Rejection and Resurrection

 

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invites contemplation of the situations where the message of Jesus is rejected and consideration of our faithfulness to His mission.

The corner and the key stone

 

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes the questioning of Peter and John before the Council.

 

* [4:11] Early Christianity applied this citation from Ps 118:22 to Jesus; cf. Mk 12:10; 1 Pt 2:7.* [4:12] In the Roman world of Luke’s day, salvation was often attributed to the emperor who was hailed as “savior” and “god.” Luke, in the words of Peter, denies that deliverance comes through anyone other than Jesus.1

Psalm 118 is a song of victory.

 * [118:22] The stone the builders rejected: a proverb: what is insignificant to human beings has become great through divine election. The “stone” may originally have meant the foundation stone or capstone of the Temple. The New Testament interpreted the verse as referring to the death and resurrection of Christ (Mt 21:42; Acts 4:11; cf. Is 28:16 and Rom 9:33; 1 Pt 2:7).2

In the Gospel of John, Jesus appears to seven disciples.

 

* [21:11] The exact number 153 is probably meant to have a symbolic meaning in relation to the apostles’ universal mission; Jerome claims that Greek zoologists catalogued 153 species of fish. Or 153 is the sum of the numbers from 1 to 17. Others invoke Ez 47:10.3

Suzanne Braddock comments that the gospel scene vividly portrays many truths hidden within a dramatic, almost comedic post-resurrection story.

 

Not only does Jesus direct the disciples to their abundant catch, he calmly feeds them as he has so often before his death and resurrection. I see him greeting Peter and the rest with a twinkle in his eye and perhaps a little smile, as he dishes up the fish and bread. Can we follow our hearts to recognize Jesus in the stranger? Does it take love to reveal the truth? Can we hear what he is telling us? Can we trust we will be fed?4

Don Schwager quotes “Resurrected Bodies”, by Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

 

"The bodies of the righteous at the resurrection will need neither any fruit to preserve them from dying of disease or the wasting decay of old age nor any bodily nourishment to prevent hunger and thirst. For they will be endowed with such a sure and inviolable gift of immortality that they will not eat because they have to, but only if they want to. Not the power but the necessity of eating and drinking shall be taken away from them... just like our Savior after his resurrection took meat and drink with his disciples, with spiritual but still real flesh, not for the sake of nourishment, but in an exercise of his power." (excerpt from City of God 13.22)5

The Word Among Us Meditation on John 21:1-14  suggests that even now, just a few days after Easter, the excitement may have worn off, leaving us with the sense that everything has returned to the ho-hum way it was before Ash Wednesday.

 

It’s okay to feel that way every now and then. After all, it’s just a feeling. It’s not as if Jesus has changed his mind and decided to stop loving you or caring for you. You could be having a bad day. Questions at home or at work may be weighing on you. Or maybe you just didn’t get enough sleep the night before. Whatever the case, you can still trust that Jesus is with you and that he is looking out for you. When you find yourself feeling discouraged like this, take a few moments to reflect on why Peter jumped out of that boat. He had waited long enough; he couldn’t wait even a few more minutes to be next to the Lord! Similarly, know that a moment of recognition is in your future as well, a moment when the clouds clear and you sense his presence once again. Until that day, stay watchful in prayer, confident in his love, and ready to jump into the sea as soon as you spot him. “Lord, help me to hold fast to you in faith.”6

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the kerygma preached by Peter to the Council. The rock at Golgotha was not guarried because of natural flaws that supported the base of the cross. Friar Jude reminds us of how the mission aspect of Eucharist is connected to the 153 fish caught in the Gospel.

 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM is convinced that the Gospel offers us a holistic understanding of salvation. If we understand the resurrection as a universal phenomenon, we can see this idea everywhere in Pauline passages, expressed in different ways… this all emerges from Jesus’s major metaphor of the “Reign of God,” a fully collective notion, which many scholars say is just about all that he talks about. Until we start reading the Jesus story through the collective notion that the Christ offers us, Fr Richard honestly thinks we miss much of the core message, and read it all in terms of individual salvation, and individual reward and punishment. Society will remain untouched, leaving Christianity little chance of changing the world. Julian of Norwich was given the gift of seeing in this holistic way.

