East3B24.  Acts of the Apostles 3:13-15, 17-19.  “The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses. Now I know, brothers, that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did.” Some refused to accept Jesus as the Messiah despite the fact that his miracles made it quite clear that he was the Messiah. “He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.” (John 1:11)  As the parable of the seed said, the seed must fall on good ground to bear fruit.  Our hearts are open to the words of God only if we choose to thoroughly belong to God.  Jesus said to those who rejected him in John 8:47, “Whoever belongs to God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not listen, because you do not belong to God.”

Luke 24:35-48.  When Jesus first appeared to his Apostles, they “thought that they were seeing a ghost.”  To prove to them that he was not a ghost, Jesus ate “a piece of baked fish” “in front of them.” Then Jesus made it clear to them that “it is written (in the Old Testament) that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations.” The Christ is the Savior who saves us from our sins.  Sin is basically any rejection of God’s sovereignty over us, which then excludes us from God’s saving action.

1 John 2:1-5a.  “If anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ.”  “He is expiation for our sins.”  By his suffering and death on the cross Jesus has made reparation for the offense of our sin.  Jesus repairs our relationship with God, returning us sinners into good stead with our Father.  “Whoever keeps his word,” which means is obedient to God’s Will, the love of God is truly perfected in him.”

East3B21.        Acts of the Apostles 3:13-15, 17-19.  Peter accuses those present of having Jesus crucified, saying, “The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.  Now I know, brothers, that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did”.  Peter continues, “Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.”  Peter proclaims that Jesus has been glorified by the God of the Jews by being given resurrection.  Now Jesus is the author of life, given the authority to give us spiritual life, the resurrection from our sins.  Only the sinless are entitled to live the life that is eternal in heaven.

Luke 24:35-48.  Jesus provides physical proof of his resurrection from the dead by saying: “Touch me and see” and eating “a piece of baked fish.”  His crucifixion and death were the fulfillment of what had been written about him in the Old Testament. “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things,” Jesus says to the disciples.  The purpose for his death and resurrection is to lead us to repentance for the forgiveness of our sins so that we may have eternal salvation.

1 John 2:1-5a.    John wrote, “But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.”  In John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one goes to the Father except through me.’” Jesus, personally, living in us through the power of the Holy Spirit, walking with us, guiding us, strengthening us, and protecting us, enables us to live as true daughters and sons of the Father.  Christianity is not a list of things to do but Jesus, a person to be with in the deepest and fullest way.  He must be the author or source of daily life for us.   John ends with the words: “But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him.”  To ‘keep his word’ means to do his will.  When we do what he wants of us, we will be perfected, that is made to the fullest of our God-given potential what God in his divine will has made us to be.  Then we will have done what Jesus commanded of us in John 5:48: “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

East3B18.   Acts of the Apostles 3:13-15, 17-19.   “Peter said to the people: ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus.’“  What a wonderful way to announce solemnly that the God who created the Hebrew people as his own has fulfilled what he had spoken through his prophets.  He would send the Christ, the Savior, as a sacrifice for our sins so that all those who repented and converted would have their sins wiped away.

Luke 24:35-48.  The two disciples to whom Jesus had just appeared were recounting to the Apostles their recognizing him in the breaking of the bread, when Jesus himself stood in their midst.  Jesus went through great efforts to prove to them that it was really he, the risen Lord, and not a ghost.  “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, ‘Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.’”

1 John 2:1-5a.   Jesus has offered himself on the cross as a sacrifice in expiation, atonement or reparation for the sins of the whole world whenever they may be committed.  Since sin offends God who is pure and perfect love for us, who has made us to be loved and become love as he is love, our sins reject God’s love.  Reparation requires that something equal or more of what was taken away be given back.  Offense against an infinite God requires an infinite reparation or sacrifice.  Therefore only God can offer an adequate expiation for sins against God; Jesus, who is God the Son, offers expiation to God, the Father.  When we do what God commands of us, which is the only acceptable way that we have to show that we receive his love, then we treat his love in a way that is truly loving.  To do otherwise is sin.  “If anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.”  He has already given himself on the cross, as our gate way to forgiveness for sin, has a vested interest in pleading for our forgiveness. This world is place of temptation, the home of sin but at the same time the home of redemption from sin.  We have an Advocate who will never fail us when we fail.

