5 May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6 so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom 15:5-6, NRSV).
10 Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. (1 Cor 1:10, NRSV)
[L] Synod 2021-2023 logo. [R] Pope Francis at the Synod Hall inside the Vatican.
In the Catholic Church, a synod is a meeting of bishops, invited by and at the request of the Pope, to discuss a topic of theological or pastoral significance for eventual advice to the pope.
Titled “Synod on Synodality: Communion, participation, mission”, the current synodal process opens the imagination to myriads of hot-button issues. Unless the aims and perimeters are defined, there is every danger of the discussions getting out of control as agenda-driven groups jostle to be heard. From eye-opening and jaw-dropping speeches to screams of heresies in the preliminary round at the local level, anyone whose heart is resonating with the Church would want to see a greater clarity in the topics selected for debate. While an excessive managerial control may be inimical to free expression, a reasonable degree of management oversight is inevitable, even if some boisterous corners decry this as unjust muffling. Synodality as “we all have the right to participate” or “the possibility for every baptized to be listened to and to receive answers to the questions they ask,” must bow to practical constraints. The instrumentum laboris for deliberation in the first session slotted for Oct. 4 to 29, 2023 in Rome does just that, offering guiderails for discussions.
A word on the etymological roots
A balanced perspective of the synodal process will always have regard for the roots of the word “synod”. In Greek, synod is a conjunction of “syn” meaning together, and “hodos” meaning a way, a road, a path. Synod in this conjunction speaks of travelling and journeying together, of being on the way together. This yields a useful image of the Church as a community of faithful journeying together towards the Heavenly Father. Faithful pilgrims appreciate Pope Francis’ firm indication of synodality as a constitutive dimension of the Church. He wants “everyone to live it as the journey of brothers and sisters who proclaim the joy of the Gospel.”
From late 14th century Latin, a synod refers to an “ecclesiastical council” which is a meeting of bishops. Today in other churches, a synod may refer to an assembly of bishops, ministers and other elders. For the first time in the Catholic Church, the laity are included, with voting rights. Pope Francis is seeking to give flesh to the ecclesiological expression of a synodal church as he calls for a communal reflection by the Church which bears the triple marks of “communion, participation and mission”.
Scriptures in both the OT and the NT offer rich pointers for reflection in this regard, with the famous Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 being particularly poignant. We shall select a few implications from that narrative.
1. Recognising a threat to the unity of the Church
Acts 15 relates the first synod of the nascent Church at a critical crossroads. Fresh out from Judaism, the early Christian community had plunged headlong into mission. Soon enough, a missionary question forced itself to the fore: Should the message of the Gospel and the grace of Christ be given only for ‘the lost sheep of the House of Israel’ or was it for the whole world? Opinions were divided. Disunity was a real threat. Here was a fast-growing faith community finding its way to deal with matters of import that were potentially divisive. Fortunately we had a nascent community centred on Christ striving, according to Paul’s appeal, to agree and to not be in dissensions among themselves but, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to “be united in the same mind and the same judgment” (1 Cor 1:10).
And as the Church’s mission became an issue, the challenges of identity and commitments were equally implicated. Clearly, rejecting or denying its Jewish origin was never on the card, Jesus being a Jew living squarely in the covenant that God made with Israel. The question at the Council thus turned on what might be legitimately expected of Gentiles whose faith in Christ had brought them access to the God of Israel and the promise of the covenant and law (Torah).
- The apostles, being all Jews, were themselves circumcised and law-observant. In asking whether Gentile Christians were bound by the same practices and law as the Jewish people, whether they had to be circumcised or was faith alone sufficient, and whether they too must observe the commandments of the Mosaic Law, the bottom line was whether a Gentile person had to become a Jew before he could become a Christian. This question was so central that on it hung the whole future of the Church. A division on the issue would threaten the unity of the nascent church. This was a critical moment in the history of the Church with serious implications on its evolution.
