III Sunday of Easter:[2012]: Apr.22; Acts3:13-15,17-19;
IJn 2:1-5; Lk24: 35-48
Introduction : If the point of last Sunday's gospel was on experiencing the risen
Lord, the point of today's gospel seems to be on sharing our faith with others.
Christ wants his followers to be his witnesses. Witnessing, like a coin, has
two sides. One side has to do with seeing an event, having knowledge of
something through personal experience and not on hearsay. The other side has to
do with being able to give an account of it before others. That we are called
to be witnesses of Christ means that we are called first to have a personal
experience of Christ and then to share this experience with others. Many
Christians, unfortunately, only go halfway as they focus on knowing Christ more
and more without a corresponding interest in sharing the knowledge. Yet, faith
is like a flame: the more a piece of wood passes the flame to others the more
brightly it burns, but if it refuses to pass on the flame, it stands in danger
of losing even its own flame.
Event :
The grandfather of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber was lame. Once day they
asked him to tell a story about his teacher, and he related how his master used
to hop and dance while he prayed. The old man rose as he spoke and was so swept
away by his story that he himself began to hop and dance to show how his master
did it. From that moment he was cured of his lameness. When we tell the story
of Christ, we achieve two things. We enable others to experience him and we
ourselves experience his power even more. We can see that happening in today's
gospel.
Exegesis : Two
disciples met the risen Lord on the way to Emmaus. They came back to Jerusalem to share their
experience with the apostles. We read that "While they were
talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be
with you'" (Luke 24:36). Christ makes himself present in the
process of sharing their faith experience with the other unbelieving disciples.
Now the eleven apostles and their companions are in turn enabled to experience
the risen Lord. And it takes no stretch of the imagination to see that for the
two who shared their experience this would be a big strengthening of faith, a
big empowerment.
Joke : An atheist professor was teaching a college class at Alabama and he told the
class that he was going to prove that there is no God. He said,
"God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I'll
give you 15 minutes!" Ten minutes went by.
He kept taunting God, saying, "Here I am, God. I'm still waiting." He got down to the last couple of minutes and a big 240 pound football player in the class walked up to the professor, hit him full force in the face, and sent him flying from his platform. The professor struggled up, obviously shaken and yelled, "What's the matter with you? Why did you do that?"
The football player replied, "GOD WAS BUSY; HE SENT ME!"
What does Jesus do
to those who experience him? First, he communicates peace to their troubled
hearts. Then he tries to convince them that the same Jesus of Nazareth who
suffered and died the shameful death on the cross is the very one who is now
alive in glory with God. He goes as far as eating broiled fish which, of
course, he does not need, in order to make the point. Then he opens their minds
to understand the Scriptures and how they point to him. Finally he commissions
them to be his witnesses. "You are witnesses of these things"(Luke
24:48). This is what Jesus did when he appeared in the gathering of the
disciples that Sunday morning 2000 years ago. And this is what he does when he
appears in the Sunday gathering of the faithful here today.
Notice how active
Jesus is. He is the one who gives them his peace. He is the one who strengthens
their faith and takes away their doubts. He is the one who opens their minds
and explains the Scriptures to them. He is the one who declares them his
witnesses. The disciples do not do much in the encounter except open their eyes
to see him, their hearts to let in his peace, their minds to receive his
instruction. And in the end when he says, "You are witnesses of these
things," they would be expected to respond, "Yes, Lord," and
then go out and try to be just that.
Practical Implications: How do we witness to Christ? Here many wayside
preachers get it wrong. It is not by threatening people with eternal hellfire.
It is not by arguing with them on controversial theological issues. It is
simply, as the two disciples on the way to Emmaus did, by telling the story of
our personal encounter with Christ. It is sharing with them why we are
Christians. As St Peter tells us, "Always be prepared to give an
answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
But do this with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15).
Introduction
Third Sunday of Easter
Message : Peter proclaims the wonders of the
Lord: The suffering Messiah is raised
from the dead and has been glorified.
This Jesus is our intercessor, and our offering for sin, our peace.
Saints in this week:
23 rd Monday: Saint George, martyr; Saint Adalbert,
bishop, martyr
24 th Tuesday: Saint Fidelis of
Sigmaringen, priest, martyr
25 th Wednesday: Saint Mark, the Evangelist, cousin
of Barnabas; associated with Paul and Peter; gospel is ascribed to him; First
bishop of Alexandria; portrayed as a winged
lion(cf.Ezekiel); Patron of Egypt, of Venice,
and of notaries.
28 th Saturday: Saint Peter Chanel, priest, martyr; Saint
Louis Grignion de Montfort, priest
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