Easter VII C

7^th  Sunday of Easter C

Readings: Acts 7:55-60  Revelation 22:12-14,16-20              

John 17:20-26

On this Sunday between the feasts of Jesus’ Ascension and Pentecost, the liturgy calls us to unity with both the risen Jesus and one another in the very love of God.  In this age of religious, racial, and social factionalism we are challenged, in the concluding words of the second reading, to pray for the coming of Jesus’ Kingdom of love.  “Amen!  Come, Lord Jesus!”

Luke’s account of Stephen’s martyrdom in Acts highlights his fearless commitment to following Jesus, even to the point of forgiving his executioners.  In the previous section of Acts, Stephen has testified in a long speech before the Sanhedrin that, as Jesus himself had said (Lk 21:5-6), the temple is not a permanent institution and that the execution of Jesus was simply the culmination of repeated rejections of God’s prophets (7:2-53).  Infuriated by Stephen’s charges, the council drags him out of the city and begins to stone him.  In his death Stephen is united with the risen Jesus. Filled with the Holy Spirit, he sees the glory of God with Jesus, as the glorious Son of Man, standing at God’s right hand.  Like Jesus (Lk 23:46), Stephen prays and hands over his spirit with the words: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”  Finally, in imitation of his master, Stephen forgives his murderers, as he cries out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (see Lk 23:34).

Stephen’s death does not stop the preaching of the gospel; on the contrary, it sets in motion the spread of “the Way” beyond Jerusalem.  Despite the persecution that breaks out against the church in Jerusalem, the gospel is preached through the ministry of Philip and Peter in Samaria, Judea and Galilee (Acts 8:1-40; 9:31-43).  Even Saul, who participates in Stephen’s execution, will be converted from a persecutor of “the Way” to the ‘chosen instrument’ who will carry Jesus’ name before the Gentiles (Acts 9:1-30).

The second reading is a series of prophetic oracles from the conclusion of the Book of Revelation.  Jesus, as “the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the Last, the Beginning and the End,” warns John that he is coming soon and the righteous will be rewarded.  In the early Church, the nearness of Jesus’ coming is regularly tied to exhortations to be faithful to the Christian way of life.  In our own time, such warnings challenge us to believe that God is not far off, but very much involved with the ethical and social issues we face.  Only fidelity to the gospel will enable us, in the words of Revelation, to “wash” our “robes so as to have free access to the tree of life and enter the city (the heavenly Jerusalem) through its gates.”

The reading concludes with a mutual summons to “come.”  Righteous Christians are invited by the Spirit and the Bride (the glorified Church of martyrs) to come to the Eucharistic celebration: “Let him who is thirsty come forward, and let all who desire it accept the gift of life-giving water.”  They in turn pray to the Lord to come: “Amen!  Come, Lord Jesus!”  Only those who long for the completion of Jesus’ Kingdom belong at the Eucharistic feast which celebrates the future Messianic banquet.

The Gospel is the conclusion of Jesus’ prayer to his Father at the end of the farewell discourse in John 17.  Jesus prays that we, those who have come to believe through the disciples’ words, may be one as he and the Father are one.  This is the goal of Jesus’ mission in John’s Gospel.  His act of love in laying down his life reveals the glory of God’s love for humanity, and now that glory is to be given to the community of his followers. “I have given them the glory you gave me, that they may be one, as we are one—I living in them, you living in me--that their unity may be complete.  So shall the world know that you sent me, and that you love them as you loved me”.  The basis for this unity is the indwelling of God’s own love, the eternal love the Father has for the Son. “Father, all those you gave me I would have in my company where I am, to see the glory of mine which is your gift to me, because of the love you bore me before the world began.”

As we work for unity within the Roman Catholic Church and among the various Christian communions, let us remember that this unity will never be achieved through the force of political power nor by the shrillness of acrimonious debate, but only through the sign of love modeled on Jesus.  Jesus’ concluding words are: “To them I have revealed your name, and I will continue to reveal it so that your love for me may live in them, and I may live in them.”

Ascension of the Lord

Ascension C

Readings: Acts 1:1-11    Ephesians 1:17-23   Luke 24:46-53

            The Feast of the Ascension celebrates both the resurrected Jesus’ triumph over the power of sin and evil by his ascension to the right hand of the Father and also the apostles’ mission, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to witness to the Christ’s victory throughout the world.  Let us rejoice in Jesus’ enthronement in the refrain of our responsorial psalm: “God mounts his throne to shouts of joy; a blare of trumpets for the Lord” (Ps 48).

