Overview:

Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter

A Reflection for Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter

“Wishing to determine the truth
about why Paul was being accused by the Jews,
the commander freed him
and ordered the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin to convene.
Then he brought Paul down and made him stand before them.
Paul was aware that some were Sadducees and some Pharisees,
so he called out before the Sanhedrin,
‘My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees;
I am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead.’” (Acts 22:30–23:6)

Find today’s readings here.

In December of 1965, Joan Baez was interrogated by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors about the school she had co-founded, the Institute for the Study of Nonviolence. The question at hand was whether the institute violated a zoning code which bars use of property that is “detrimental to the peace, morals, or general welfare of Monterey County.” 

As described by Joan Didion in her essay, “Where the Kissing Never Stops,” when Ms. Baez rose in front of the board to speak on her behalf, “Her opponents tensed, ready to spring up and counter whatever defense she was planning to make of her politics, of her school, of beards, of ‘Berkeley-type’ demonstrations and disorder in general.”

Baez told the board very simply that she was a property owner herself. She noted that people were complaining about the potential devaluing of their $50,000 Monterey homes and said, “I have more than one hundred thousand dollars invested in the Carmel Valley, and I’m interested in protecting my property too.”

She then sat down “amid complete silence.”

In today’s reading, Paul is being accused in Jerusalem by “Jews from the province of Asia” of teaching “against our people and our law…” They also accused him of defiling the temple by bringing Greeks into that sacred space. The disciple is seized, beaten and only barely rescued from death by a Roman commander. 

Later, Paul is given a chance to confront his opponents. “Paul was aware that some were Sadducees and some Pharisees, so he called out before the Sanhedrin, ‘My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees; I am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead.’” 

Paul neutralizes his opponents by identifying with them. He defangs their accusations by saying, essentially, they could be accused of the same thing. They too could be on trial for believing in the resurrection of the dead! 

Joan Baez declares, ingeniously, that she is just as concerned about her property values as the citizens of Monterey County who are attacking her. Paul of Tarsus proclaims wisely that he is just as passionate a defender of the resurrection of the dead as those accusing him.

But Joan and Paul were also nobody’s fools. They trotted out those simple facts as a strategy, to silence their opponents and win their cases. They were sharp, wily as foxes. They had a right to defend themselves and they did. My novice master once told us, “Christ came to take away our sins, not our minds.” 

Joe Hoover, S.J., is America’s poetry editor and producer of a new film, “The Allegory.”