Journey's Weekly Homilies

May 4th 3rd Sunday of Easter, Cycle B
Homily by Jim

Acts 3:13-15, 17-19
1 John 2:1-5a
Luke 24:35-48


These are the days that follow the resurrection when certain events occur that shape the future of  Christianity.

Suppose for a moment that Jesus had left the tomb and then appeared standing above it in shining garments and soon ascended to heaven. There is no scriptural basis for this image, but you've seen it in great paintings.

Would it have made any difference for the future of Christianity that Jesus departed without touching the earth?  You know the answer:

Yes,  it would have made all the difference in the world!  The Risen Jesus would simply have left us behind, and we would have had no experience of him in his last days; he would have become a celestial being who spent some time parading around in a human body.  And if that had happened, there would be no Christianity as we know it, and
maybe none at all.

What would our faith would be like.  If we knelt to pray, we would be praying to a kind of vague and distant divinity whose experience of being human ended  with a departure from  the human scene, never to be seen again.

If Jesus had departed this world in the manner just described, it would be almost as if he cancelled his mission here on earth.

But Jesus appearances after the resurrection were actually the founding moments for this new faith.

According to Luke, after the resurrection Jesus made two appearances, one to Peter and his companions on the road to Emmaus, and a second to an assembled group of disciples in Jerusalem.  At these appearances, he was a human being, with hands and feet, flesh and blood.

Last week Marcia spoke to us about Jesus appearing twice to the apostles gathered together when Jesus invited them to touch his wounds;  in the second of the two visitations, he invited doubting Thomas to personally experience Jesus as a person.

In today's gospel Jesus appears again as a human person.  No shimmering visitation from on high.

Everything in Luke's account is intended to express the reality of Jesus's human  presence. By eating Jesus  shows us that  he is not a ghost.  In Luke's story there is no mention of the wounds. Showing his hands and his feet was intended to show them his physical reality, but not necessarily the marks of crucifixion.

These scenes  after the resurrection are what makes Christianity what it is because the one who is said to be God's son is a true human and not a ghostly teacher.  He is down to earth, flesh and blood person. Suddenly the ancient covenant with God becomes a reality:  "You will be my people, and I will be your God."

There were other theologies that vie with ours in the first and second century, but the one about Jesus as a real human clearly held the power of identification for all who heard of this man who walked among us and brought love, and preached love and forgiveness and peace.  In such a contest of theologies, Jesus won out.

 From one point of view this is the very essence of Christianity: that the faith centers around the human person and not abstractions.

So what you may want to ask, what difference does it make? Consider these few among many:
 
* It raises the status of human beings immeasurably. It gives dignity to the human person.  "Jesus" is a way of objectifying God's love that lies most profoundly in us.  A celestial image of an unattached Jesus probably couldn't do that.  We need a god with a 'skin face."

  * Then there's the immediate presence of Jesus--no matter where we live, spiritually or geographically, we can sense Jesus' presence.

  * Those of low caste in the ancient world, and those marginalized today, can find in Jesus a constant companion who gives them  dignity and worth.

* The social revolution that Jesus brought about had its confirmation in these appearances.

  * And this "God among us" brings a message that changes our lives and makes it possible to go on living.  This brother of ours tell us the simplest of truths: 'Love one another as I have loved you.'

The peace that passes all understanding comes into our lives when we can choose to follow this simple directive.  The whole world needs
our hope to be alive, so that this community of love becomes a standard by which everything is judged.

The good news of our gospel today is that our God is NOT far away from us.  Our God is ONE of us.  He chose to live as human and joined our world and brought the message that saves our lives, if only we can figure out how to accept it.

We wait for the light; we stumble, but soon the glory of God breaks over us.

Indeed  let us rejoice and be glad.  Be glad and begin to live every day in a way that tells and shows the world that Jesus is among us. We are the body of Christ in the world.

"Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion must look out on the world.

Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is still to bless." -- St. Theresa of Avila.