East2B24.  Acts of the Apostles 4:32-35.  “No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common.”  Perhaps they thought that Jesus was coming back very soon and so they readily got rid of their earthly goods, since they saw no need to care for themselves in the long term on earth.  So deep was their faith in the Lord.

John 20:19-31.  Jesus came dispelling their fear behind locked doors saying, “Peace be with you.”  What joy they had who had thought that all had ended in his bloody death on the cross to now see their resurrected Jesus.  Jesus, knowing that he would ascend into heaven, prepares to have his work continue on earth by sending his Apostles to do what he was doing.  “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”  Thomas, who was not present at the appearance of Jesus, demands physical proof that Jesus has arisen.  Proof is given him as a call to all who live after Thomas that we are called not to believe because we see but to believe because we have faith.  “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”  We belong to the believers who have not seen and so our belief is all the more praiseworthy.  Not everything that Jesus did is written but what is written is “written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.” What is written guides us to believe in what we have not seen.

1 John 5:1-6.  “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God.”   That means that, if we believe that Jesus is our Savior, then we are a child of God.”  “Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”  We are in the world but do not belong to the world (John 17) for the world is only the dirt of the earth without the spirit and breathe of God.  Our faith embraces our heavenly ancestry & heritage with its heavenly inheritance.  We have been made to belong to what is heavenly, not worldly, because God made us in his own image, after his own likeness. (Genesis 1:26a)

East2B21.     Acts of the Apostles 4:32-35.   “The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common.”  Those resources “were distributed to each according to their need.”  It is my understanding that they were expecting Jesus to come relatively soon and so they were preparing for that coming by living in common without personal possessions. (Please read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.)  What stands out is their great faith in Jesus.

John 20:19-31.   “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book.  But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.”   As Jesus calls upon his disciples to be witnesses to who Jesus is and what Jesus had accomplished, so too the gospels were written to be witness to him and to call us to the faith that will give us eternal life.  Jesus gives his disciples the Holy Spirit who will enable them to bring to people a faith in Jesus.  In receiving the Holy Spirit the disciples are given the power to aid the Holy Spirit in his work of the sanctification of humanity through the power to forgive sins so to turn people from sin so to become the holy children of God.  Thomas, who represents the ordinary down to earth people who have to learn to rise up to heaven even as they walk on the dirt of this earth, rejects the idea of resurrection from the dead as lacking in any commonsense.  Confronting Thomas, Jesus calls upon him and all of us to put our faith in what is divine and not earthly: “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”  Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.”

1 John 5:1-6.  John the evangelist wrote, “Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the son of God?”  Followers of Jesus live in the world but do not put our faith in a world that only believes in a life that is from cradle to grave.  The Holy Spirit, who is Jesus’ gift to us, enables us to live in the truth, the eternal reality.  “For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments,” that is, we are obedient to his will which is far more than the Ten Commandments.  The struggle to be submissive to his will is the cross that is love.  Jesus showed by his death on the cross that true love comes at a great sacrificial cost.

East2B18.   Acts of the Apostles 4:32-35.   “The community of believers was of one heart and mind.”  Their oneness was out of their unity in the one Lord Jesus over them.  “With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”  This scene occurs after the Pentecost when they received the Holy Spirit who gave them great power to help them bring others to believe in Jesus as their Lord.

John 20:19-31.  In this gospel there is a study of contrasts or opposites.  Jesus comes to bring peace to those who locked the doors in fear of the Jewish authorities, who had put Jesus to death and who might put them to death too.  Alone behind those locked doors they were powerless against the powers of this earth but Jesus came to empower them with a heavenly power to forgive sins and to go into the world to bring others to Christ.  Thomas came to believe because he saw with his own eyes the physical presence of the risen Lord; to which Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”  Belief is the central message of this gospel which ends with the words: “But these (words) are written you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.”  Not physical evidence but rather words that testify to the resurrection are given us that through the power of the Holy Spirit that we may have the belief that gives us life in his name.

