The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to return to our Galilee and contemplate the circumstances that call us to a deeper relationship with life in Christ.
In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter addresses the crowd.
* [2:1–41] Luke’s pentecostal narrative consists of an introduction (Acts 2:1–13), a speech ascribed to Peter declaring the resurrection of Jesus and its messianic significance (Acts 2:14–36), and a favorable response from the audience (Acts 2:37–41). It is likely that the narrative telescopes events that took place over a period of time and on a less dramatic scale. The Twelve were not originally in a position to proclaim publicly the messianic office of Jesus without incurring immediate reprisal from those religious authorities in Jerusalem who had brought about Jesus’ death precisely to stem the rising tide in his favor. (Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 2, n.d.)
Psalm 16 is a song of Trust and Security in God.
* [Psalm 16] In the first section, the psalmist rejects the futile worship of false gods (Ps 16:2–5), preferring Israel’s God (Ps 16:1), the giver of the land (Ps 16:6). The second section reflects on the wise and life-giving presence of God (Ps 16:7–11). (Psalms, PSALM 16, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus calls the disciples to Galilee and the report of the guard is explained.
* [28:1–20] Except for Mt 28:1–8 based on Mk 16:1–8, the material of this final chapter is peculiar to Matthew. Even where he follows Mark, Matthew has altered his source so greatly that a very different impression is given from that of the Marcan account. The two points that are common to the resurrection testimony of all the gospels are that the tomb of Jesus had been found empty and that the risen Jesus had appeared to certain persons, or, in the original form of Mark, that such an appearance was promised as soon to take place (see Mk 16:7). On this central and all-important basis, Matthew has constructed an account that interprets the resurrection as the turning of the ages (Mt 28:2–4), shows the Jewish opposition to Jesus as continuing to the present in the claim that the resurrection is a deception perpetrated by the disciples who stole his body from the tomb (Mt 28:11–15), and marks a new stage in the mission of the disciples once limited to Israel (Mt 10:5–6); now they are to make disciples of all nations. In this work they will be strengthened by the presence of the exalted Son of Man, who will be with them until the kingdom comes in fullness at the end of the age (Mt 28:16–20). (Matthew, CHAPTER 28, n.d.)
Tamora Whitney comments that Jesus rose and that changes everything. It changes how we look at the world and how we look at life and how we look at death. Now death is not just an ending it’s also a beginning. Jesus told us then showed us that there is something bigger, that there is something beyond.
Of course the elders would try to discredit this story. Of course they would try to say it didn’t happen, that the body was stolen or moved. This changes too much. This means that there is something beyond this physical world. This means that there is a rule beyond the political rule. This changes everything we thought we knew about the world and our position in it.
We know now that this is not all there is. We know now that there is something beyond, and Jesus can lead us there. (Whitney, 2023)
Don Schwager quotes “The Easter Alleluia,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"Our thoughts in this present life should turn on the praise of God, because it is in praising God that we shall rejoice for ever in the life to come; and no one can be ready for the next life unless he trains himself for it now. So we praise God during our earthly life, and at the same time we make our petitions to him. Our praise is expressed with joy, our petitions with yearning. We have been promised something we do not yet possess, and because the promise was made by one who keeps his word, we trust him and are glad; but insofar as possession is delayed, we can only long and yearn for it. It is good for us to persevere in longing until we receive what was promised, and yearning is over; then praise alone will remain." (excerpt from commentary on Psalm 148, 1-2) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation: Acts 2:14, 22-33 asks “How important is the resurrection?” St. Paul proclaimed, “If Christ has not been raised,” then our faith, forgiveness, and hope of eternal life are all in “vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17). The resurrection changed everything; its repercussions echo throughout all eternity.
Jesus’ resurrection has changed our lives, too! When we’re waiting for an answer to our prayers or perplexed by the evil in the world, it’s easy to lose sight of his victory. That’s when we need to declare with Peter: But God raised him up. And he will raise me up, too! What we see now is not the end of the story. Sin and death and evil do not have the final word. One day, every wrong will be made right, and we will see God face-to-face. Even now, we sing the resurrection song: Alleluia! Christ is risen from the grave!
“Lord Jesus, you are risen! I rejoice in your victory!” (Meditation: Acts 2:14, 22-33, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler discusses the importance of the impetuous nature of Peter in his proclamation of the kerygma on Pentecost. In the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, Jesus instructs the disciples to go to Galilee to encounter Him after the Resurrection. Friar Jude notes that the apologia in the Gospel is to counter the lies of the leaders about Jesus' body being stolen from the Tomb.
Brian Purfield, a member of the Mount Street Jesuit Centre team, discusses “ go to Galilee.” That is still an instruction to us today because we are in the same place as the disciples.
The experience of a personal encounter with Jesus Christ is at the heart of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium – ‘The Joy of the Gospel’.[2] The pope begins with a challenge:
I invite all Christians everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day.[3]
Where is my Galilee? Galilee does not have to be a place for us. It is a situation, a frame of mind, or a choice we make. Our particular Galilee could be the desolate journey of physical, emotional, sexual or spiritual pain. It could be dashed promises, broken relationships, or unrealised hopes. It may simply be the unremarkable circumstances of our everyday lives. Whatever it is, the joy-filled and hope-filled message of Easter is the promise made to us that Christ is not only there when we arrive, he has gone ahead of us, to that desolate place, so that we might have loving arms in which to fall at journey’s end. (Purfield, 2018)
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, invites us to expand our understanding of resurrection from a one-time miracle in the life of Jesus that asks for assent and belief, to a pattern of creation that has always been true, and that invites us to much more than belief in a miracle. It must be more than the private victory of one man to prove that he is God.
Resurrection is presented by Paul as the general principle of all reality (see 1 Corinthians 15:13). He does not argue from a one-time anomaly and then ask us to believe in this Jesus “miracle.” Instead, Paul names the cosmic pattern, and then says in many places that the “Spirit carried in our hearts” is the icon, the guarantee, the pledge, and the promise, or even the “down payment” of that universal message (see 2 Corinthians 1:21–22; Ephesians 1:14).
One reason we can trust Jesus’ resurrection is that we can already see resurrection happening everywhere else. Nothing is the same forever, states modern science. Geologists with good evidence can prove that no landscape is permanent over millennia. Water, fog, steam, and ice are all the same thing, but at different stages and temperatures. “Resurrection” is another word for change, but particularly positive change—which we tend to see only in the long run. In the short run, it often just looks like death. The Preface to the Catholic funeral liturgy says, “Life is not ended, it is merely changed.” Science is now giving us a very helpful language for what religion rightly intuited and imaged, albeit in mythological language. Remember, myth does not mean “not true,” which is the common misunderstanding; it actually refers to things that are always true! (Rohr, 2023)
We are the people who are called to live in the light of the Resurrection that informs our faith in the eternal love of God.
References
Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 2. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved April 10, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/2?14
Matthew, CHAPTER 28. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved April 10, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/28?8
Meditation: Acts 2:14, 22-33. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved April 10, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/04/10/654201/
Psalms, PSALM 16. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved April 10, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/16?1
Purfield, B. (2018, March 29). Return to Galilee. Thinking Faith. Retrieved April 10, 2023, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/return-galilee
Rohr, R. (2023, April 10). The Resurrection of All Things — Center for Action and Contemplation. Cac.org. Retrieved April 10, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-resurrection-of-all-things-2023-04-10/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved April 10, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=apr10
Whitney, T. (2023, April 10). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved April 10, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/041023.html
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