Author: admin

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Gospel: Luke 24: 13 -35

That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus’ disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them,
“What are you discussing as you walk along?”
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?”
And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”
They said to him,
“The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning
and did not find his Body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see.”
And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?”
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, “Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”
So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.
Then they said to each other,
“Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the Eleven and those with them who were saying,
“The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way
and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Without faith, life can seem bleak and meaningless, certainly in the face of senseless suffering and injustice.

But with faith, our entire outlook changes.

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In today’s Gospel, two of Jesus’ disciples are headed to Emmaus, which was seven miles west of Jerusalem.

They were literally walking into the sunset; into the darkness; into the night.

That journey was symbolic of their own spiritual and emotional state.

They were without Christ. Believing Jesus was dead, the disciples began returning to their former way of life.

“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place in these days?” they say unknowingly to Jesus. “We were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel.”

Little did they understand, Christ did more than that; he redeemed the world!

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Slowly, Jesus changes their perspective. First, he meets them where they’re at; he journeys with them; he listens to them and asks them questions. Then, he interprets the scriptures and breaks the bread.

By days end, their eyes are opened. The disciples make a U-turn and begin walking towards Jerusalem, towards the light.

“Were not our hearts burning within us?” they say. They’ve come to see that Christ conquered the world.

That’s the Christian perspective: God wins; life wins; love wins.

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Such a beautiful truth should make our hearts burn within us.

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Acts 2: 14, 22-33

On the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up with the Eleven,
raised his voice, and proclaimed:
“You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem.
Let this be known to you, and listen to my words.

“You who are children of Israel, hear these words.
Jesus the Nazorean was a man commended to you by God
with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs,
which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.
This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God,
you killed, using lawless men to crucify him.
But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death,
because it was impossible for him to be held by it.
For David says of him:

    I saw the Lord ever before me,
        with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
    Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted;
        my flesh, too, will dwell in hope, 
    because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world,
        nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption.
    You have made known to me the paths of life;
        you will fill me with joy in your presence.

My brothers, one can confidently say to you
about the patriarch David that he died and was buried,
and his tomb is in our midst to this day.
But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him
that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne,
he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,
that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld
nor did his flesh see corruption.
God raised this Jesus;
of this we are all witnesses.
Exalted at the right hand of God,
he poured forth the promise of the Holy Spirit 
that he received from the Father, as you both see and hear.”

The Word of the Lord.

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When we grieve, it feels like the lights have been turned off inside. Our world becomes hyper-focused on the person we’ve lost.

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Such was the case of the disciples on Good Friday. Jesus was everything to them – their best friend; their leader; their Lord.

Then poof! He was gone in an instant. Understandably terrified, the disciples rush into hiding, fearing for their own lives. 

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But in our first reading, Peter’s preaching to the very crowds who wanted to put Jesus to death.

“This man,” he says, “you killed…But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it.”

This sudden change in Peter’s attitude becomes one of the first arguments for the truth of the resurrection.

The same Peter who once cowered in fear is now risking his life to share the Good News. Death does not win – it cannot – and he’ll risk his life to prove it.

All of the grief he felt on Good Friday has been transformed into Easter joy because he’s seen and touched the Risen Christ. 

There’s no other logical reason for the change in his behavior.

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While we cannot see and touch the Risen Lord like Peter did, we can have that same Easter joy. 

As Jesus says to Doubting Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen me and have believed.” 

Their mourning shall be turned into dancing.

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Gospel: John 20: 1-9

On the first day of the week,
Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark, 
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter 
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, 
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb, 
and we don’t know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter 
and arrived at the tomb first; 
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him, 
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, 
and the cloth that had covered his head, 
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in, 
the one who had arrived at the tomb first, 
and he saw and believed.
For they did not yet understand the Scripture 
that he had to rise from the dead.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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What can you say when celebrating Easter while still in this pandemic? How do you preach Easter joy while so many still feel stuck on Good Friday?

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Well, there’s an old saying, “Religion begins in a cemetery.” 

