Homily Easter 2A: Sent on a mission of mercy and reconciliation

Homily for 2nd Sunday of Easter Year A 2017 

Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31

Introduction 

Do you remember the exact moment that fell in love with your spouse?  Do you remember when you decided in your mind: "this is the man, this is the woman, with whom I am going to spend the rest of my life?"  I know some people can pinpoint to the exact moment when it all began. 

I would like to suggest that in the same way, we as Church should also be able to point back to a moment in the gospels, when it all began. 

• Some might point to Pentecost when the Spirit came down on the apostles and gave them the power to proclaim the Good News; 
• Others might point back to Matthew 28, where Jesus asks the apostles to go out to the whole world preaching and baptising all nations. 
• Others still might point to the Last Supper, when Jesus tells his disciples "Do this in memory of me," and so institutes the Eucharist. 

I would like to point to a much lesser known passage, our gospel of today,  and particularly to the words Jesus says to the disciples: "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."  I submit that with these simple words, the Risen Lord instituted the Church, and like the starter pistol at a race, gave the Church its marching orders. 

Scripture and Tradition 

Those who attended my presentation a few weeks ago will remember that since the Fall of Adam and Eve, God had been trying to reconcile human beings to himself. 

• After trying out Noah without much success, he tried out Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; but the people were still resistant. 
• He even freed them from slavery through Moses and gave them the Ten Commandments, but still nothing doing. 
• He gave them King David to lead them back to God, but still nothing. 
• He tried the prophets, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea and others, still nothing. 
• Finally he sent his son – and he was the only one, by whose death and resurrection, man’s debt of sin was paid and the door was opened again for us to have a relationship with God. 

And yet this work still needs to be completed.  That is why Jesus told the disciples: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you."  What Jesus had began, preaching reconciliation and sharing reconciliation had to be continued, so that each generation until the end of time, would experience that saving mystery.  And who was to be responsible for this work, for wrapping things up?  It is the disciples, you and me; it is the Church responsible.  That is why he says: "Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." 

But the disciples, the Church, cannot do this enormous work on their own.  They need the power from on high.  That is why Jesus first "breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'"  By doing so, he empowered them to be able to do supernatural things, like believing in things that seemed incredible, being courageous to give up their lives for his name, loving their enemy when every bone in them told them to do otherwise, and being able to receive grace and receive grace, which is really the life of God. 

You might have noticed that when Jesus appeared to the disciples, they were hiding in a room, with the doors locked, for fear of the Jews.  Their Lord and saviour had just been murdered and they did not know what to expect.  They did not yet understand his promise to them, that he would rise again. 

That is why the Lord comes to strengthen them.  And with his greeting, "peace be with you" he is assuring them that their former betrayal of him is a thing of the past.  He has forgiven them.  Now they must move on.  Now they must carry on his work.  As the Father has sent me, so I send you. 

Christian Application 

I recently met a really smart young lady, who told me that she is spiritual but not religious.  In other words, she believes in some kind of higher power, but does not wish to be tied down to a religion or Church.  That is a popular view of some people today, perhaps because they have had a bad experience of the Church or perhaps because society promotes individualism rather than an interdependence in the community. 

My friends Jesus sends you and me to this young lady and others like her. We have to do a better job of being Church. Perhaps we have to return to our roots, to that upper room where Jesus first appeared to the disciples and hear again the urgency of the mission: "As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you."  As Pope Francis has tried to remind us over and over again, we as disciples, we as Church are on a mission to bring reconciliation to this world? 

And how do we do it?  There are plenty of examples in the gospels.  But even in today's gospel story itself, consider how the disciples handled the unbelieving Thomas.  Did they condemn him?  No.  They invited him to come with them to the upper room, the next Sunday, just in case the Lord would show up again – and show up he did.  When is the last time you invited a friend to Mass, or even just to a Church function? 

Consider how Jesus handled the unbelieving Thomas.  The first words out of his mouth were not: "Thomas, you an unbelieving heathen!"  No he said: "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe."  Today's Thomases need us to step up to the plate and be the voice of Jesus that they hear, the hands that they touch, the sides that they feel.  For as the Father Sent Jesus, so he has sent us, to bring God's Word of mercy and love to all people. 

Our first reading of today, which described the life of the first community of disciples also provides us with a model of how to be Church.  We heard that they devoted themselves to four things: to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread (that is the Eucharist) and to the prayers (probably prayers at the Temple or personal prayer). 

As a Church sent out by Jesus today, are we devoted to these four markers in our personal lives and as a parish? 

1. Today the teaching of the apostles, that is God's Word, is given to us by the Pope and the bishops, the successors of those first apostles.  I never cease to be amazed by some Catholics, who actively oppose the teaching of the Pope and Bishops especially on this very subject of mercy, making themselves the arbiters of true and false doctrine.  Rebellion has replaced devotion to the teaching of the apostles. 

2. As for devotion to the communal life, while there are many signs of this in our Church today, there is still work to do, to care for each person according to their need, not according to their worth.  Our devotion must include unborn babies and children, the sick and elderly, refugees and homeless, prisoners and the condemned. 

3. Devotion to the breaking of bread or the sacraments in general is still wanting, with only about 30% of Catholics in the USA attending Sunday Mass.  And yet, like the disciples on whom Jesus breathed his Spirit, we too need the grace from on, if we are to succeed in the mission on which we have been sent.  We need Penance to restore our broken relationship with God and the Eucharist to maintain it. 

4. Finally we must each be devoted to personal prayer, so that Jesus is not simply Our Lord, but my Lord and my saviour. 

Conclusion 

Like married couples often return that moment when they it all began, especially to rekindle their love, can we also return to that moment when the Lord commissioned us: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you?"  Doing so will remind us of our mission to preach mercy and reconciliation, through our words and works, drawing not on own strength, but on the supernatural strength that comes from the sacraments and a personal prayer life.