Easter

Jan 30 2025

Wanted . . . Good Shepherds

Peter is a wonderful example of someone growing into the role of a good shepherd. His calling was evident from the beginning, when Jesus summoned him and his brother Andrew while they were casting their nets into the sea: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of [people]” (Mark 1:17).

We know Peter as the first to confess Jesus as Messiah, but also as someone who did not understand what this would mean both for Jesus and his followers: the cross. We know Peter was not afraid to ask questions along the lines of “What are we going to get out of being disciples?” or even say the wrong thing (“You shall never wash my feet!”). And, perhaps most importantly, we know Peter folded when the chips were down, denying he ever knew Jesus.

This same Peter boldly preaches Jesus as raised by God for the salvation of all who believe. He preaches not only outside the upper room on Pentecost, but in the synagogue soon after, then twice before the Sanhedrin (the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem), and finally in the house of the Roman centurion Cornelius.

What explains this transformation from denying follower to charismatic leader? Paul tells us in one of his letters (1 Corinthians 15:5) that the risen Lord appeared to Kephas (the Aramaic name for Peter). And Luke records the descent of the Spirit upon those in the upper room (Acts 2:4). All of this reminds us that God’s power at work in us is the key to having and being a good shepherd.

Consider/Discuss

From the beginning, Jesus the Good Shepherd has called others to shepherd in his name. Have you known any good shepherds in your life?
Do you pray for those called to shepherd God’s people?

Responding to the Word

Loving Jesus, you have called many people to shepherd your faithful. We pray for them today, most especially our Holy Father, and all of our bishops, the bishop of this diocese, and all men and women in positions of leadership. Grant them wisdom and give them the gifts needed to guide your people.

Jan 30 2025

Scripture Study for

Peter responds to the leaders of the Jewish community in Jerusalem who challenged the healing of a crippled man. He claims that it was in the power of Jesus’ name that the man was healed, and it will be in the power of this same name that all will be saved. Peter speaks out against the leaders of the people, not because they are Jewish but because they have rejected Jesus. For the crippled man, salvation took the form of healing; for others, it can take the form of spiritual transformation. The name of Jesus is the one and only source of salvation, hence no one can afford to reject it.

The love of which the author of the second reading speaks is generative, transforming; it makes believers children of God. Everything that happens in the lives of believers is a consequence of their having been recreated as God’s children. As children of God, they are a new reality and hence not accepted by the world, the old reality. The “now but not yet” of Christian eschatology is clearly stated. Believers have already been reborn as children of God. However, their transformation has not yet been completed. That is dependent on a future manifestation. Promised an even fuller identification with God, believers will see God as God is.

As shepherd, Jesus is committed to the well-being of the sheep. He is willing to protect his flock even to the point of risking his own life for them. He has a mutual, intimate relationship with them based on the mutual, intimate relationship that he has with God. This is true even of sheep that are not now his. The high Christology can be seen in the control that he has not only over his death but also over his resurrection. He has the power to take up his life again. He received this power from God. The universally saving death of Jesus is the work of the Father through the Son.

Jan 30 2025

Recognizing the Lord

Recognizing Jesus as the risen Lord seems to have been something of a problem. Mary Magdalene didn’t; she thought he was the gardener. The disciples on the road to Emmaus didn’t; they took him for a stranger who had heard nothing about the recent events in Jerusalem. And even in today’s Gospel, the apostles thought he was a ghost.

It is instructive to note how Jesus reveals himself in each case. To Mary Magdalene, he simply says her name, “Mary.” The two disciples on the road get an instruction on how all these recent events in Jerusalem fulfill the scriptures. And today the apostles are shown his hands and feet, watch him eat, and again, have their minds opened to the meaning of the scriptures. In all cases, Jesus’ words play an important role.

How we come to know the risen Lord runs along the same lines. We come to know him through the word of God. He calls us to be disciples, to be friends, to be children of the Father through the scriptures. We come to the table of the Lord each week, where our minds and hearts can be opened.

