(Homily for 3rd Sunday of Easter Year B)
The
mystery of Jesus’ Resurrection is the fulfillment of all that God promised in
the Scriptures. The fulfillment and proof of this divine promise is at the center
of today’s readings. In the first
reading and the Gospel we see a convinced proclamation of the realism and thus
the credibility of the Resurrection, we pass from the empty tomb to an
encounter with the risen Lord. In the Gospel we see the Risen Lord in the
midst of his apostles and disciples to assure them that he is the crucified
risen Lord, the signs and wounds are indicators to the veracity of that event, so he proves that it is He! Once again he
made reference to the Scriptures “These are my words which I spoke to you,
while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of
Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their
minds to understand the scriptures” (Lk.
24:44-45). In the first reading, Peter on his part made reference to the
scriptures thus: “But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that
Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled” (Act.
3:18; cf. Lk. 24:46). Indeed, today
we see a sort of combination of the speech in Acts and the Lord’s instruction
in the Gospel, to the apostles, and upon proper reflection, we can say that
both are like two searchlights focusing on the same target: the words of the
Scriptures that Christ must suffer! The second reading traces once again the redemptive
power and universal implication of Christ’s death and resurrection, for “he is the expiation for our sins, and not
for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world (1Jn.2:2).
The first reading (Acts 3:13-15.17-19) centers on the renowned discourse of St. Peter
after the miracle of the healing of the cripple at the Beautiful Gate of the
temple. In the context of this reading, we can easily identify two diverse
reactions of the apostle. At the first instance, St. Peter was hard on the
people of Jerusalem, he accused them of the death of Jesus Christ, “It is God
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, who has glorified his
servant Jesus whom you handed over and then disowned in the presence of Pilate
after he had given his verdict to release him. It was you who accused the Holy
and Upright One, you who demanded that a murderer should be released to you
while you killed the prince of life. God, however raised him from the dead, and
to that fact we are witnesses” (Act.
3:13-15).
In this episode, we could see the power of the Resurrection manifest in the person of
Peter. There is now a difference
between Peter, the apostles in general and the disciples before and after the
Resurrection. Ceteris Paribus, an encounter with the risen Lord should not
leave us untouched or unchanged. Therefore, child of God, what has changed
in you since after your encounter with the Risen Lord, in his words and through
the sacraments? At the second instance,
St. Peter was extremely considerate and soft, to the extent that he almost
asked pardon to the people and to the leaders “Now I know, brothers, that
neither you nor your leaders had any idea what you were really doing” (Act. 3:17). As we can see, at this
point, St. Peter didn’t state with precision, if it has to do with a culpable
ignorance or not; however, his invitation to repentance in verse 19 is
revealing of his stance. Their ignorance
did not overrule the responsibility for their actions.
However, the idea of culpable ignorance or
not is not the main focus of the apostle, for he attested earlier that “while
you killed the prince of life. God, however, raised him from the dead” (Act. 3:15). The raising of Jesus demonstrates
that God can make something good from evil. Interestingly, God’s love instead of being discouraged by human acts of wickedness and
sinfulness is rather stimulated to a more ardent manifestation. This
indeed, is a message of hope for us, in that, in our misery and weaknesses, God
never gets tired of giving us chances and opportunities to come back to Him.
The
conclusion of Peter’s discourse is sound, practical and logical. It ended
with a logical and existential call to a change of life: “Now you must repent
and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out” (Act. 3:19). The Death and Resurrection of Christ, is the certainty
of the possibility of being purified from our sins, by virtue of his bloody
sacrifice. This is the message that the Church continues to transmit in every
time and place, even to our own present time. Above all, the hit track of this
passage is in the words “to that we are witnesses” (Act. 3:15b). Similarly, as Christians we are called to be
witnesses to this event. This indeed, is an important message that runs through
the first reading and the Gospel.
The Gospel (Lk. 24:35-48) has as its pivot the appearance of the Risen Christ.
The episode we heard in the Gospel happened on the evening of the day of
Easter. The apostles and the other disciples were gathered together with Peter (v.33), and they were speaking among
themselves of the things that have taken place on that day: the empty tomb
discovered by Mary Magdalene, Peter, John and the women who said they had a
vision of angels, which affirmed that Jesus is alive, the apparition of the
Risen Lord to Simon, the testimony of the two disciples of Emmaus and
recognizing Him at the breaking of bread. The passage says that “They were
still talking about all this when he himself stood among them and said to them,
‘Peace be with you!’” (v. 36). St. Luke took time to give us a detailed
description of the state of mind and emotions of the apostles and the disciples
at the appearance of Jesus: They were stupefied and afraid, troubled and
doubtful, and they had a feeling of great joy. At the same time, they were
stupefied in the face of this incredible and extraordinary event: The
appearance and thus the presence of the Risen Lord. The greeting of Jesus to
them is “Peace be with you”. This is not a mere wish or desire. Instead, truly
the Risen Lord comes with Peace. And indeed, the troubled apostles and
disciples needed it most at that time.