Standing at the grave of a loved one, we feel a swirl of emotions – everything from sadness, anger, and regret, to hope.

Standing at the graveside, we hope.

As a priest, I’ve stood with families hundreds of times as they mourn the loss of their loved one – a parent, a spouse, a friend, and even the unimaginable death of a child. 

Many families have known that grief this year because of COVID. We weep over what’s happened to our world. For some, it’s felt like Good Friday all year long. 

We weep. And yet, we hope.

Christ’s victory over death is our consolation; for some, it’s all they have. It’s what we celebrate today.

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“Religion begins in a cemetery.”

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If you visit Jerusalem, the place where Jesus rose from the dead, you can touch the empty tomb! It’s literally a stone’s throw from Calvary, the hill where he was crucified.

But the inner journey from grief to hope – from Good Friday to Easter Sunday – isn’t that easy; it requires a giant leap of faith.

Consider the different reactions of the disciples gathered that first Easter morning. Their emotions, reactions, and beliefs might not be too different from our own.

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John “saw and believed.” Bingo.

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But Peter was much slower to believe. 

He saw the same things John did – the stone rolled away, the burial cloths folded, the tomb emptied of its precious contents.

Still, Peter was stuck on Good Friday. The reality of the resurrection hadn’t sunk in just yet.

Days from now, Peter will say to the others, “I’m going fishing.” 

Not, “I’m going to tell the world what God has done for us! Alleluia!” Not, “Jesus has been raised from the dead! Alleluia!”

But, “I’m going fishing.” 

Peter no longer wanted to be Peter the Apostle. Just Peter the fisherman. He wants to return to what’s familiar – as if the last three years with Jesus didn’t happen. He just wants to go home.

How many have felt like “Peter the fisherman” this year?

We want so badly the joy of Easter. We want the peace that Jesus promises. We want to believe. But we find ourselves swaying between belief and unbelief.

We’re somewhere in between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

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Then there’s Thomas, often known as “Doubting Thomas.”

He wasn’t with Peter and the other Apostles when the Risen Lord first appeared to them. Thomas was hiding somewhere else on his own, caught in the intricate, personal, often hidden web of grief.

Although the others said to him, “We have seen the Lord!” Thomas couldn’t believe them. He needed his own proof. 

It’s only after Thomas slides his fingers into the healed side of the Risen Christ that he exclaims, “My Lord and my God!”

How many feel like Thomas, caught in a web of grief?

The resurrection still feels like a distant truth.

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Then there’s Mary Magdalene. She was the first to approach the empty tomb and the first to see the Risen Lord. 

But consider why she was there. 

The Gospels describe her as a “sinner,” a woman who had many demons cast out of her. Some say she was mentally ill or perhaps even a prostitute.

Still, Jesus loved her unlike any man ever had. He healed her. He offered her a new perspective; a fresh start in life.

Overwhelmed with gratitude, Mary never left his side. She stayed with Jesus until the very end, which is why she was there on Easter Sunday. She had nowhere else to go.

She was wrapped around the Lord.

Maybe some of us are like Mary: we came to Christ broken, but he put us back together.

And we’ve loved him ever since.

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That’s an honest assessment of that first Easter community, which may not be much different than our own Easter community.

There’s John the Beloved who “sees and believes.” Bingo. There’s swaying Simon Peter, Doubting Thomas, and the once tormented Magdalene.

All of them made the giant, life-changing leap from grief to hope – from Good Friday to Easter Sunday.

For John it was instant. For the others, it took time. For Peter, a lifetime.

Perhaps that’s where we fit in. It can feel hard to celebrate the joy of Easter while there’s still so much pain and suffering in our world, not just the havoc wreaked by the pandemic.

But we’re not deaf to the cry of the poor. We’re here to tell them that there’s Good News! That the Lord sees their tears; that he took on flesh and overcame the grave for us.

Today we rejoice because Christ has overcome the world, which is why, “religion begins in a cemetery.” … In that cemetery.

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From there the Lord says to us, “Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person, and we cannot be separated.”

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