HOMILY Second Sunday of Easter Cycle C April 24, 2022

 HOMILY   Second Sunday of Easter    Cycle C     April 24, 2022

Our Gospel starts with Locked Doors.  The doors were locked … for fear of the Jews.        Do you lock the doors of your house or your apartment at night?  Of course you do.   You probably lock then during the day also.  I do. 

Maybe we long for a simpler, safer time when people left their doors open, but now we all lock our doors.  Not for aesthetic reasons, as if a locked door was prettier than an open door, but rather for safety.  Or as the Gospel states, “for fear..”  For fear. 

And it becomes second nature to us to lock doors: of our houses and apartments, of our cars, our gates, our rooms, even the church.  And it becomes so usual, so routine, so unexceptional, so habitual and ordinary to lock our doors and windows and gates, that it naturally carries over to locking our hearts, our feelings, and even our minds.  And that is a shame.

But locked doors and windows and security gates are no match for Jesus.  In spite of the locked doors, Jesus came and stood in the midst of the disciples.  The disciples were cowering in fear.  In fear of the Jews.  But their fear could not keep out Jesus.

We also are a gathering of disciples, just like in the Gospel.  And we sometimes lock ourselves in because of fear: fear of covid; fear of having our ideas challenged; fear of people who are different or seem dangerous; fear of looking foolish; and many other types of fears too numerous to mention.  But regardless of the label we put on the fear, all fear has the same effect: fear isolates and debilitates.  So we lock down our emotions, we lock down our questions, we lock down our doubts, we lock down anything within in us that causes us to probe and to question.      

 Locking down is work and it takes energy to hold and keep all that stuff locked.  It can be wearying. 

But none of that stops or hinders Jesus.  In spite of the locked doors, or even locked hearts, Jesus can appear in our midst.  When Jesus appeared to the disciples on Easter Sunday evening, Jesus did not blame the disciples for deserting Him.  He did not accuse them of being cowards and false friends.  He did not castigate them as useless and worthless disciples.  He had every right to, but He didn’t.

No.  He said: “Peace be with you.”   That was the first thing He said.  And do you remember the second thing He said to them?  “Peace be with you” again.    //

Then Jesus gives them a job, or in a more fancy way of saying it, Jesus commissions them.  He says: “Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” 

Jesus shows His Mercy first of all in not accusing the disciples with cowardice and desertion, and pointing out to them their complete failure.  But then Jesus goes even further to commission the disciples to be Jesus’ representatives and agents of mercy: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”  

Jesus knows they are weak, but He empowers them to carry on His mission of proclaiming the Gospel, the Good News, by proclaiming forgiveness and mercy. 

 

Likewise for us, Jesus empowers us to proclaim our faith by the quality of our lives, and to live mercy just as Jesus has shown us mercy.  We have the awesome power to forgive those who have harmed us.  We are enabled to live Jesus’ way of mercy.  We can pattern our lives after Jesus by doing what He did, by forgiving those who have hurt us, disappointed us, let us down.  And in being merciful, we open ourselves to receive the mercy Jesus so badly desires to give us.  Open the doors of your heart!

God bless!