2. Valuing experience
A small detail emerges in the narrative that has bearing on the synodal process. It says that Paul and Barnabas and some others were appointed and sent to Jerusalem to confer with the apostles and elders there. Note something of significance here: They were appointed and sent, not merely for the sake of numbers, but on the basis of their actual experience. The implication for us is, a synod should not be packed by those who hold privileged positions if they do not actually have much to say. Rather, a synod is best served by the attendance of those who have real contributions to make that are grounded in experience.
In this regard, it may sound theologically attractive to insist that the truth about matters of faith and morals, the fundamental structure of the Church, the sacramental life and so on, are dependent on revelation in Christ Jesus and transmitted through the ages by the living tradition of the Church, and that this truth does not arise from the “grassroots”. But such an insistence can be extremely misleading in its implied insistence that human experience does not count in revelation. On the contrary, revelation takes place precisely in human experience, aided by human interpretation and finally reception. Furthermore, it is wrong to dismiss the experience of those in the periphery or the margins like “What good can possibly come from Nazareth?” After all, much of the revelation of Jesus of Nazareth has to do with Gospel stories emanating from his own marginalized living and from interacting with people who lived on the margins – the grassroots – rather than at the privileged centres of religion and politics. What would all those Gospel stories look like without the “grassroots”?
- Was not God’s astounding revelation on the Incarnation first announced to Virgin Mary, a simple village girl at Nazareth? Was the Son of God not born in a stable, who lived on the margins, and who vehemently taught his followers to be the heart of God for the world by practising love and compassion, mercy and forgiveness, especially to the suffering Poor? Were the twelve apostles not all from the “grassroots” who accompanied Jesus the peripatetic preacher, or have we been misled by our imagination and accumulated tradition to forever identify them with the stationary, privilege-laden high chairs (cathedra) their later “successors” occupy (see Mark 1:35-39)?
3. Facing the challenge to “discern” together
Evidently inspired, the Spirit-filled first leaders of the Christian movement accorded great importance to spiritual “discernment” as the dynamics of decision making in the Church. To their credit, they realized that to resolve a dispute which threatened the unity and mission of the ‘ecclesia’, serious discernment with the help of the Holy Spirit was paramount. So they travelled from different places to Jerusalem, to come together, to discern, and to decide on matters of pressing importance to the Church of the time.
Outstanding elements of discernment in that gathering deserve our close attention:
- There was a commitment to accord due recognition to not just those who occupied privileged positions, but even more so to those who might be on the periphery but who knew what they were talking about and had much experience and information of pertinence to offer. In this regard, the importance of Peter, Paul and Barnabas stood out and were duly recognized, as they had rich experience from their mission to the Gentile world.
- Communal discernment is at its best when participants speak courageously and listen respectfully. As Luke reports it: “And all the assembly kept silence; and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles” (Acts15:12).
- In Jerusalem, James as the recognized elder presided. Luke does not present Peter as the judge, but as witness to the wonders of the Holy Spirit, in tandem with the testimonies of Paul and Barnabas who worked tirelessly among the Gentiles. Together, they offered the invaluable insight that it was the Holy Spirit who led the way in opening unexpected paths to God for the Gentiles.
- Yet, one cannot fail to notice that strong though the testimonies of Paul and Barnabas were, the witness of Peter which testified to his own experience of the Holy Spirit leading him beyond his own Jewish practices (Acts 15:7-11) and which corroborated with the testimonies of Paul and Barnabas, tipped the gathering’s final decision (Acts 15:14).
- Views might be diverse, and the debate might at times be heated but, and this is crucial, Acts 15 presents all this as a necessary part of the process of discernment the faith community must traverse.
- Scripture, always reinterpreted in the light of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit, played a critical role in the process. Of interest here is how Luke narrated James’ persuasion by all the evidence being in agreement with God’s revelation and covenantal promise through the proclamation by prophets of old (Acts 15:15-17). We do not have to be labeled “conservative” Christians to see right here that decisions were so made that the leaders could feel at ease for having followed the treasured revelation in the community’s inherited long tradition.
