In our Gospel today from St. John, Jesus appears on Easter Sunday evening to the disciples in a locked room. They are frightened, confused, scared. Suddenly Jesus is with them. He looks at them and says: “Where were you bums on Friday when I needed you? Some “friends” you clowns turned out to be. You didn’t think I would be coming back, but here I am, and now it payback time.” Jesus pointed his finger at them and “blam!”, blew them all to smithereens. Sylvester Stalone plays Jesus.
Well, obviously that is NOT what happened. What happened instead is even more remarkable. Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
After they had proven themselves untrustworthy, weak and faithless, Jesus not only forgives them, telling them “Peace be with you”, but He also trusts them. He even entrusts His ministry to them: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” How can Jesus trust them?!? Didn’t the disciples just show how untrustworthy they are? Is Jesus stupid?
Well, this is not naive stupidity on Jesus’ part. Rather Jesus knows that He is empowering them to change, to be different people, to do much more than they had been capable of in the past.
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
"Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained."
"Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained."
Jesus breaths on them just like God, in the Book of Genesis, breaths the breath of life into the nostrils of the man God had formed out of clay of the ground, “and the man became a living being.”
So with the breath of the Holy Spirit the disciples come to life, so to speak. They receive not only the power to forgive sins, but the courage to go out and proclaim and to live the Good News. It is not their talent and their courage and their wisdom that Jesus is relying on, but rather the power of the Holy Spirit that is now in them. And we all know how they succeeded. More than 2,000 years later, here we are!
What about us? Well, the ending of our Gospel passage today is very interesting. Listen again to these words of the Gospel of John. “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book.
But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.”
Today, if we read this in a book, or heard this at the end of a movie, we would know instantly that they were setting us up for a sequel, “The Gospel of John TWO”, or something like that.
Well, John never wrote the sequel, but in a sense that sequel does exist, and is being written still today. Because we, by our lives, continue the story of the Gospel. “But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.”
You and I have come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and through this belief we have LIFE in His name.
This is not our doing. It is a wonderful, wonderful gift from God. Like those frightened, sad and bewildered disciples in the upper room, we too have our limitations. On our own we often fail. But just as Jesus empowered them to change, to be different people, to do much more than they had been capable of in the past, so Jesus breathes on us the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that we are empowered to change, to be different people, to do much more than we had been capable of in the past.
We are able to have Faith in the goodness and love of God expressed in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. We are able to have well founded Hope that looks beyond the dark limit of death to new life in Christ Jesus. We open ourselves to receive the Love of God, and in return to love God, ourselves, and all those around us. This love is expressed in speaking the truth, in doing the right, in helping those in need, in spending ourselves in service and concern.
Every day, by the quality of our lives, we are writing the sequel to the Gospel of John, believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and through this belief enjoying life in His name.
It is IMPORTANT to say “Thank You” for life, and for faith, and for all the other gifts. Gratitude opens us to more and more of God’s blessings. Gratitude helps us to see how blessed we are, and thus empowers us to approach life – not from a stance of fear and hoarding, but from an openness that is alive and life affirming. Gratitude draws us closer to the giver, to God. And the closer we are to God, the source of all blessing, the more we are blessed.
Next weekend is our annual Pledge Weekend, when we ask our parishioners to commit to financially support our parish. You either have - or soon will be receiving - a letter from me. I ask you to take some time to read it, of course. Even more I ask you to take some time to consider how you are blessed, and especially what a blessing your Catholic Faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is to you personally. Then please pray over your response, discuss it with your family, and make a generous, grateful, pledge to support our parish.
Many wonderful things go on here at St. Austin’s. We have just completed another beautiful, powerful and moving Holy Week. There are lots of good reasons to support this parish because of its strengths and needs, but I don’t ask you to support our parish on that basis. Rather I ask you to do this out of gratitude for the blessings you have received, and receive every day. As a way of saying THANK YOU, I ask you to make a pledge to St. Austin’s parish community. Because we need to say Thank You. God bless.
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