Sunday Homily May 1, 2nd Easter
Readings: Acts of the Apostles 2, 42-47; Psalm 118; 1 Peter 1, 3-9; John 20, 19-31
Intro to the Readings – 2nd Sunday of Easter
Our first reading today is from Acts of the Apostles. Remember this is part 2 of Luke’s story of Jesus and the Early Church, part one being his Gospel. In Acts, Luke picks up the story right after the Resurrection. He repeats the short piece about the Ascension, but the main body of Acts deals with the spread of the Good News to the Gentile World. Our reading today is early in the story and is a kind of interlude about the early Christian church in Jerusalem.
The few verses in today’s reading give us what I will call an idyllic view of that community. And interestingly Luke, writing to a Greek audience uses a word in today’s reading, which only appears here in the Bible, but is commonly used in Greek literature to describe a kind of Utopian society. I mention this because we could easily feel discouraged when we listen to what that early community was like and then reflect on our own community here today in 2011. But for Luke’s original readers, this community is the one described by Plato, Ovid and other Greeks as the ideal community where all possessions are shared.
There is one other item worth noting in the reading and that is the four actions of this early community, the teaching of the apostles, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayers. These are a great summary too of what Jesus did in his life.
The second reading today is from the First Letter of Peter. It was written to the churches in what is today Turkey and Syria. The communities are having a tough time due to their faith, although they are not being persecuted yet. Peter’s letter offers them great encouragement. He probably wrote it around the year 64 from Rome.
Second Sunday of Easter 2011 – Homily
Today, after we pray the our Father and a few other short prayers I will turn to you and say “ the peace of the Lord be with you all” but what is that ‘peace’? I think we have a clue from the gospel just read. To get a better understanding we need to look closely at what is happening in John’s gospel.
Our reading today comes from the second half of Chapter 20. Chapter 20 begins with the words “it was very early in the morning on the first day of the week, and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb.” By the way, chapter 19 ends with Jesus being laid in the tomb. So we know we are on Easter Sunday morning. What John’s Gospel proceeds to do is show that faith in the resurrection comes slowly. Jesus’ disciples were not expecting it. So when Mary finds the tomb empty her immediate conclusion is someone has taken the body. Peter and another disciple, the ‘beloved’ disciple show up after Mary told them what she had discovered, and we are told they saw the garments, and that the ‘beloved disciple’ saw and believed, nothing about Peter believing yet.
And then we have today’s reading. It is the same day, but evening. They are all in a locked room, afraid of the Jews. So I have to wonder, how big an impact had this early ‘faith’ of the beloved disciple had on the group. By the way, Mary did see a gardener whom she recognizes when he calls her by name, but I suspect her story was put down to the rantings of a grieving woman?? So Jesus appears in the room, and twice says “peace be with you”. What is this peace? He immediately breathes on them, and remember an earlier breathing – in the book of Genesis, when God breathes on the clay and forms man, we now have God again breathing and forming new men! People filled with the Holy Spirit. In human terms I feel that this “peace be with you” had the same effect as when a child wakes up in the night crying and a parent wraps them in their arms and says “its OK, I’m here with you”. The child feels safe.
The resurrection, belief in the resurrection, makes us different people. Yes it is the leap of faith, not a solid provable fact, but that faith gives us a hope, and a security that nothing can really harm us. It is what gave the apostles the courage to go out and face that group of hostile Jews. It is what brings us here this morning.
Remember in the first reading today from Acts, that little early idylic community which Luke described, we are not that different. We come together to break bread, to pray, to learn the teaching of Jesus, and we do share our possessions. This morning we will be giving anther $2,000 to the CCAC and also some money to the Plano Homes, and those are just two small examples of sharing our possessions.
So today at our mass, when I say “the peace of the Lord be with you all” reflect for a moment before we offer each other the sign of that peace, do you feel like the child, wrapped and safe?
Picture 1: Penny receiving a check from Bobby for Plano Community Homes
Picture 2: Offertory with brother & sister, Bobby & Marlene
Picture 3: Leo with Jackie
Picture 4: Wendy's parents
Picture 5: Gilberto preparing for the 5 Boro Bike tour with 2 of Rosemary's Nephew's kids, Emma & William