5. Honouring God’s Initiative
The Council revealed an important key to the right synodal attitude. Participants understood themselves being present not to push their pet agendas, but to discern God’s initiative. They wanted to be obedient to the Divine plan for the Church. That synodal attitude teaches us that discernment is, first and foremost, a sincere and genuine search to come into alignment with the way in which God is working and presenting new possibilities. There was no doubt that the participants paid due regards to the signs of the times. More importantly, they were vehemently determined to always be in obedience to what God had long since revealed.
Acts 15 thus bequeaths to us a model for dynamic development of the faith community. The participants understood that in any community, there would be tensions and conflicts. When they experienced tensions and conflicts, they recognised them and faced them squarely, instead of avoiding them or worse, sweeping them under the carpet. Then, in facing them, their primary concern was to follow the path that God was marking out for them, even when that yielded some unexpected turns.
They came together, to talk and to listen, observing closely the principle that true communion is not uniformity of thought, but the path to the one truth, revealed in Jesus Christ, that surpasses and grounds us.
6. Seeking the consent of the larger community
In the end, James delivered the judgment of the gathering which affirmed and accepted the testimonies of Peter, Barnabas and Paul as valid. The Gentiles would not be subjected to circumcision and observance of Mosaic laws as the Jewish believers were. But some minimum requirements were imposed on the Gentiles to keep them away from idolatory and blood consumption. These requirements exceeded pragmatism, aimed as they were at ensuring fidelity to the one God of Jesus Christ.
In all this, the Jerusalem Council set its aim at real unity within Christian communities. First, those of strict Jewish observance were stopped from harassing Gentile Christian converts. Second, henceforth, upon official encouragement, table-fellowship and full communion between Jewish and Gentile Christians would flourish.
Selected representatives from Jerusalem – Judas, Barabbas, and Silas – were sent to accompany Barnabas and Paul back to Antioch and all the communities (Acts 15:22-35), together with a letter detailing the decision of the Council.
Of interest is the use of language in the letter: ‘The Holy Spirit and we…’ (Acts 15:28). Far from believing itself to be on an equal footing with God, the Council was confirming that the Church’s decision acknowledged and followed God’s lead. After all, they knew well that the Church was nothing if not God’s work, and that it was not a purely human project.
7. Conclusion: Implications for today’s synodal process
Through his narrative in Acts 15, Luke shows that the Church as a faith community in the Spirit has the capacity to resolve complex and divisive questions of membership and mission. Under the leadership of the apostles and the elders, it gathers in Council to seek and discern God’s will and confirm it. Witnesses give testimonies courageously and all participants listen respectfully, to the work of the Holy Spirit. Relying on Holy Scriptures and their authentic interpretations, the Church seeks and discerns God’s will and presents its decision in terms of its faith. Delegations are sent forth to inform and include the whole Church about its discerned decision, confirming it, and urging peace between communities.
Acts 15 encourages the Church to acknowledge different experiences, objections, perceptions and concerns. But the Church will strive to move on with one mind, always honouring God’s initiative. And it will hold steadfast to the ideals of synodality where communion (koinonia, fellowship) is paramount and, as Pope Francis has expressed it, where broad participation and missionary zeal are fervently pursued in response to the urgings of the Holy Spirit.
What Pope Francis has done this time round is to call together representatives of the People of God from among bishops and the laity, all given voting-right (which is a novelty where the laity is concerned) on a journey of discernment rooted in the Holy Spirit. In a representative way, the entire Church has been called to discern how the Spirit is moving through and with the Body of Christ – inside and outside the Church – to help us move forward to fulfill our mission to evangelize in the world. For that, we give thanks.
Copyright © Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh, September 2023. All rights reserved.
To comment, email jeffangiegoh@gmail.com.