Jesus says in this Gospel: “Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”  Jesus in his public ministry made it clear that it made no sense to give the fullness of life to the body yet leave the soul sick in sin.  After having lowered a man on a stretcher through the roof since they could not get to Jesus because of the crowd around him, Luke 5:20 reads: When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “As for you your sins are forgiven.”  In Luke 5:24, Jesus continues, “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” His forgiveness of us through the sacrament of Reconciliation gives spiritual health to a sick soul so that we “may have life in his name.”  As it says in psalm 118:2, “Let the house of Israel say, “His mercy endures forever.”

John 5:1-6.  This epistle begins, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God.”  Belief in Jesus requires that we are no longer people of the ways of this world but rather of the ways of heaven.  In John 3:6, Jesus says to Nicodemus, “What is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the spirit is spirit.” Jesus continues in John 3:7b, “You must be born from above.” In today’s epistle, John continues, “For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments.  And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world.”  Being born of the Father, as his sons and daughters, demands that we love no only God but also his love for us which is expressed in his loving will and direction over us.  Since Jesus Christ is Lord over us, we are subjects of Jesus and not this world.  “The victory that conquers the world is our faith,” that Jesus is Lord and not this world.  Jesus came through the water of his baptism to begin his work of redemption and then through the blood of his cross to complete our redemption.  We do not have to see with our eyes the actual physically risen body of Christ because we have the Spirit who is “the one that testifies, and the Spirit is truth.”  We have the faith that is given to us by the Spirit and not by sight.  In 2 Corinthians 5:7, Paul wrote, “We are always courageous, although we know that while we are home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.”

 

 

EastB24.  Acts of the Apostles 10:34a, 37-43.  Peter is speaking to Cornelius the Roman centurion and other non-Jews.  He relates how the man, Jesus of Nazareth, was especially anointed by God, worked many miracles, was put to death and was resurrected from the dead by God.  Then Peter said, “Everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”

John 20:1-9.  Mary of Magdala must have been grieving very much over the crucified Jesus when she went to the tomb well before dawn.  It seems that the sight of tomb stone having been rolled back startled her, so much that she assumed that Jesus’ body had been taken from the tomb without actually looking into the tomb.  The story of the apostle “whom Jesus loved,” waiting for Peter to arrive before entering the tomb, is quite touching.  The fact that the burial cloths were still remaining indicates that, not only had the body not been stolen, but that the Jesus, on arising, had taken the time to roll up “the cloth that had covered his head” and put it “in a separate place.”  The other disciple “who had arrived at the tomb first” “saw and believed” apparently, that Jesus was not there, but “did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”

Colossians 3:1-4.  “Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”  In John 3:6-7, Jesus said, “What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit.  Do not be amazed that I told you, ‘You must be born from above.’” While still living on this earth in an earthly body, Jesus calls upon us to live spiritually with Jesus breathing the Holy Spirit into us as the source of our life.  There is no book to read that has steps to follow.  Christ who is the Way will lead us daily through each day.  What else could we expect if the source of life is spiritual and not physical or material?

EastB21.    Easter Vigil – Mark 16:1-7.  The three devoted women arrived at the tomb just as the sun had risen to anoint Jesus’ body to find that the very large stone at the entrance had been rolled back.  A young man dressed in white, traditionally understood to be an angel, said to them, “Do not be amazed!  You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified.  He has been raised; he is not here.”  The angel tells them to tell Jesus’ disciples and Peter that the risen Jesus will go to see them in Galilee.

Easter Day – John 20:1-9.  Mary of Magdala tells Peter and John that it appears that some unknown people have taken Jesus’ body away to some unknown place.  Peter and John run to find that indeed the tomb was empty; however, “they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”  Only later when they see the glory of the risen Lord do they come to a full realization of what had happened.

Vigil Night – Romans 6:3-11.  “We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.” Easter time is the time to remember our baptism and renew our baptismal vows.  This image of baptism comes from the baptism of emersion where one is submerged beneath the waters as a symbol of death to then rise up from the waters as a symbol of resurrection.  “Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living to God in Christ Jesus.”  Easter Day – Colossians 3:1-4.   “Brothers and sisters:  If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” Our whole mindset and our inner emotional being is geared by the world we are immersed in and the material bodies that we live in, to act, think and be creatures of the natural world and not people who are on our way to heaven, our real and eternal home.  The Holy Spirit enables us to breathe a spiritual life, even while our material bodies breathe the life of this world.  God empowers those who choose to live spiritually in him to live heavenly, holy lives, even while we still live in a natural, material world.

