The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, April 14, 2024, as the third Sunday of Easter – Year B. In the entrance antiphon, we pray: “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy; praise the glory of his name; proclaim his glorious praise, Alleluia.”
In the first reading from Acts of the Apostles, Saint Peter has just healed a cripple and now uses this opportunity to explain to the astonished people that the miracle has been performed in the name of Jesus of Nazareth to whom he applies the Old Testament names of Holy One, the Just One, the Prince of Life. He then exhorts them to repent and turn to God so that their sins can be forgiven.
In the Second Reading, the Apostle John urges his fellow Christians to avoid sin but if they sin, they should seek forgiveness. In last Sunday’s Gospel, we listened to Saint John’s account of the missionary mandate Christ gave his Apostles when he breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit to guide them in their mission. Today’s Gospel gives us Saint Luke’s version of the same scene. Christ appears to his disciples for the last time after his resurrection to dispel their doubts that he is truly risen from the dead. Our belief in Christ’s resurrection is the foundation of our faith; without this belief, there is no Christianity.
As we listen to these readings, brothers and sisters, let us pray for the grace to experience the Risen Lord, but not to keep that experience to ourselves. We must pass it on to others in much the same way as the first disciples did under Peter’s leadership. We must play our missionary role wherever we go. In the process of recognizing the presence of the Risen Lord in our midst, we learn to banish all evil from our hearts and minds and to forgive all those who have trespassed against us. If we do, we, in return, will receive Christ’s forgiveness for our unbelief. Like the doubting apostle Thomas, we too also tend to doubt only believing when we can see and touch. But, blessed, says the Lord, are those who have not seen and yet believe.
First Reading: Acts of the Apostles 3: 13-15. 17-19.
When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, "You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you. "And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. In this way, God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent, therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.
Comment
The Acts of the Apostles is the first history of Christianity and it is dominated by one purpose, that is, a report of events which, under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, reveals God’s saving plan for humanity. Its early chapters draw a beautiful picture of the Christian community of Jerusalem as they pray together, practice common ownership of property, and preach together. The very composition of Acts focuses attention on the present, and on spreading Christianity “to the ends of the earth”. Thus, Acts is a fairly detailed account of early Christianity in its progress from Jerusalem to Rome and to the ends of the world.
In the passage selected for our meditation, we listen to Peter’s second address to the Jews following his curing, in the name of Jesus, of a cripple who sits before the ‘Beautiful Gate’ of the Temple of Jerusalem. He then explains to the astonished crowd that it is through his faith in Jesus Christ that the cripple has been cured. He then moves them to repentance since they were to some degree responsible for Jesus’ death. It was they who had screamed “Hosanna to the Son of David” on Palm Sunday only to turn around on Good Friday to shout “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Already in the sermon, Peter refers to Jesus in terms that the Jews can readily understand. He applies the Old Testament names to Jesus: the Holy One, the Just One, the Prince of Life.
What is Saint Luke telling us in this sermon? He says that after Peter’s missionary proclamation, there is no longer any room for excuses or doubt about the Risen Lord. Even those who crucified him out of ignorance, which was to fulfill God’s will, are now aware of their actions and must repent and believe and God will take away their sins. God forgives even those who crucified his only Begotten Son. Even though we continue to crucify him too with our sins, whenever we turn to God for forgiveness, he welcomes us with open arms. He is the father in the story of the Prodigal Son, who welcomes his repentant son with open arms. Let us pray for the grace not only to believe in the Risen Lord but to also serve as missionaries of his word into our families, workplaces, and into our country as a whole. Amen.
Second Reading: 1 John 2:1-5.
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
Comment
The most prolific writer in the New Testament is, undoubtedly, Saint Paul with fourteen epistles to his name (the Pauline corpus). In addition to the Pauline corpus, there are seven other epistles written by other apostles: one each by James and Jude, two by Peter, and three by John, the evangelist, brother of James, son of Zebedee. John’s First letter, from where the passage for our meditation comes, is the most important of the three letters attributed to the Beloved Apostle, the one Jesus loved.
This letter was written in the form of an encyclical letter to the Christian communities of Asia, who were threatened with disintegration under the impact of the early heresies. In it, the author summarises the entire content of his religious experience. He successively develops the parallel themes of light, uprightness, love and truth. Taking these themes as a basis, the author shows how we, as children of God, must necessarily live the life of integrity based on faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and we must spread that love to our neighbor.
Chapter 2 of this letter, from where our reading is taken, warns against living in sin. It urges us to live in the light because those who live in the light are not touched by sin.
When God’s commandment of faith, love and submission are in us, when we do not give in to false standards of this world, God’s light is in us. Saint John wants us to live like Christ, sinless and utterly committed to God. When we sin, he tells us, we darken the brightness of Christ’s light in us. But Jesus, in his love, heals us of our sins by his intercession with his Father.