            The account of Jesus’ ascension in the first reading comes from the introduction to Luke’s second volume, the Acts of the Apostles.  As with his Gospel, Luke addresses Acts to Theophilus (“lover of God”).  Our reading recapitulates the events of the Gospel with special emphasis on Jesus’ commissioning of the apostles to wait in Jerusalem to receive the power of the Holy Spirit which will send them as his witnesses to the whole world. Luke begins by summarizing what he narrated in his Gospel: Jesus’ actions and teachings until his ascension, his choice of the apostles, his suffering and death, his resurrection appearances over a forty day period in which he spoke of the kingdom of God and proved that he was alive, and his command not to depart from Jerusalem, but to await the Father’s promise of their baptism with the Holy Spirit.  He prefaces his second account of the ascension (see Luke 24:50-53) with a dialogue between the apostles and Jesus at their last meeting.  They ask, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” But Jesus says that it is not for them to know “the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority.”  Instead he promises: “. . . you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  Then like Elijah in 2 Kings 2 and certain traditions associated with Moses, Jesus is “lifted up, and a cloud takes him from their sight.”  For Luke this is Jesus’ enthronement as the triumphant Messiah King and Son of Man at God’s right hand (see Daniel 7:13 and Luke 1:32; Acts 2:22-36; 7:56).  His exodus or departure has been a part of God’s plan from the beginning (see Luke 9:28-36; 9:51).  Like the prophets Moses and Elijah who appeared with him in glory at his transfiguration to talk of his exodus (9:28-36), Jesus must leave physically for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on his successors who will carry on his work (see Deuteronomy 34 and 2 Kings 2).  The “two men dressed in white garments” who stand beside the apostles as they witness the ascension may be Moses and Elijah (cf. Luke 9:28-36; 24:1-8).  They do not allow the apostles to continue to gawk at Jesus’ ascension, but rather assure them of Jesus’ return as the Messiah/Son of Man who will establish his kingdom after their work of witnessing to him throughout the earth.

            The Epistle reading is taken from the thanksgiving section of Ephesians in which the Paul prays that God, through the resurrected and ascended Christ, will give the Christian community, his body on earth, “a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him.”  In Christ’s resurrection from the dead, ascension, and enthronement at his right hand, God has defeated the powers of evil that formerly ruled the world--“every principality, authority, power, and dominion and every name that is named.”   God has put all things beneath Christ’s feet and given him “as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.”  Paul’s prayer is that the Christian community will have the eyes of their hearts enlightened by the risen and triumphant Christ so that they know “the hope that belongs to his (God the Father’s) call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe.”

            The Gospel is the conclusion of Luke’s Gospel which recounts Jesus’ appearance to the Eleven apostles in Jerusalem.  Jesus begins by explaining how his death and resurrection were part of the divine plan which he had told them about and had been announced in Moses, the prophets and the psalms:  “Thus it is written that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.”  He then commissions them to be witnesses who are to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name “to the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”  They are to stay in Jerusalem until they are “clothed with power from on high,” the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost (Acts 2).  Luke’s Gospel ends with Jesus’ ascension into heaven and the disciples’ returning with great joy to Jerusalem where they are continually blessing God in the temple as they await the gift of the Holy Spirit.  

6th Sunday of Easter C

6^th Sunday of Easter C

Readings: Acts 15:1‑2,22‑29    Revelation 21:10‑14,22‑23    

John 14:23‑29

As the Easter season moves toward completion, the Church's liturgy prepares for the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and its universal mission in the service of the gospel.  This Sunday's readings assure the Church of God's continual presence within her midst as she struggles to be "true" to Jesus' challenge to love as he has.  The Church is not called to an introverted life of self-serving preservation; rather, her mission is to show forth God's loving presence to all peoples.  Despite her necessary struggles in striving to be faithful to the gospel, she is to be marked by peace.  Only in this way can we sing today's psalm response: "O God, let all the nations praise you" (Ps 67).

The first reading from Acts recounts the important Council of Jerusalem which settled the crucial question of whether or not  the salvation of Gentile converts to Christianity depended upon  their being “circumcised according to Mosaic practice.”  This controversy bitterly divided the early Church, but through the guidance of the Holy Spirit it was able to reach a decision to expand beyond its Jewish origins and preach the gospel to peoples of all cultures.  In their preaching to the Gentiles, Paul and Barnabas had not required circumcision, but other men from Judea insisted on its necessity (see Genesis 17).  In their deliberations the apostles and elders, on the basis of Peter's testimony about his baptism of the Roman centurion Cornelius (Acts 15:6‑12; cf. Ch 10), decide not to require that Gentiles be circumcised nor obey the whole Mosaic code.  The letter sent “to the brothers of Gentile origin in Antioch” simply asks that they observe the minimal requirements of non‑Jews living among Jews: abstaining from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meat of strangled animals and from illicit sexual union (see Leviticus 17‑18).  Obedience to these prohibitions would insure that the Gentile converts could participate in table fellowship with their Jewish Christian brethren. 