 

We are all one in love. . . . When I look at myself as an individual, I see that I am nothing. It is only in unity with my fellow spiritual seekers that I am anything at all. It is this foundation of unity that will save humanity. God is all that is good. God has created all that is made. God loves all that he has created. And so anyone who, in loving God, loves all his fellow creatures [and] loves all that is. All those who are on the spiritual path contain the whole of creation, and the Creator. That is because God is inside us, and inside God is everything. And so whoever loves God loves all that is. [1]7

Our experience of rejection is a nudge to seek the guidance of the Spirit in the form our Eucharistic mission as fishers of people should take.

 

References

1	(n.d.). Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB. Retrieved April 9, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/4
2	(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 118 | USCCB. Retrieved April 9, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/118
3	(n.d.). John, CHAPTER 21 | USCCB. Retrieved April 9, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/21
4	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Creighton University. Retrieved April 9, 2021, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/040921.html
5	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved April 9, 2021, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/
6	(n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved April 9, 2021, from https://wau.org/meditations/2021/04/09/183852/
7	(2021, April 9). Mystical Holism — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved April 9, 2021, from https://cac.org/mystical-holism-2021-04-09/

 

Proclaim to All Nations

 

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to put into action the mission given by Jesus to proclaim to all the nations.

Proclaim the Good News

 

In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter speaks to a Jewish audience in Solomon’s Portico.

 

* [3:17] Ignorance: a Lucan motif, explaining away the actions not only of the people but also of their leaders in crucifying Jesus. On this basis the presbyters in Acts could continue to appeal to the Jews in Jerusalem to believe in Jesus, even while affirming their involvement in his death because they were unaware of his messianic dignity. See also Acts 13:27 and Lk 23:34.1

Psalm 8 praises Divine Majesty and human dignity.

 

* [Psalm 8] While marvelling at the limitless grandeur of God (Ps 8:2–3), the psalmist is struck first by the smallness of human beings in creation (Ps 8:4–5), and then by the royal dignity and power that God has graciously bestowed upon them (Ps 8:6–9).2

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus appears to His Disciples and commissions them for action.

 * [24:36–43, 44–49] The Gospel of Luke, like each of the other gospels (Mt 28:16–20; Mk 16:14–15; Jn 20:19–23), focuses on an important appearance of Jesus to the Twelve in which they are commissioned for their future ministry. As in Lk 24:6, 12, so in Lk 24:36, 40 there are omissions in the Western text.3

Michael Kavan comments that in both readings, we see the value of repentance. The opportunity to ask for forgiveness and for our sins to be wiped away is a “refreshment” according to Peter.

 

I recently listened to a homily by the Reverend Patrick Smith from St. Augustine Parish in Washington, DC. And he told the story of a man who was teaching at a university and was close to being appointed tenure when he resigned. A year later a former colleague bumped into him in a grocery store and asked what he was doing. He said he was praying and discerning and felt God wanted him to leave and to teach in an inner-city public school. The former colleague asked what it was like and he said he loved it. Then his former colleague asked the question that he really wanted to know – “So, what do you make?”  For which he responded – “I make a difference.” God wants us to make a difference. So, all us should take advantage of our opportunity to repent, to refresh, and to not only witness Jesus as the Messiah, but to become disciples in our own right by engaging in acts of goodness toward others. We should want to make a difference.4

Don Schwager quotes “The Easter Alleluia,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

 "We are praising God now, assembled as we are here in church; but when we go on our various ways again, it seems as if we cease to praise God. But provided we do not cease to live a good life, we shall always be praising God. You cease to praise God only when you swerve from justice and from what is pleasing to God. If you never turn aside from the good life, your tongue may be silent but your actions will cry aloud, and God will perceive your intentions; for as our ears hear each other's voices, so do God's ears hear our thoughts. " (excerpt from commentary on Psalm 148)5

The Word Among Us Meditation on Acts 3:11-26 comments that “Witness” could actually be a good job description for Christians. The apostles were the first witnesses, and through their preaching and healing, other people became Christians. And so it has been from one generation to the next.

 

For example, you might share with a friend an incident from the past when you saw God answer a prayer. Or you could talk about what you think the Lord is saying to you today. You might even want to share some of your own struggles and doubts as a way of showing that these can exist alongside real faith. It’s not just creativity that is important; you also need tact. That starts with being sensitive to where another person is coming from. It means doing more listening than speaking and refraining from forcefully pushing your beliefs onto them. Even if someone seems closed off to the idea of faith at the moment, you could offer to pray for any special need for themselves or their family.6

Friar Jude Winkler notes the kerygma taught by Peter is based on Jewish experience. Jesus offers peace to the troubled. Friar Jude notes how treating others with exaggerated respect shows the grace of forgiveness.

