As any child who has played “telephone” can report an initial message can be dramatically changed the more often it is repeated. We can learn about the early church as it repeats the similar stories. St. Paul in his letter to the Galatians tells of a meeting with the “pillars of the Church” in Jerusalem. I again went up to Jerusalem … and I presented to them the Gospel that I preach to the Gentiles – but privately. St. Luke, who wrote about this meeting in the Acts of the Apostles thirty years after the event, describes it not as “private” but as “Council of Jerusalem” where the leadership made a decision together. Luke reflects not just the meeting itself but its implications for the growing Church.
