Sunday 31, 2024

FIRST SUNDAY OF EASTER, March 31, 2024

(Mark 16:1-7)

As wonderful as we find Christmas, we have to recognize in Easter something more significant. It is the celebration of the fulfillment of God's purpose in becoming human. It is the announcement to the world that Christ has defeated sin and death. The gospel tells us the story of his victory, which offers us both hope and work.

The Gospel of Mark says that the three women who saw Jesus crucified are now coming to embalm him. To avoid violating the sanctity of the Sabbath, he was buried quickly on Friday. Now the women want to give their beloved teacher a proper burial.

The women worry about how they will move the giant stone that closed the tomb. But their thoughts undoubtedly extend further than this issue. No doubt they are remembering what a tremendous person Jesus was. As people today hold “celebrations of life” at funeral homes, these women would be sharing their memories of Jesus. They would be talking to each other about how Jesus liked to eat with all kinds of people. They would tell how he taught with authority, but also used parables to help people understand.

As happy as their memories of Jesus are, the women encounter the bitter reality that he is no longer with them. They think that they will no longer hear his voice or feel his supportive touch. So they say that things will never be the same and they wonder: how can they live without Jesus?

When they arrive at the tomb and see the stone rolled away, they are scared. What happened? They would be suspecting that Jesus' enemies stole his body. When they enter the tomb, they see an angel where Jesus' body was laid.  The angel announces to them that Jesus is resurrected. Now the women are even more scared. After all, they are in a cemetery with a spirit before their eyes. They might be wondering, what does “resurrected” mean? Is it living with the body or without the body? in the world or outside the world? for a limited time or forever?

The angel assigns them a task. They are to tell Peter and the other disciples that they will find Jesus in Galilee. Where they began their discipleship with the Lord, they will begin to bring it to conclusion. But this time they will have the Holy Spirit as their light and strength. The Spirit will remind them of what the Lord said about the need to suffer if they are to follow Him. Likewise, the Spirit will strengthen them to overcome fear and apathy in your mission.

We are similar to those women that first Easter. Like them, we have a fear of death because we cannot see beyond the grave or, today, the columbarium. Nor do we have an adequate view of the resurrection. We know that it will involve a glorious new life rooted in our own bodies and that we will intimately know Jesus Christ. But what we are going to do other than praise and thank God remains obscure now. Finally, like those women, we are charged with the task of telling others how the resurrected one awaits them. Somehow we have to announce that Jesus has conquered sin and death – our sin and death. Now we can live as new people freed from sin with his resurrection as our destiny.

Friday, March 29, 2024

Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

(Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42)

The Gospel of John has three of Jesus’ “last words”.”  Each gives us some insight into John’s understanding of Jesus.  The first of Jesus’ “last words” in John create a family of his mother and his Beloved Disciple.  This act should be seen as more than Jesus’ securing his mother's welfare.  More importantly, it establishes his Church.  When Jesus expires, he will send his Spirit their way.

Those familiar with convents of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity will recognize the second of Jesus’ “last words.”  They see a poster with “I thirst” connected to the crucifix in the chapel.  The missionaries mean to say that Jesus himself begs relief for all suffering from lack of drink and food.  John probably meant the words to emphasize that what happened during Jesus’ passion fulfills the Scripture.  All four gospels have Jesus referring to Psalm 22 during his passion.  “I thirst” corresponds to verse 16 of the Psalm: “As dry as a potsherd is my throat.”

Jesus’ final “last word” -- “It is finished” -- refers to his mission completed on the cross.  Jesus has died as a salvific sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins.  As John the Baptist said at the beginning of the gospel, he is “’the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.’” As Jesus’ “last words” express the completion of his work of our redemption, may ours one day express trust in him.

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Holy Thursday – Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper

(Exodus 12:1-8.11-14; I Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-15)

Newcomers to Catholicism should be surprised by the selection of today’s gospel.  On this evening when the Church celebrates the institution of the Eucharist, the gospel says nothing about it.  Or so it seems.  However, the Church intuits that the Gospel of John has substituted Jesus’ washing his disciples’ feet for the Eucharist as an explanation of Eucharist’s meaning.

Jesus’ washing his disciples’ feet is an act of servitude.  Slaves wash their masters’ feet.  By his taking on the role, Jesus indicates that his disciples must serve one another.  This is not to say that there are masters among them.  Quite the contrary, Jesus alone is master.  The rest serve one another in obedience to Jesus’ command.  On the following day Jesus will die on the cross as a sign of the master’s supreme servitude. 

In the end we will find ourselves freed, not enslaved, as a result of serving one another.  The first reading gives account of the Hebrews’ being politically freed from slavery in Egypt.  On the night remembering that event, Jesus indicates that by following his command, we will find ourselves spiritually free.  Sin will no longer control our hearts.  We will be ready to enter the Promised Land of heaven.  

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Wednesday of Holy Week

(Isaiah 50:4-9a; Matthew 26:14-25)

As implausible as it may seem, some scholars have defended Judas.  They write excuses like he arranged Jesus’ arrest because he wanted the kingdom to be inaugurated.  Another hypothesis is that Peter went to the chief priests on Jesus’ orders so that the paschal mystery could begin.  Of course, all such ideas contrast with all that the gospels say about Judas. 

In today’s gospel Matthew indicates that Judas handed over Jesus to the Jews for a sizeable amount of money.  The Gospels of Luke and John give another motive that may be coordinated with greed.  They say that the devil entered into him.  Whether for greed or for pure hatred, Judas’ sin is compounded.  He not only delivers an innocent man for execution; he also betrays a companion, indeed a venerated leader.

Nevertheless, we should move beyond contempt for Judas.  We might see in Judas’ motivation some of our own sinfulness.  Evil may enter our hearts so that we act against those whom we do not like or for whom we feel envy.  We might even pray to God for mercy on him as well as ourselves.

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Tuesday of Holy Week

(Isaiah 49:1-6; John 13:21-33.36-38)

One of the great questions in Bible studies is who is the “servant” of today’s first reading.  He also appears prominently in three other passages in what is often called “Second Isaiah.” Except for the possible nomenclature “Israel” that appears in today’s passage, the Servant is never named.  Some say the Suffering Servant is indeed the people of Israel.  But if so, others ask, how can the same person be said to “restore the survivors of Israel”?  Others say that the servant is the prophet himself.  This also seems strange.  How might the “light to the nations” never named?

Christians have had no trouble identifying the “Servant of the Lord.” They would ask, who else could it be but the Lord Jesus?  Through Jesus’ blood, God has forgiven the sins of the world.  He suffered insult and violence, as the other passages claim, to bring the nations together.

This week above all we honor Jesus for his sacrifice.  He allowed himself to be treated like a lamb that was slaughtered to win for us freedom from sin and death.