Homily-3rd Sunday of Easter (B)- Rev. Dr. Fr. Patrick Mathias SDB- 14 April 2024

 

Sunday 14 April 2024 - III Sunday of Easter (Year B)

Mass Readings: Act 3:13-15.17-19   Ps 4   1Jn 2:1-5   Lk 24:35-48

Key Verse to Meditate: Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures (Lk 24:45).

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Risen Lord,

The third Sunday of Easter in the liturgical cycle of B comes with the episode of the risen Lord appearing to the disciples gathered together, along with the Emmaus disciples who had come to tell them about their encounter with the risen Lord (Lk 24:13-34). In today’s gospel, we see how the risen Lord Jesus shows himself and makes himself recognized, speaks, and eats with them. It was not an easy concept of faith for the disciples to just believe in the risen Lord. They too were ordinary human beings, but they were the disciples of the Lord. Yes, they had been with Jesus for three years and had heard from Jesus himself about the predictions of death and resurrection (Lk 9:21-22; 9:44-45; 18:31-34). All three times the narrator of the gospel would say that either the disciples did not understand what Jesus said or did not perceive what he said. That’s why even in today’s gospel, when the risen Lord appeared once again amidst them, they were terrified and could not still perceive the fulfilment of the scriptures and believe in Jesus. 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?" (Lk 24:37-38).

The First Reading: In today's first reading, St. Peter, after the healing of the lame person, explained to the people about the fulfilment of the scriptures in the passion, death, and glorious resurrection of Jesus: 'In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer' (Acts 3:18). Peter pointed out to them that, by ignorance, they had put to death the author of life. However, God raised Him up from the dead, a fact to which they are now witnesses (Acts 3:15). He also invited the people to repent and come back to the merciful fold of God, believing in Jesus’ name.

Comparison Between the First reading and the Gospel Reading: We see many similarities between the first reading and today's gospel reading. The first reading from Acts explicitly shows how the disciples were faithful to the commands of Jesus, as seen in today’s gospel. In the gospel, after the encounter with the Emmaus disciples, Jesus explains to them how the scriptures were fulfilled in his passion and death on the cross. Jesus, in fact, came as the fulfilment of all the prophecies about him in the Old Testament: 'Then he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures' (Lk 24:25-27)."

The Second Reading: In today's second reading, St. John makes a very strong theological statement, proclaiming that Jesus, the righteous one, is our advocate before God. Additionally, reiterating Peter's witness to Christ as the risen one, John proclaims that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins as well as for the sins of the whole world (1 Jn 2:2). If God has taken away our sins, then we should love one another, which is the mark of his presence and the true sign of being a disciple of the Lord. Knowing the Lord in faith implies, in the first place, keeping his commandments."

The Gospel Reading: In the Gospel reading of Year A, we would have the episode of the Emmaus disciples, the first part of the twenty-fourth chapter of Luke (Lk 24:13-34). Even there, one of the special aspects of the risen Lord would be that He would explain to them the Scriptures so that they understand the fulfilment of the Scriptures as the salvific plan of God: 'Then he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures' (Lk 24:25-27)."

Revelation of God’s Name: Jesus never left the disciples in their fear and doubt, so first he gave them the much-needed gift of peace, saying, "Peace be with you" (Luke 24:36) and showed them his hands and feet, so that they could come out of their fears of seeing a ghost: "Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself." (Lk 24:38-40). This phrase "do not be afraid" echoes the presence of God in the Bible: "It is I; do not be afraid." (Jn 6:20). The phrase "It is I," given as “egō eimi” in Greek, stands for the revelation of the name of Yahweh in the Old Testament. Similar to this "I" statement, there are also the seven famous “I am” statements in the book of John (6:35; 8:12; 10:9; 10:11; 11:25-26; 14:6; 15:5). Finally, the action of eating fish in their presence calmed down their fears, and they began to believe in the risen Lord. This shows the disciples' passage from the stage of the absence of Jesus to the stage of the real presence of the risen Jesus. This justified their fears and strengthened their belief in the resurrection of Jesus.

"You are witnesses of these things" (Luke 24:48): In today's gospel reading (Year B), after eating in their presence and explaining the scripture to them, Jesus commanded them that repentance and forgiveness of sins are to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem (Lk 24:47), and that they were to be witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus: "You are witnesses of these things" (Lk 24:47-48). As a practical side of this final preaching of Jesus, we see in the first reading from Acts today how Peter preaches repentance in the name of Jesus and affirms before the crowd of Jews that they are indeed witnesses to these things: "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" (Acts 3:13-15).

Repent and Turn back to God: And Simon Peter would exhort all of them as commanded by Jesus (Luke 24:47) that they should repent and believe in Jesus, as the one sent by God: 'Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out' (Acts 3:19). This aspect of Jesus forgiving the sins of each one and of the world and becoming an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world is also preached and witnessed by St. John in the second reading of today: 'But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world' (1 Jn 2:1-2).

The present narrative in today’s Gospel story makes us reflect that every encounter is impossible if it is not desired and, in some way, we do not prepare for the encounter. The disciples were not prepared to receive the risen Lord. Fear of life and rejection from the Jewish authorities had overtaken them. They were confused. In order to encounter the risen Lord in our lives, often we need to free ourselves from the distress of too many things, even good and beautiful, in order to rediscover the depth of Jesus’ powerful presence in our lives.

Points for Personal Reflection: The Gospel of this third Sunday of Easter seems to ask us: do you believe that Jesus is risen because you met him or because you hear him say? Faith is a journey, and it gets completed with the risen Lord giving us his Peace and in explaining the scripture. Jesus comes to us in our difficulties of faith life. Do we seek the light of the Holy Spirit who opens our minds to the understanding of the Word of God and thus guides us to the whole truth?

Listening to the word of God or seeking the word of God in times of trouble and anxiety can bring us consolation and clarity towards the disturbing issues of life. Unless we encounter the risen Lord in faith and believe in him, it would be difficult for anyone to be a witness to his resurrection. May we ourselves become the living testimony of his resurrection today. Let us not be closed up in darkness because the light of salvation, Jesus Christ, has risen from the dead, and let the Easter joy continue in our lives."

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