We recognize him in the breaking of the bread, both the bread of the Eucharist and the bread of God’s word. Some preparation on our part can be helpful. By spending some time with the coming Sunday’s readings during the week, we are more likely to have God’s word penetrate our hearts when we gather to listen together to the scriptures and the preaching.

Consider/Discuss

Have you had any experience of knowing the presence of Christ and hearing his voice in the readings and preaching at Sunday Eucharist?
Do you appreciate the Sunday Eucharist as a time when the community continues to experience the presence of the risen Lord?

Responding to the Word

Risen Lord Jesus, by our baptism we began to live with your life and received the gifts of faith, hope, and love. We know you have come to draw us into the life and love of the Trinity. Increase our ability to hear your voice and know you through the scriptures.

Jan 30 2025

Scripture Study for

Peter stands as a witness to the Resurrection. His attitude toward his Jewish compatriots is hardly a case of anti-Judaism. He is opposed to those who refuse to accept Jesus as Messiah, not to the Jewish nation as a whole. His Christology is rooted in the prophetic tradition of ancient Israel, employing language that is reminiscent of the Suffering Servant tradition of Isaiah. He weaves various thematic threads together, reinterpreting earlier traditions, thus developing his own Christian theology. The power of God to bring life out of death is the point of the passage, not the assignment of blame for Jesus’ death.

The major portion of the second reading goes beyond promotion of righteous living. It offers encouragement for those times when believers stray from righteousness and do in fact sin. In these times, Jesus will be an advocate for them before God. Jesus does not assume the role of comforter, a role traditionally assigned to the Spirit. Rather, he is an intercessor, one who atones for the sins of the world. The knowledge of God discussed here is experiential knowledge, knowledge that results in a relationship with God. To know God is to love God. Both knowledge and love of God manifest themselves in obedience to God’s commandments.

The risen Lord Jesus addresses a group of women and men with the customary Jewish greeting: Peace be with you! They are terrified, for they think that they are seeing a ghost. Jesus rebukes them for having doubts and then calls attention to the marks of the nails in his hands and feet, demonstrating that it is really he. In a final demonstration of his bodily reality, he eats a piece of cooked fish. Although this is not the official ritual meal of the community, it may have eucharistic overtones. Having assured the disciples of his bodily resurrection, Jesus proceeds to explain his suffering and death by turning to the scriptures.

Jan 30 2025

A Time to Fathom

Can one “fathom” a mystery? “Fathom” derives from an Old English word meaning “outstretched arms;” eventually it referred to the length from fingertip to fingertip of arms opened wide. As a verb, it means to probe or penetrate in order to understand. Granting the impossibility of ever coming to fathom the Resurrection fully, I like the image of trying to reach out and put my arms around this great mystery—or, better yet, to have the risen Christ put his outstretched arms around me, drawing me into it more fully.

Which brings us to Thomas. He is the original person who tried to fathom the risen Christ, insisting that if his friends in the upper room wanted him to believe what he could only think of as nonsense, he needed to touch the wounds of the risen Lord. Jesus didn’t seem to have much of a problem letting him.

We never learn whether Thomas did touch Jesus or not, but every second Sunday of Easter we are told this story about Thomas and the risen Lord. It encourages us to fathom the mystery that is our faith, to learn to penetrate it by confessing Jesus as Lord and God, then allow this belief to flow out into our daily activities, reaching out to embrace others.

Don’t you think when Thomas left the upper room that day he knew that the Resurrection was not something to keep to himself? That his whole being was filled with the warmth and light absorbed from being in the presence of the risen Lord? Is it possible that this can happen to us?

Consider/Discuss

Have you begun to fathom the mystery of the Resurrection?
What does it mean to say, “My Lord and my God” and make that your daily prayer over the coming weeks?

Responding to the Word

Father of the only-begotten Son, send your Spirit upon us that we might know more deeply the truth of your Son’s resurrection and allow it to penetrate our lives. Deepen our faith, hope, and love so the world will know us even now as children of the Resurrection.