We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who is the only Mediator (1 Tim 2:5), and who intercedes for us. Saint John exhorts us to avoid sin and encourages us to hope for forgiveness provided we are determined not to fall again and provided we forgive others.
Let us pray to God to strengthen our faith in the Risen Lord. Faith is the victory over the powers of darkness. You are great and wonderful, Lord Jesus Christ our Redeemer. You are the living One, the just and true One. Increase our faith in you, Lord, that we may continue to praise and glorify your name, now and for ever. Amen. Alleluia.
Gospel Acclamation: “Alleluia, alleluia. Lord Jesus, open the scriptures to us; make our hearts burn while you speak to us. Alleluia.”
Gospel: Luke 24: 35-48.
While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." They were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you--that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
Comment
Mother Church proposes very beautiful readings to us during the Easter season as the Gospels continue to relate to us Christ’s appearances after his resurrection. And these passages are very rich in lessons that we can take home and muse over throughout the day!
Last Sunday, we heard Saint John’s account of the missionary mandate Christ gave to his disciples shortly after his resurrection and how he established the sacrament of Penance when he told them “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (Jn 20:23). This Sunday, we hear Saint Luke’s version in which he stresses the challenges the disciples are facing to accept the miracle of the resurrection despite the angel’s testimony to the women (Mk 16: 5-7) and despite the witnesses of those who have already seen the risen Lord (Jn 20: 11-18). He shows that the disciples only begin to make sense of Jesus’ resurrection when he appears to them. By themselves the disciples are not able to arrive at an understanding of what is going on; they need the Risen Christ to uncover the meaning of all that is happening. It is the final appearance of the Lord that dispels the doubts of his followers.
Saint Luke demonstrates this dramatically in today’s Gospel. The disciples of Emmaus have returned to Jerusalem to be reunited with the assembly of Christ’s followers. Even though the two disciples tell them of what had happened on the road and how they had recognized the Lord at the breaking of bread, the assembled disciples still cannot make sense of it. That is why when Christ suddenly appears, they are alarmed, and instead of recognizing him and rejoicing at his resurrection, they believe they are seeing a ghost.
Christ has to appeal to their sense of touch so they can see who it is they are touching. He appeals to their reason by telling them that ghosts have no flesh. But it is only when he tells them what he meant when he was with them and opens their minds to understand the scriptures that they come to believe in him. By interpreting what has happened, the Risen Lord draws the disciples out of their confusion. The disciples cannot do that for themselves; they cannot see for themselves; by themselves they cannot understand what is going on. Only the risen Lord can take them from mystery to revelation, from confusion to understanding.
Only after his appearance can his disciples pick up the courage to preach his word. Saint Luke shows us Saint Peter, in the second reading of this day from Acts of the Apostles, explaining to the Jews the meaning of Christ’s death and resurrection. The disciples now point to Christ and explain without fear what he had done. In his name, and not in the name of the Old Testament, they preach the forgiveness of sins. Christ commissions them, and through them, all of us, to preach the Good News and to forgive each other’s trespasses. They preach that Jesus is the Messiah, the fulfillment of the prophets and the scriptures.
How does this concern us today? In the Gospel accounts of the resurrection of our Lord, we too should see the Risen Christ in our midst. He did not only appear to the disciples of old, he continues to appear to us every day, although we are almost always too busy to see him, to listen to him, or to behold him in our brothers and sisters.
Unfortunately, fear seems to dominate our lives; the fear of the unknown. That is why we have devoted Christians, who attend Mass in the morning and head straight for the witch doctor’s house under cover of darkness. The apostles are so afraid of the Jewish authorities that they lock themselves in a room, but when their Lord appears to them, they pick up courage and boldly take his word of salvation to the four corners of the world, in season and out of season.
They accept the message of the risen Lord and boldly carry it wherever they go because they now know that it is the Lord’s commission they are fulfilling. See how Peter, who, only a few days ago, was scared stiff of a little slave girl during Christ’s passion to the extent of denying his Master, now defies the Jewish authorities as he preaches Christ’s word to everyone. This tells us that anyone who carries God’s word to others should have no fear of the unknown because the unknown does not exist to he or she who is a missionary of Christ’s word. In every Christian, the presence of Christ should banish the fears brought by evil.
Every generation must make the message of Jesus its own and pass it on to others. It is a message fueled by generations of Christians who have continued to have life in the name of Jesus. We will keep this message alive only by passing it to others. That is how we keep the Gospel alive. We cannot do this on our own; we need the support of the Holy Spirit to whom we now turn to guide, protect, and strengthen our faith so we can carry Christ’s message of hope and salvation to the ends of the earth.
Yes, Easter is a time of rejoicing, a time of singing alleluia and praising and thanking God for raising Christ from the dead. We are, as Saint Augustine says, an Easter people and Alleluia is our song. We adore Christ the Risen Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen. Alleluia.
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