Fr Kevin Kilgore

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1 Corinthians 15: 1-8

I am reminding you, brothers and sisters,
of the Gospel I preached to you,
which you indeed received and in which you also stand.
Through it you are also being saved,
if you hold fast to the word I preached to you,
unless you believed in vain.
For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received:
that Christ died for our sins
in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he was buried;
that he was raised on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.
After that, he appeared to more
than five hundred brothers and sisters at once,
most of whom are still living,
though some have fallen asleep.
After that he appeared to James,
then to all the Apostles.
Last of all, as to one born abnormally,
he appeared to me.

The Word of the Lord.

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It’s a strange, but wonderful, truth that one of the first people whom Jesus appears to after his resurrection is Peter (as our first reading reminds us).

Peter fell asleep while Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. He denied knowing Jesus three times while the Lord was being led off to be crucified. He even abandoned Jesus while he hung upon the cross!

Anyone would’ve had reason to be mad with Peter; to hold a grudge; to give him the silent treatment. But Jesus does the opposite; he seeks Peter out immediately after his resurrection.

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Such is the nature of our Lord.

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God is never out to punish us.

He only wants to be reconciled, to draw us into deeper intimacy with him, even when that means washing away our sins.

Because, it seems, there’s nothing more attractive to Jesus than what Peter possessed: a penitential heart. 

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Image credits: (1) Sewickely Presbyterian Church (2) Gustave Brion, Jesus and Peter on the Water (3) Adoring God

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Gospel: John 6:22 – 29

[After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea.]
The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea
saw that there had been only one boat there,
and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat,
but only his disciples had left.
Other boats came from Tiberias
near the place where they had eaten the bread
when the Lord gave thanks.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they themselves got into boats
and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
And when they found him across the sea they said to him,
“Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered them and said,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.
For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”
So they said to him,
“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Over the last 18-months, I’ve put my heart and soul into the first pillar of our three-fold mission, which is Building Community. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of that! Now we have ministries in place to continue that momentum.

But as your shepherd, it is my responsibility to make sure that we not only experience a sense of community humanly speaking, but also that our minds and hearts are transformed, deepening our faith in God.

It’s the reason why we journeyed together on our first parish pilgrimage to the Holy Land last week.

Now we will begin making an intentional, strategic turn towards the second and third pillars of our mission: Worshiping God and Making Disciples.

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A disciple is someone who knows Jesus, who loves Jesus, and who places God at the very center of his or her life.

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This is the same invitation that the Lord is extending to the crowds in today’s Gospel. They need to be concerned about more than having their stomachs filled.

“Amen, amen, I say to you,” he says, “this is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”

Belief demands effort. 

But it always comes easier when tried in a community, which is why we’re so blessed to have this parish.

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Together, we will accomplish what Jesus calls, “the work of God.” Day by day, through still and stormy waters, we’ll come to, “believe in the one who was sent.”

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Image credits: (1) Created to Worship the Lord, Tell the Lord Thank You (2) Adam Willaerts, Christ Preaching from a Ship (3) Christianity Matters

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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 a remarkable opportunity on the heels of Easter, to be standing in the very place where our Lord rose from the dead!

Don’t we all desperately need to be here? To see the empty tomb; to touch it; to adore it; to pray for our loved ones who’ve gone before us.

When we consider what’s happening around the world, certainly in Ukraine, it can feel like we’re stuck on Good Friday. Even here in Jerusalem there have been deadly clashes in the name of religion.

Our world’s known Good Friday. We’ve known Good Friday.

But the Holy Spirit is urging us to make that miraculous leap of faith from Good Friday to Easter Sunday – to hope and believe in the resurrection. It’s the very heart of our faith, and there’s no better place to profess our faith than right here.

In honor of the Lord’s victory over death, let’s profess the Apostles Creed, calling to mind our loved ones and all whom we’ve promised to pray for:

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I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth;
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. (HERE).
He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; (HERE).
He ascended into Heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.

Amen.

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Image credits: (1) Learn Religions, Holy Sepulcher (2) Architectural Digest, The Empty Tomb, Holy Sepulcher (3) The Irish Times, The Empty Tomb