And standing in their midst Christ did try
to convince his apostles and disciples that He is truly the One. Therefore, the
appearances more than the empty tomb lay a more convincing credence to the
realism of the event of Christ’s Resurrection. However, the fundamental
question that could arise from the Resurrection event in the Lukan context is:
Is Christ truly risen? And if He is truly risen, what is the rapport between
his crucified and risen body? To this, St. Luke in his Gospel offers us a
convincing reflection. For he wrote to Christians who were living in an
environment dominated by the Greek culture, whereby, the soul after death was
believed to live separated from the body. And today’s passage is a response to
such provocation. He did affirm that
Christ is truly risen. He went on to reinstate that Jesus rose in his body
in the physical reality, though his glorified body has a particular quality,
for he can enter into a room “on closed doors’, he can appear in different
places, he can appear and at the same time without making himself known. The fundamental fact is that the Risen Lord
is not a ghost, without a body, in his words: “See by my hands and my feet
that it is myself. Touch me and see for yourselves; a ghost has no flesh and
bones as you can see I have” (v.19)
and again “they offered him a piece of grilled fish, which he took and ate
before their eyes” (vv. 42-43). The three gestures (look at my hands and feet, touch me, he ate the fish) are revelative
that the One standing in their midst is indeed the crucified-risen Lord,
though the conviction did not come in a sudden manner, rather he captured them
gradually. After that encounter with the
Risen Lord doubts and perplexity disappeared from the minds of the apostles,
for a “great joy” filled their hearts. They became more convinced of the
realism of the Resurrection and their desire to announce it in the whole world
grew stronger. This is how it supposed to be for us too, our faith in the risen
Christ has to be more matured and convincing, in order to be translated into a
joyful proclamation. The Risen Jesus is the same Jesus who was crucified. He
carries on his body the signs of his passion and he says to his apostles and to
us today “look at my hands and my feet that it is myself” (v.39). Thus, the event of
the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is not only a historical fact, but
also an ever-present and always active event in the lives of believers.
Besides, the
risen Lord helps us to understand that his passion and death are not mere facts
that happened by chance, but together with the resurrection are the culminating
points of the salvific design initiated by the Father. Jesus is indeed, the interpretative key to all the Scriptures.
Little wonder, he reminded his apostles: “This is what I meant when I said,
while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of
Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms, was destined to be fulfilled” (v. 44). Even though Jesus preempted
this before his Passion, it was necessary that after his Resurrection, “He then
opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (v.45). Beloved in Christ, let us ask the Risen Lord to equally
open our minds to the understanding of the Scriptures, of His word. For the opening of our minds will help us
to understand that the history of Israel received its meaning from the Passion,
Death and Resurrection of Christ; that our own history too and the destiny of
humanity have in Christ the center and the fullness of meaning. Indeed, it
is the design of the Father who brought “everything together under Christ, as
head, everything in heaven and everything on earth” (Eph. 1:10), all is recapitulated in Him.
Above all else however, it is pertinent to
note and as such it behooves us to underscore that Christianity is not a conglomeration of dogmas and moral laws,
rather an encounter with the Person
of the Risen Lord, and a proclamation of
a fact: His Death and Resurrection. The call to testify and bear witness to
this event is a responsibility of not only the Church, but of each and every
one of us (ranging from the Pope to the newly baptized). The invitatory word
“witnesses” is repeated in both the first reading and the Gospel. St. Peter
says we are witnesses to these things, and Jesus says in the Gospel: “You are
witnesses to these things”. Witnessing goes beyond telling people about the
life of Jesus, it is beyond telling people that he has risen, witnessing to
Jesus has to be existential, with our lives. Indeed our transformed life will
show the people that the Risen Lord has touched us. But let us not forget that we can be reliable witnesses when our
testimony is borne out of a personal experience and encounter with What or Whom
we announce.
The second reading instead (1Jn. 2:1-5a) reinstates the purifying
and salvific roles of his death, “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ, the Upright. He is the sacrifice to expiate our sins, and not only
ours, but also those of the whole world” (1Jn.
2:1-2). The letter to the Hebrews equally affirmed that Jesus “lives
forever to intercede for them” (Heb.
7:25). Christ truly, is the expiation for our sins. And he continues to act
as our advocate before God by and through the merits and benefits of his death
and resurrection.
In all, brethren, let us pray and ask the
risen Lord to illumine us, to open our minds to the wisdom of the Scriptures,
in order to become authentic witnesses of His Message and Person.
(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu,
SC)
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