3rd Sunday of Easter: 26th April, 2020

May God grant us, this Sunday, the grace to welcome the good news of Christ's resurrection wholeheartedly and that we may live in communion with the risen one and all other believers.

Happy Sunday!

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Acts 2,14.22-33; 1 Peter 1,17-21; Luke 24, 13-35: 3rd Sunday of Easter: 26th April, 2020)

The Gospel of this third Sunday of Easter presents us with the episode of the disciples of Emmaus. This episode shows the conversions that the risen Jesus worked in the two disciples: conversions from sadness to joy, darkness to the light of faith and community life. These are all very positive conversions. Sometimes, when we talk about conversion, we only think of the painful, tiring, detachment and renunciation aspects. Rather, Christian conversion is a source of joy, hope and love. It is always the work of the risen Christ, who obtained this grace for us through his passion and communicates it to us as the Risen One. The two disciples mentioned in the Gospel are in sadness and despair, and are, therefore, moving away from the community. They went away from Jerusalem and headed towards Emmaus, a remote village. They were discussing, with sadness, about what happened because it does not correspond to their expectations. We hoped, they said. This we have been hoping, in the imperfect tense, is also a confession of despair. It means: Now we don't hope anymore. Jesus approached the two disciples and continued their conversion in different stages. The first is to listen to these desperate disciples. Jesus made them speak, because he asked: What are these talks that you are making among yourselves on the way? The disciples marvelled and said: You are the only foreigner in Jerusalem that do not know what has happened in these days; that is, the events that have been so terrible for Jesus' disciples. Then they reported that Jesus of Nazareth, who was a powerful prophet in deeds and words, before God and all the people, was delivered [by the high priests and our leaders] to be sentenced to death and was crucified. And they concluded: We have been hoping it was he who would liberate Israel. The disciples also reported the news, brought by some women, of the empty tomb: «But some of our women, have upset us; having gone to the tomb in the morning and not having found his body, they came to tell us that they also had a vision of angels, who claimed that he is alive>>. However, this testimony of the women does not seem to the disciples worthy of faith and attention. It has not been confirmed by any positive fact. The tomb is empty, yes, but this does not, necessarily, mean that Jesus is alive. The second stage of the conversion by Jesus consists of, first of all, admonishing the disciples with mild severity. He says to them: “Oh how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! To understand the events, one must resort to prophecies, to the word of God in the Old Testament. The path of faith passes through these prophetic words. We must first listen to the word of God, and after which we are ready to welcome the light of faith. Jesus said to the two disciples: Didn't Christ have to endure these sufferings to enter his glory? And starting with Moses and all the prophets, he explained, in all the scriptures, what referred to him. Jesus' passion was a necessary way to glory. For Jesus the path to glory, necessarily, passed through suffering. This reality is not so easy to accept, but it is fundamental. Why was passion necessary? Because the glory of Christ is the glory of the Redeemer; the glory of the winner of sin and death; victory over hatred, selfishness and also, complete victory over the temptations of rejection or rebellion against God.

 

It was necessary for Christ to reach the extreme point of human suffering and bring his love everywhere and transform everything into an opportunity for victory over sin and death.

In the second reading Peter reminded the faithful that they have been redeemed, freed not by the price of corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without defects and without stain. For Christ, the passion was the necessary way to enter into his glory, which is the glory of having loved to the end (cf. Jn 13: 1). We must accept this doctrine, which is very important for us. We are truly Christians only if we accept this teaching of Jesus: Christ had to endure these sufferings to enter into his glory. In the world there is suffering and sin; Christ's work consisted of making use of suffering to eliminate sin, and therefore, eliminate the deepest cause of suffering. This teaching of Christ - the explanation of the prophecies - was an unexpected, but truly luminous and comforting revelation for the disciples of Emmaus. In fact, they said: Didn't our hearts burn in our breasts as he conversed with us along the way, when he explained the Scriptures to us? When Jesus explains the scriptures to us, it is not just an illumination for our mind, but also a revelation of love that makes our hearts burn. So the disciples are already on the path of conversion, because they perceived that the things that have happened were not negative as they seemed, but served as tools for the implementation of God’s plan, which is a positive one. The victory was not brought about by evil, but by God and Christ. Having been conquered by Jesus’ words, the two disciples wanted to continue with his presence: When they were close to the village where they were going, he acted as if he had to go further. But they insisted: Stay with us, because it is evening and the day is already on the decline. Stay with us: this is the great desire that the meditation of Scripture places on our hearts. It is the desire to have the presence of Christ, live in his presence, be in intimate contact with him, live in the light, hope and love. Jesus went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them. These were the gestures that revealed Jesus, his love and showed that he accepted all his sufferings out of love, to make himself the living bread that gives life, become the winner of hatred, selfishness, violence, the winner who brings communion everywhere. Then they opened their eyes and recognised him. But he disappeared from their sight. Jesus finished his work of conversion: not only with words, but with the gestures of the gift of communion. Breaking the bread, he reminded the disciples of his passion. By giving bread, he showed them that his passion is a gift of love. The two disciples then left without delay to return to Jerusalem. It was another stage in the journey of conversion. They had rediscovered the sense of communion and solidarity in the community. Their conversion was complete when they found themselves in the community of Jesus’ disciples, when they arrived where the Eleven were gathered, and others with them too. There, they heard the news of Jesus’ apparition to Peter. And indeed, in the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul reported that the risen Jesus appeared first to Peter, and then to the other apostles (cf. 1 Cor 15,5). So the conclusion of this episode is marked by joy, hope, love and the communication of the Good News: Christ is risen. His passion was not a defeat, but a victory, which is to our advantage.

This is also the message that Peter expresses with great force in the first reading. He shows that Jesus could not be held back by death. God freed him from the anxieties of death, because it was not possible for it to hold him in his power. Jesus on the cross reported the victory, which was to be manifested by a victory over death, that is, with his resurrection. Peter quotes a psalm, a prophetic scripture (since there are many prophetic words in the psalms), Psalm 15, in which David makes the Messiah speak, who said: [The Lord] is at my right hand, so that I will not falter. For this my heart rejoices and my tongue exults; and also my flesh rests in hope, because you will not abandon my soul to the underworld, you will not allow your Saint to see corruption. Peter used this scripture, illuminated by the teachings of the risen Jesus, to make a strong, audacious testimony: before the Jews, who asked for the death of Jesus, he proclaims the resurrection of Jesus, and at the same time says that the risen Jesus has poured out the Holy Spirit. In this way, this victory of Jesus is very beneficial for us. The risen Jesus brings us the conversion from sadness to joy, despair to hope and from isolation to communion. We, therefore, welcome this Good News wholeheartedly, to live in communion with the Risen One and all believers. +John I. Okoye