is Truth and Light. But they come, not with the intention of submitting to Truth, but of 'arresting', of putting an end to the proclamation that Jesus brings.

How often do we, especially the academically inclined among us, seek the truth not for the sake of submission and understanding, but to empower ourselves? Or do we even go so far as to seize the truth in order to lock it away. How different the 'guiding' shown by Andrew and Philip in the first chapter of John. "Come and see!" They are not content to seize truth for themselves, or to co-opt the efforts of others into suppressing the truth, but lead others to the one who says, "Follow me." Ultimately, our guide is Jesus Christ acting through the Holy Spirit, who guides us into all Truth.

"Send forth your light and your truth/let these be my guide." --Ps 43: 3