Thursday, April 27, 2017

Thursday of the Second Week of Easter

(Acts 5:27-33; John 3:31-36)

A couple of years ago a florist in Seattle was sued by a patron when she wouldn’t provide flowers for his “marriage” to another man.  The florist, a woman, did not harbor personal dislike for the client.  Rather she believes that homosexual marriage violates God’s law and that her providing flowers would comprise sinful complexity in evil.  In a letter to the Seattle Times the florist wrote: “Rob (the patron) was asking me to choose between my affection for him and my commitment to Christ.  As deeply fond as I am of Rob, my relationship with Jesus is everything to me.”  The florist expresses the same sentiment as the apostles in today’s first reading.

The Jewish authorities have told the apostles that they are not to preach the name of Jesus.  But they cannot not do it.  They have been commissioned by Jesus and charged by the Holy Spirit to witness to him as the world’s salvation.  Obeying the authorities would be defying God’s will.

We need to ask ourselves whether our relationship with Jesus is the most important element of our lives.  Do we love him above all because of what he has done for us?  He created us, shared our struggles, and then died to free us from sin’s claws.  More than anyone or anything, he is worth our allegiance.

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter

(Acts 5:17-21; John 3:16-21)

Today’s gospel contains the most famous verse of the Bible.  People have only to see the reference to know its content.  Indeed, “John 3:16” has become a kind of code reminding Christians of God’s love and calling skeptics to trust.

Curiously, the words are not put in quotation marks.  Evidently, modern editors think they belong to a narrator, not to Jesus.  It would be at least a little odd that Jesus would speak of himself in the third person.  More likely, the words are those of teachers like the apostles in today’s first reading.  Certainly, calling those who do not believe in Jesus “condemned” will raise the ire of Jewish priests.

We may be repulsed when seeing “John 3:16” on poster board at football games.  But that is because of the modern tendency to privatize religion.  Those who brandish such signs hardly wish to condemn anyone.  They likely want only to tell the world of Jesus Christ.  Perhaps we can enhance their efforts by Christian service.  When we feed the hungry and visit the sick in the name of Christ, our deeds will speak more eloquently than words.

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist

(II Peter 5:5b-14; Mark 16:15-20)

There is irony in the use of this gospel passage on this feast of St. Mark.  In all probability the author of the “second gospel” did not write it.  More likely a scribe appended it to the original gospel years later.  But this twist should be no reason for disillusionment.  All four gospels belong to the Church more than they belong to specific authors.  As such, today’s passage bespeaks the role of the Church in the world.

The passage confirms how an appearance of the resurrected Jesus is associated with a commission to the Church to tell others about him.  In this case, the disciples are not just to preach “to all nations,” as Matthew’s gospel has it, but to “every creature.”  The reason for this universal destination is salvation.  The passage’s proposes an “either-or” response to the message indicating that individuals will be either saved or condemned according to their reception of the message.  This alternative is simplistic in a sense.  For one reason, the signs that are to accompany the preaching are not manifest.  Exorcisms, spontaneous new languages, handling of vipers, swallowing poisons, and curing the sick are rarely seen.  Indeed, non-Christians have often found the gospel overbearing because of the counter-testimony to it which Christians give.

Yet Jesus Christ is still necessary for the world’s salvation.  Only by practicing his message of forgiveness and love will the world move beyond enmity.  This is increasingly necessary as the force of arms and the rapidity of actions increase.  As Martin Luther King once said, "We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools."

Monday, April 24, 2017

Monday of the Second Week of Easter

(Acts 4:23-31; John 3:1-8)

A Jewish man had, as a boy, been taken from his parents and imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. He survived only because a German soldier reached out to him in kindness.  He now says that he made a decision not to be bitter about the experience but would always return to them the kindness he had received.  Well into old age the man’s countenance reflects his decisions.  He beams with peace.  Whether or not the man was ever baptized, he has been born of the Spirit of which Jesus speaks in today’s gospel.

Jesus is explaining to Nicodemus that people must not follow the ways of the world.  Those ways dictate that people are to “look out for number one”; “get even with those who wrong you”; and a hundred other maxims of the ever dominant ego.  In contrast Jesus teaches that people have to love one another and to forgive those who persecute them.  His message may be difficult for those who have undergone significant hardship.  But it leads to a life of everlasting peace for all.

The season of Lent should have chastened us, and now Easter graces have been poured out on us.  We can commit ourselves to Jesus Christ.  Models like the Holocaust survivor exist.  More than ever it is time for us to live in the Spirit.

Friday, April 21, 2017

Friday within the Octave of Easter

(Acts 4:1-12; John 21:1-14)

Ken Untener was bishop of Saginaw, Michigan, for twenty-four years.  He organized the diocese so well that he found time to give workshops on preaching nation-wide.  Two years ago a book of his homilies was published posthumously.  It was entitled My Name Is Ken and I Will Be Your Waiter a Long, Long Time.  The name of Jesus might be substituted for Ken to understand today’s gospel.

Like a waiter, Jesus has food prepared for his guests.  He will be serving his disciples until the end of time.  His food will nourish them so that they might go forth and tell others about God’s love.  In the gospel his food is bread and fish.  These are symbols for his very self – his body and spirit – that sustain his disciples in hardship and bring them true happiness.

We come forward to receive Jesus’ body and spirit in the Eucharist.  Doing so, we identify with Christ’s disciples.  We then have to go out to others telling them of God’s ever-gracious care.