Homily For the Third Sunday of Easter, Year B, April 14, 2024.
And to strengthen their belief in His Resurrection He showed Himself to His disciples while they were still incredulous. This was to dissipate their fears and to make them courageous in preaching forgiveness of sins in His name.
Sunday Readings
My Dearest Friends in Christ,
We have gathered again to celebrate the Risen Lord who will manifest Himself today to us in the breaking of the Bread as He did to His disciples. Do you still have doubts about any aspect of our Christian Faith? Like the Jews, have you done anything out of ignorance? This is a time to stop questioning and doubting, but an opportunity to repent and believe in God, whose presence is with us today to reassure us of His Love and to strengthen our unbelief.
The Resurrection is Not A Myth
If there is any testimony that strengthened the Apostolic preaching it is the Risen Jesus’ Appearances. These are also the strongest testimony to the Resurrection of Christ. Jesus showed Himself to His disciples on several occasions. He ate with them and allowed them to touch His Glorious Body, hence, confirming that He is not a ghost but the Risen Lord, the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. He took away their fears and instilled confidence in them and gave them the gift of His Peace. By eating a piece of broiled fish before their eyes, He convinced them that they were not daydreaming or hallucinating. Jesus wanted them to be authentic witnesses to the reality of His Life as their Risen Lord with His Glorified Soul and Body. The Resurrection Community that had experienced Jesus’ dying now experienced His Risen Presence.
Believe In the Ressurection SHould Produce Fruits of Repentance
In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard the testimony of Peter on the Risen Lord. Peter courageously proclaimed Jesus before the Jews. Peter speaks of the Jewish heritage of Christianity, reminding his listeners, and us, of how the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sent His Son Jesus as the Messiah to save the world and of how His chosen people had rejected their Messiah by manipulating the Romans to execute Jesus. Peter also reports how Jesus was raised from the dead and fulfilled all the Messianic Prophecies. This portion of the sermon concludes with an admonition to the Jews and a reminder to ourselves to repent of our sins and be converted. “Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.” (Acts 3:19) The Jews may have acted in ignorance in their preference to release Barrabas, a criminal, rather than the Anointed Son of God. Many a time in our lives we act in ignorance and make wrong choices; just as the shouting for the release of Barrabas by the Jews resulted in the Crucifixion of Jesus. So also, our ignorant choices in life lead us to sin and hurt others. Now, whether you acted in ignorance or not, are you ready to make amends? Are you ready to repent and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped away? Shall you remain in sin and nail Jesus back on the Cross? Jesus has already paid the price of our sins on the Cross. We need to turn to Him with a repentant heart. If we believe that Christ has forgiven our sins, we too must forgive the sins of others. This is what we are called to witness to the world, and the best form of witness is our exemplary Christian life.
Jesus Death of The Cross Is a Price For Our Sins and We Must Approach the Risen Lord for Forgiveness
In the second reading from the first letter of St. John, John defended the errors surrounding the Christian communities of his time. Many within the community denied the salvific and redemptive value of Christ’s Death on the Cross. While neither today’s reading from Luke nor the reading from Acts explain how Jesus’ Death and Resurrection free us from our sins, John in his letter explains the “expiation for our sins.” This presupposes that the Death of Jesus was a sacrifice, like the sacrifices prescribed in the Old Testament.(Numbers 5:8) The Sacrifice of Jesus makes up for sins, and so offers an opportunity for their forgiveness. Hence, John advises us to approach Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins and to lead truly Christian lives by obeying His commandments.“The way we may be sure that we know him is to keep his commandments. Those who say, “I know him,” but do not keep his commandments are liars, and the truth is not in them”.
Jesus is Truly Present in The Sacraments, and Truly Alive and Active
The Gospel bears the central message of the Resurrection which is that Jesus is truly alive and active. This apparition of Jesus took place on Easter evening after Jesus had appeared to the two disciples of Emmaus. This story was told and retold and recorded by Luke for at least three reasons: (1) Jesus’ Death and Resurrection fit God’s purpose as revealed in Scripture. (2)The Risen Jesus is present in the breaking of bread. (3) The Risen Jesus is also physically absent from the disciples.
The Risen Lord may be physically absent from us but He is present to us daily, especially in the Breaking of the Bread. He is present in His Words and Sacraments. He is present during our difficult moments. What the eyes cannot see, the mind perceives and faith believes. God is always close to us. We are often blinded by our problems and in those difficult moments, we may think God is not a reality. His reassuring apparitions to His disciples is to remind us He is always there for us. (cf Mathew 28:20)
Do not doubt but believe in God’s presence around you.
May we see God in every circumstance of our lives. May we live in the consciousness of His Presence. May God forgive your sins and be with you. always. Do not forget that the historical Jesus is the Risen Lord and the Christ of our faith, who is with us till the end of time.
I keep you and your family always in my prayers. ©Clem C. Aladi (2024)
