+ They say that “two heads are better than one”; and perhaps that is true for getting, probably, at least two approaches or two possible solutions to any one problem.
But, on the other hand, get two heads and you might get so completely different answers that now you have at least one problem to be solved. Is that not the argument for an autocracy: a system of government by one person with absolute power. Yikes!
Well, in its first 100 years, the early church faced a major problem for which the church in Antioch felt it necessary to sendPaul, Barnabas, and some of the others to Jerusalem to deal with this question which was, namely, “Should the newly converted Gentiles be required to follow the Mosaic Law and be circumcised?
The word said —
“There was no little dissension and debate”
Or to put it even more directly — big problem! And so to Jerusalem they went. And there this debate would explode.
To be continued.
In a way, Jesus already had given his answer to this and similar problems in the Gospel of John (although John’s Gospel was probably written after the Acts of the Apostles).
If us, the branches, would only remain connected to Jesus, the vine, we would bear much fruit. Jesus would give us the necessary life, and keep us in union and communion with himself and one another.
And particularly related to this passage today, perhaps this was an early case of the pruning that Jesus would do to and in the early church through the ministry of Paul and Barnabas: necessary pruning to bring even greater growth to the early church.
The Gospel verse both announces and echoes the same message as heard in today’s Gospel —
“Remain in me, as I remain in you, says the Lord; whoever remains in me will bear much fruit. Alleluia!”
