April 19, 2015

3^rd Sunday of Easter

Acts 3: 13-15, 17-19; 1 John 2: 1-5; Luke 24: 35-48

What an unbelievable series of events the followers of Jesus had been through. On Thursday, probably late afternoon, the apostles and some others had gathered for what has been known as the ‘Last Supper.’ Then they were led by Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane, a few miles away where Jesus prayed. The soldiers were led by the chief priests and elders to this peace place of prayer and apprehended Jesus and brought Him to the High Priest. In less than twenty hours, Jesus would be tried falsely, brought to Pilate and Herod, tortured, beaten, crowned with thorns and led the few mile trip to be executed on the Holy Cross and died for you and me and everyone. These followers, these believers…what was going through their minds? How were they feeling?

One emotion that has been going through my mind, maybe because of my Irish background, is the feeling of embarrassment and sorrow. All of the twelve had run away in the Garden. Where did they go? Did they go back to the Upper Room…? Maybe some did just to feel safe with each other and to process what happened. How did they feel? I would have felt tremendous embarrassment for running away, I would need to be forgiven for this horrendous action of myself. After all of Jesus’ teaching on ‘turning the other cheek’ on ‘loving even all your enemies’ on realizing from Jesus’ teaching and example that God loves me all the time, I HAD been scared and RAN. No excuse…my parents taught me from the early years that I had to apologize…I had to ask for forgiveness. But in the meantime, I have been ‘beating myself up’…how could I have rejected and betrayed the only person of total love I have ever known? I’m sure these thoughts in varying degrees occupied the apostles.

What is definite is that their Master was dead and gone forever. It’s not that Jesus didn’t say what would happen, He did…but the disciples didn’t understand this…how could they…this had never happened before. Today, Jesus comes again and says “Peace be with you”. He does not say, ‘Why did you leave me…why are you so thick-headed…why didn’t you believe in me…why…why…why? He shows them His wounds. He says, “Have you anything to eat.? In John 21: 1-14, Jesus shares a meal with His disciples. One of the customs of the Arab world is that sharing a meal indicates forgiveness…everything is whole again. The Resurrection appearances symbolize that the Church will continue to experience Jesus’ presence in its Eucharistic gatherings. Peace and forgiveness are the prime gifts of the Risen Jesus. Jesus set the direction for us in the Lord’s prayer” “Forgive us our debts (Luke 11:4) as we forgive our debtors (Matthew 6:12).

Fr. John Donahue S.J. in Hearing the Word of God states: Years ago Fr. Edward Schillebeecks suggested that the appearances of the risen Jesus brought to the disciples a profound experience of forgiveness. All the Gospels depict the flight of the disciples and the denial of Peter. Paul was changed from persecutor to apostle by the grace of the risen Christ, and Jesus, the brother of the Lord, who was not a follower of the earthly Jesus (Mark 3:20; 6:1-6), became a leader of the Jerusalem church. The peace that the risen Jesus brought was a release from the shame and failure of Jesus’ first followers, which transformed them into missionaries and martyrs.”

In the first reading from Acts, Peter is going to the temple to pray when he encounters a crippled beggar and heals him. This area in Solomon’s Portico was frequented by rabbis who would preach there to the people. Peter speaks identifying the God of Israel as the same God who has glorified Jesus, “the author of life you put to death” (Acts 3:15). Peter is not condemning but offering forgiveness. He recognizes that they acted from ignorance and he continues to offer them an opportunity for repentance. Throughout the Acts, the Jews and their leadership receive the same offer. Though some join the Christian movement, most do not. The second reading from John states that everyone has an advocate in Jesus who has saved all from their sins. “”Jesus Christ the righteousness one, He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.” Alice Camille in Exploring the Sunday Readings states, “So when we come upon passages like this one in the Bible, it makes us pause. Jesus makes the supreme sacrifice on the cross, not merely for those who will one day believe in Him, but for the whole world. Jesus is truth personified, yet His truth is not narrow. He does not come to condemn the world but to save it—which means that to Jesus, the quest to reconcile the world to God is not a process of elimination but one of profound inclusion and relentless hope. If there are folks who seem totally lost to us—and there always are—all the more reason to pray for their rescue!” SO denial, rejection, sin are not the final word. The resurrection is victory over these deadly elements in everyone’s life.

So why do I continue to do the things that I do…the sins that lead me astray from God? One of the great theologians, Fr. Karl Rahner in The Content of Faith wrote: “We are always tempted to stay in sin because we do not dare to believe in the magnificent love of God, and because we do not want to believe that God will forgive us our sins.” This love touched the denying Peter, the doubting Thomas, the disciples who fled in the garden and to myself. This love and ‘irrational forgiveness’ remains every moment of my life and everyone’s life the enduring gift of the risen Christ. And the promise is life forever with God in heaven for those who believe and keep the commandments.

• I have experienced God’s surprising, forgiving love so many times and I have never NOT BEEN FORGIVEN. I review these priceless moments with God’s help.
• Jesus asks me today, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts?”
• Alice Camille says to Contemplate a crucifix. Quietly consider those who are ‘enemies,’ personal or global. Imagine that Jesus willingly died for them.”
• Jesus obediently and willingly shared our human nature, even to the point of death. What does this tell me about who God is?
• How consciously do I relate keeping God’s commandments with nurturing my relationship with God?

Sacred Space 2015 helps today,

“The Greeks thought that only the soul survived after death. But Luke emphasizes that the risen Jesus is the same as the man who walked our earth. His wounds are still showing. The real Jesus is indeed back with His friends, and doing all He can to help them to believe. Only then can they be ‘witnesses of these things.’

The faith of the disciples is based on the fact that Jesus is with them again. But He seems to have forgotten their sins! Now they must forget the wrongdoing of others against themselves. The world would be transformed if we all did this.”