Easter Day – Acts of the Apostles 10:34a, 37-43. The Apostles were loyal to Jesus but the crucifixion shook their faith to the core.  Jesus’ appearance after the resurrection and the inflowing of the Holy Spirit into their lives moved them from people of this world with one foot planted in this world and one foot planted in God’s world to being people with both feet  planted in God’s world.  By the Spirit’s grace they were moved to becoming God’s people for whom their lives were based on God living in them.  They belonged to nothing else but the Lord.  They became witnesses to the salvation God brings to all humanity.  May we be the same!

EastB18.   This Easter I would like to bring together ideas in the Vigil Epistle & Gospel and the ‘Mass During the Day’ readings.  In Romans 6:3-11, the immersion that occurs in adult baptism is understood to be symbolic of one’s going down into the grave as a sign of death to sin to rise out of the water as a sign of rising out of the grave to a new life in Christ.  In baptism we are joined to Christ’s death and resurrection so that “we too might live in the newness of life,” that was given to Christ and also to us by the glorious power of God the Father.  “If, then, we have died with Christ,” that is to say that “our old self” that was enslaved to sin “was crucified with him,” “we believe that we shall also live with him,” as his holy people in heaven.  We no longer belong to a body that death will conquer and put into a grave or tomb forever.  The tomb with the stone covering the entrance or mouth of the tomb represents the jaws of this earth that has swallowed up our lives; whereas the tomb with the stone removed or rounded back represents the fact that the physical forces of this earth are not able to block or restrain the almighty force of the eternally living God.  “As to his death, he died to sin once and for all (people); as to his life, he lives for God.  Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.”

In Colossians 3:1-4, Paul writes, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.”  To be a people who seek holiness our whole way of thinking must change.  Our whole perspective must change.  We ought to live in this world as if we are already people in heaven, “hidden with Christ in God.” This world is no longer our life; Christ is our life. We belong to something entirely different from this world.  “When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.”

In 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8, Paul writes, “Celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”  We are the fresh batch of dough, unleavened, without the corruption or yeast of this world, made new in the newly risen Christ, recreated sinless and holy through his work of salvation in his sacrifice on the cross.

These Easter accounts do not agree or blend well together, not even within the same Gospel writer.  These remembrances were written much later after the fact, when the writers were much older.  However, the basic ideas agree.  He had arisen; he was no longer dead in the tomb.  Mary Magdalene, especially, had a great love and respect for Jesus, desiring to care for him even in death.  Through the gospels we have physical proof and heavenly proclamation that Jesus had arisen.  Jesus had often told his Apostles that he would die and three days later arise.  They did not get it.   Even after Peter and John were witnesses to the empty tomb, still “they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”  Jesus understands our human condition and never stops working with us on our way to heaven.

PalmB24.   Isaiah 50:4-7.  The Servant of the Lord delivered the message the Lord had given to him for the people but they rejected God’s message and reviled the prophet who delivered the message. The reality was that the shame of what he suffered belonged to the people who mistreated him.

Mark 14:1-15:47.  This is the Palm Sunday reading of the Passion or suffering of the Lord.  One drama in this reading is the contrast of the betrayal of Jesus by the apostle Judas Iscariot for earthly riches to the denial of Jesus by the apostle Peter out of fear of the Jewish authorities.  This was all done to Jesus by his own, suffering upon suffering.  John 2:24-25 says, “But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature.  He himself understood it well.”  Yet another drama is how cruelly, contemptuously and evilly Jesus was treated by the Jewish and Roman authorities.  And again another drama is how terribly and excruciatingly the torture affected Jesus in his humanity.  He felt it as anyone of us would have felt it, if we had undergone the same thing.  The central drama is Jesus’ offering up himself: “This is my body;” This is my blood of the covenant which will be shed for many.” Jesus’ sacrifice of himself at the hands of evil people was solely for our benefit and not for himself.  “He indeed died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (Philippians 2:6-11)  God, out of love for us, became human so that, out of love for us, he could suffer and die for us to redeem us from our sins so that we could live eternally with him in his love for us.  See what humility God had out of love for us so that he could raise us up.  “At the name of Jesus every knee should bend,” “and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”