The second reading from Revelation continues last Sunday's vision of God's new creation by describing the heavenly Jerusalem as the bride of the Lamb.  This is John's vision of the final salvation which awaits God's faithful saints.  He deliberately contrasts the new Jerusalem with its antitype the selfish, blood thirsty harlot Babylon (see Revelation 17).   Drawing upon imagery found in the writings of the prophets (see Ezekiel 40‑48 and Isaiah 60‑62), John describes a city which radiates the presence of God.  Its precious stones "gleam with the splendor of God."  The massive walls have twelve gates inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes and are protected by angels.  On the foundation stones are written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. God's presence is so complete that there is neither need for a temple nor the light provided by the sun or moon.  God and the Lamb are the temple, and their glory provides light for the city.

In the Gospel Jesus' words to his disciples from John's farewell discourse promise God's transforming presence to those who strive to be true to Jesus' command of love.  Faced with the prospect of Jesus' imminent departure, the disciples are understandably afraid, but Jesus assures them “Do not be distressed or fearful.”  His death and resurrection will be a return to the Father which will be followed by a new, even superior, presence with the disciples in which he and the Father and the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, will dwell with them.  The Paraclete's role will be to instruct and remind the disciples of  all that Jesus told them so that after the resurrection the  significance of Jesus' actions and words will be more clear (see John  2:22).  Jesus promises that God's indwelling with the disciples  after the resurrection will bring them the gift of peace, not the worldly peace of contending political powers, but the peace of  those who keep God's command of love. “‘Peace’ is my farewell gift to you; my peace is my gift to you; I do not give it to you as the world gives peace."

EASTER IV

4^th Sunday of Easter C

Readings: Acts 13:14,43‑52  Revelation 7:9,14‑17  John 10:27‑30

Despite its small numbers and lack of political power, early Christianity threatened both the mother Jewish faith and the established religion of the Roman Empire.  Today's readings remind us that, as our Christian ancestors endured persecution, we too can expect to suffer for our Christian beliefs.  We are strengthened, however, by faith in the Good Shepherd who promises: "No one shall snatch them out of my hand."  With trust in the victory of the risen Shepherd who laid down his life for us, we sing our psalm response, "We are his people; the sheep of his flock" (Ps 100).

The account of Paul's preaching in Pisidian Antioch follows a pattern that frequently occurs in his journeys in Acts: after initial success among the Jews, the gospel meets violent opposition, and the apostles turn to the Gentiles who respond joyfully to the message.  In today's reading, Paul and Barnabas begin their mission in the Jewish synagogue on Sabbath, and many Jews and devout Jewish converts become followers of Christ.  But on the following Sabbath, when "almost the entire city gathered to hear the word of God," the Jewish community becomes jealous and counters with violent abuse everything Paul says.  Paul and Barnabas then fearlessly turn to the Gentiles in fulfillment of the Lord's instructions: "I have made you a light to the nations, a means of salvation to the end of the earth" (Is 49:6).  The Gentiles are "delighted" to hear the gospel and respond "to the word of the Lord with praise."  Even when Paul and Barnabas are expelled from the territory, they are not discouraged.  Joyfully shaking the dust from their feet, they move on to Iconium.      

The reading from Revelation originally offered a consoling vision of the future for the seven churches in Asia Minor whose Christian faith caused public suspicion and sporadic persecution from Roman authorities.  John's visions remind us that true Christian faith will be attacked by the evil powers of the world, but they also assure us of God and the Lamb's ultimate triumph over the forces of evil.  For the risen Christ even death is not defeat but victory.  In his vision John sees a huge crowd from every nation, race, people and tongue joyfully participating in the heavenly liturgy before the throne of God and the Lamb (the crucified and risen Christ).  They are dressed in long white robes of glory and are holding the palm branches of victory in their hands.  John learns from one of the elders that "these are the ones who have survived the great period of trial; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."    All Christians who suffer in their struggle against evil are consoled with the elder's concluding words: "He who sits on the throne will give them shelter. Never again shall they know hunger or thirst, nor shall the sun or its heat beat down on them, for the Lamb on the throne will shepherd them. He will lead them to springs of life‑giving water, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes."

This Sunday's Gospel from John continues the theme of Jesus' protection of his followers in the midst of trial.  Jesus himself is under attack.  He is in the temple area at the feast of the Dedication and is challenged with the words: "If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."  After this incident, some in the crowd will pick up rocks to stone him.  In the midst of this hostility, Jesus speaks of the difference between his hostile opponents and his followers.  He says that his enemies reject him because they refuse to believe in the works he does in the Father's name, while his disciples are the sheep who "hear (his) voice."  They follow Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who will lay down his life for his sheep (see John 10:14‑18).  Those who embrace Jesus' life of selfless love are assured of protection: "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.  No one shall snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:28).