Monday, April 22, 2013

4th Week of Easter, Tuesday, 23-04-13

Acts 11:19-26 / John 10:22-30

The designation of the early followers of Christ as "Christians" was not initiated by themselves.

Rather it was initiated by the non-Christian population of Antioch and it was there that the followers of Christ were first called Christians.

Originally it was probably a term of mocking or derision - "Christians" mean "little Christ" with a derogatory tone to it.

Prior to that, Christians called themselves "believers" (Acts 5:14), "brothers" (Acts 6:3), or "saints" (Acts 9:13), names which also continued to be used.

Yet, "Christian" would give a profound and significant meaning to the identity as we understand it now.

What is interesting is that it was coined by those who wanted to mock or deride the Christians, and yet it became the official title of anyone who is baptized into the Christian faith.

Most probably those early Christians didn't like that title at all. Well, it was a title given by the pagans to insult them and to use that title for themselves would be like profaning themselves.

But just as the stone that was rejected became the corner stone, the insult became an institution.

The ways of God are indeed strange and mysterious to our logical minds.

Yet, we only need to listen to the voice of Jesus and follow Him and He will turn our sorrow into joy and our sufferings into gladness.