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Homily: 3rd Sunday of
Easter – Cycle B
My brothers
and sisters, as we enter more deeply into this Easter season, we today continue
to be reminded that the resurrection is something new. As we look around us, we
see that this newness is displayed before us as new life begins to blossom in
our neighborhoods, parks, and back yards.
In spite of the fact that we expect this renewal every year, it does not
change the fact that it continues to surprise us with its beauty. Even as we
talk about it for months, anticipating when the cold of winter will release the
new life of spring, when it does, nonetheless, it almost always astounds
us. And so the resurrection is to
us. Through the forty days of Lent, we
prepare ourselves for the joy of the resurrection—we talk about it and our need
to prepare for its celebration; yet when it arrives, it almost always
overwhelms us by its beauty and its joy.
Our scriptures today speak of this, so let's take a closer look at them.
In the gospel
reading, we return again to Easter Sunday.
The disciples who had encountered Jesus on the road to Emmaus, a small
town outside of Jerusalem, had returned to recount what they had
experienced. They spoke of the fire that
burned within them as Jesus interpreted the scriptures to them and of how their
eyes were opened to realize that it was Jesus with them in the breaking of the
bread. This was an incredibly powerful
experience for them, but they could only transmit it second-hand. Nonetheless, this talking about Jesus and
about his resurrection surely would have stirred joy in the hearts of the
apostles. The news that Jesus had truly
risen would have been the realization of their hopes. Perhaps some were
incredulous, but Jesus had promised it and so their hearts would have longed to
believe. Even still, they must have
thought, "could it really be
true?"
Then Jesus
appears to them. In spite of having
heard the disciples’ account of the encounter with him, they are astounded at
his appearance. Jesus greets them with
the simple greeting that is still used by Hebrew speaking peoples today: shalom, peace be with you. Now Jesus must have greeted his disciples
with this word thousands of times, but his appearance, alive after his most
certain death, was something new and so this word, too, astounded them. Talking about Jesus, it seems, even talking
about something as incredible as the resurrection, could not fully prepare them
for an encounter with the risen Jesus himself.
To say it another way: the resurrection from the dead is always shocking.
Nonetheless,
Jesus doesn't allow them to back away.
After his greeting, he asks "why are your hearts
troubled?" "Look," he
says, "it is I." "Come
see my hands and my feet." The
resurrected Jesus is not some distant deity that they cannot approach. Rather, he comes close and invites them to
touch him. He asks them for food. He meets them where they are and he invites
them to come near to him. In the face of
such an incredible event, Jesus refuses to allow them to back away from
him. His resurrection is not only about
asserting his divinity, but it is about inviting his followers to approach
it. My brothers and sisters, this is the
same for us. Jesus in his resurrection
comes to us to meet us and to invite us to approach him, to touch him. Saint John tells us that he is now our
advocate before the father and so even in our sinfulness—even in our doubt and
in our troubled hearts—we should never fail to approach him, because, if he is
risen, he is risen for us!
If Jesus draws
close to us, however, it is also so that he can send us forth. In recounting for the disciples how the
scriptures had been fulfilled in him, he reminded them that his resurrection is
for all men, not just God's people, Israel.
He came so that all men might find forgiveness and redemption. This was the purpose for which God chose the
Israelite people: to be the people from which the whole world (that is, all men
and women) would find forgiveness, redemption, and eternal life. Thus Jesus gives a commission to his disciples,
saying "You are witnesses of these things." Perhaps that doesn't immediately sound like a
commissioning, but if you consider the nature of a witness, you'll know that it
is; for a witness is not just someone who sees what has happened, but a witness
is someone who also testifies to it.
My brothers
and sisters, we are witnesses to a shocking event: the resurrection of a man
who is God. This man, who is the divine
Son of God, draws near to us to unite us to him, who is our eternal advocate
before the Father. Thus, we are
commissioned as witnesses—those specially chosen by God—to testify to this
event: that sin, and death that is the result of sin, has been forever
destroyed through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; and that freedom
from sin and death is available to all, men and women of every race and nation
throughout the world.
My brothers
and sisters, if we have experienced this, then we must go forth to proclaim
this good news. If you haven't, then I invite you to pray in these silent
moments that will follow and to ask the Lord to reveal his risen self to you in
the form of the bread and wine that we will receive from this altar. He is here and he brings to you—to all of
us—blessings of peace: shalom. Let us
come to meet him in this astounding sacrament so as to be strengthened by him
to proclaim this good news to the world.
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