Homily: 3rd Sunday of Easter – Cycle A
Friends,
over these weeks of Lent and Easter, we have reflected on a series of
encounters with Jesus. These encounters
were very personal and each led the persons who encountered Jesus to recognize
that their idea of the Messiah was limited.
This opened their eyes to a more wondrous, yet mysterious conception of
who Jesus is: a conception that led them to give testimony to others about him.
The
Samaritan woman had her eyes opened to recognize Jesus as the Messiah in her encounter
with him at the well. Joyfully, she then
went off to share this good news with all her townspeople. The man born blind had his eyes opened
(literally!) to recognize Jesus as the Messiah in his encounter with him in
Jerusalem. He then boldly testified to
him before the religious leaders who sought to silence Jesus. Martha, Mary, and their brother Lazarus
already believed that Jesus was the Messiah.
Nevertheless, their eyes were further opened when Jesus demonstrated
that his power is greater even than death itself when he restored Lazarus’
life. This, no doubt, led to their
testimony before others.
Mary
Magdalen wept at the tomb of Jesus when it appeared that his body had been
stolen. At first, she failed to
recognize the risen Jesus standing next to her.
Her encounter with him, risen from the dead, further opened her eyes to
the reality of Jesus and she immediately ran to testify: “I have seen the Lord!” Thomas, the apostle, did not encounter the
risen Jesus in his first appearance to the apostles and he declared that he
would not believe unless he encountered the risen Jesus himself. A week later, he did encounter the risen
Jesus, which further opened his eyes to the reality of Jesus. For the rest of his days, Thomas would not
cease to testify that Jesus is the Messiah.
Today,
we once again reflect on the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus and
we see how an encounter with Jesus led to the eyes of these disciples being
opened, which then led to them giving testimony to the truth about Jesus. As with the other stories that we have
recounted, in this story Jesus once again does not allow himself to be
recognized fully, at first. He uses that
obscurity as an opportunity to teach an important lesson. Jesus feigns amazement that, having heard the
stories of the women who went to the tomb and found it empty, and who recounted
having seen angels who told them that Jesus had been raised, these disciples
were still so scandalized by the crucifixion that they could not comprehend the
resurrection. Thus, he “interpreted to
them what referred to him in all the Scriptures.”
In
spite of the fact that Jesus’ teaching along the way started to make clear that
not only did the Messiah have to suffer and die, but that he would be raised
again on the third day, the disciples were still slow to believe. Finally, however, as they sat at table, when
Jesus reenacts what he did at the Last Supper when he blessed the bread, broke
it, and gave it to them, the disciples’ eyes were opened and they recognized
the risen Jesus before them. This led
them to rush back to Jerusalem and to testify that Jesus had appeared to
them. Thus, in all of these encounters,
we see the same pattern revealed: a personal encounter with Jesus leads to an
opening of one’s eyes to recognize the full truth about Jesus, which then leads
that person to give testimony about what he/she has seen and heard.
This
last encounter should be the most relatable to us as modern-day Christians,
since the pattern of the encounter most closely mimics the regular personal
encounter we have with the risen Jesus: our celebration of the Eucharist. Let’s reflect on that fact for a moment.
The
disciples are on a journey and are wrestling with the difficult questions of
their lives. Jesus comes to them, listens
to them, and then interprets the Scriptures for them so as to answer their
questions and doubts. We, of course, are
pilgrims on a journey in this world and we daily wrestle with difficult
questions in our lives. At Mass, we
gather and first listen to the Word of God proclaimed to us and then
interpreted in such a way that (hopefully) it answers many of our questions and
doubts.
At
the end of their travels, the disciples sat down at table with Jesus where he
reenacted the events of the Last Supper so as to share his Body and Blood with
them. At Mass, after the liturgy of the
Word, we gather around this altar, this table of sacrifice, so that Jesus
himself, through the ministry of the priest, can reenact the events of the Last
Supper so as to share his Body and Blood with each of us.
The
profound encounter with Jesus along the way and then gathered at table led the
disciples to go out and to declare to others what they had seen and heard. At the end of Mass, after our profound
encounter with Jesus in his Word and gathered around this table of sacrifice,
we are sent back out into the world to declare to others what we have seen and
heard.
Hopefully
now we can see that, throughout these last months, the liturgies have been
leading us to consider the encounters we have with the risen Jesus—especially,
the encounter with him here in the Mass—and how these encounters are
opportunities to see Jesus more clearly so that we may testify about him more
readily in our lives. Perhaps we can
also see in this that our testimony should both be joy-filled and simple. The Samaritan woman said, “Come, see a man
who told me everything about my life.”
The man born blind said, “I was blind, but now I see.” Mary Magdalen said, “I have seen the Lord.” Thomas declared, “My Lord and my God.” The disciples from Emmaus recounted how Jesus
“was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.” Friends, we do not need long, theological
explanations of who Jesus is. Rather, we
need simply to give testimony to what we have seen and heard: that is, in a
joy-filled way, to tell others about our encounter with the risen Jesus and how
it has infused our lives with hope for a life beyond this life of suffering and
death.
Friends,
this testimony is desperately needed in our world today. So many of our brothers and sisters have
never heard of God and of his Son, Jesus, nor of the possibility to experience
a life without suffering and death. God
needs us to be his ambassadors to bring his message of love and mercy to these
sons and daughters of his who have no hope for anything beyond this life. In the joy of our celebrations during this
Easter season, let us commit to bringing our joy-filled testimony to those
around us, so that they might have their eyes opened and encounter the risen
Jesus. This is the joyful duty that we,
as disciples of Jesus, have been given.
Strengthened by our encounter with the risen Jesus at this Mass, may God
make fruitful this holy work.
Given at Holy Trinity Parish: Trinity, IN and Immaculate
Conception Parish: Portland, IN – April 23rd, 2023
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