 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, believes it is a loss to our Christian heritage that Julian of Norwich’s mystical teachings have not received more widespread hearing. Matthew Fox points out that she was in many ways ahead of her time. Her voice and writings were sidelined by a patriarchal church and culture unable to hear her nondual message of “oneing” and her celebration of embodiment as an extension of the Incarnation itself. Perhaps we are finally ready to hear Julian’s wisdom today. Matthew Fox writes in “Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic.”

 

First, she was ignored because she was a woman. . . . Julian found her voice—and wrote the first book in English by a woman. She speaks out about womanhood and about mothering and about the Divine Mother. She insists on the feminine side of God as imbuing not only God the Creator, but God the Liberator, and God the Spirit. . . .She bakes into her entire book the constant theme of nondualism and of “oneing.” Sensuality and substance are one thing. . . . She talks of the “glorious mingling” of body and soul, matter and spirit. She insists on the marriage of nature and God, on panentheism [God in all things and all things in God] as the very meaning of faith, and on the marriage of God and the human (for we, too, are part of nature): “between God and the human there is no between.”. . .7

Our proclamation to others is visible in our humility, compassion, and recognition of the Love of God visibly acting in all our lives.

 

References

1	(n.d.). Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB - Daily Readings. Retrieved April 8, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/3
2	(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 8 | USCCB. Retrieved April 8, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/8
3	(n.d.). Luke, CHAPTER 24 | USCCB. Retrieved April 8, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/24
4	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Creighton University. Retrieved April 8, 2021, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/040821.html
5	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved April 8, 2021, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation
6	(n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved April 8, 2021, from https://wau.org/meditations/2021/04/08/183849/
7	(2021, April 8). A Wisdom for Our Time — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved April 8, 2021, from https://cac.org/a-wisdom-for-our-time-2021-04-08/

 

Walking with Us

 

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to share our experience of Jesus and gather in a community that reveals His Presence.

Present to Us

 

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles reports how Peter heals a crippled beggar.

 

* [3:6–10] The miracle has a dramatic cast; it symbolizes the saving power of Christ and leads the beggar to enter the temple, where he hears Peter’s proclamation of salvation through Jesus.1

Psalm 105 praises God’s Faithfulness to Israel.

 * [Psalm 105] A hymn to God who promised the land of Canaan to the holy people, cf. Ps 78; 106; 136. Israel is invited to praise and seek the presence of God (Ps 105:1–6), who is faithful to the promise of land to the ancestors (Ps 105:7–11).2

In the Gospel of Luke, two disciples encounter Jesus on their walk to Emmaus.

 

* [24:13–35] This episode focuses on the interpretation of scripture by the risen Jesus and the recognition of him in the breaking of the bread. The references to the quotations of scripture and explanation of it (Lk 24:25–27), the kerygmatic proclamation (Lk 24:34), and the liturgical gesture (Lk 24:30) suggest that the episode is primarily catechetical and liturgical rather than apologetic.3

Eileen Burke-Sullivan comments that there is a step that we must take and that is realization that we are now members of the Body of Christ the Church. At the end of the Easter Season, the Spirit is poured upon us, not as individuals but as ecclesia – companions laboring together as one body to accomplish God’s will.

 

Today’s wonderful Gospel of the walk to the village of Emmaus with Christ who instructs the companions and then breaks bread with them.  They don’t know him until they break and share the bread as companions on the journey.   All of us who are Baptized participate in the Eucharist to know and recognize Christ in ourselves and one another.  We also recognize the task of listening to one another and discerning Christ’s presence as one body.  The hospitality of eating together, feeding the hungry, recognizing the humanity of each other in our need for food is at the center of this Paschal Mystery.4

Peter Edmonds SJ, tutor in Biblical Studies at Campion Hall, University of Oxford, comments that the Acts of the Apostles contains many edifying and entertaining stories. One concerns a man lame from birth who each day was deposited at the Beautiful Gate Of the Jerusalem temple.

 May these reflections on Luke as person, historian, theologian and pastor allow the Acts of the Apostles, to which we listen every time we attend the Eucharist during the Easter season,to serve as a Beautiful Gate which will lead its readers to a more profound understanding of Christ and the early years of Christianity.5

James Crampsey SJ, Director of the Lauriston Jesuit Centre in Edinburgh, comments that the catechism talks about the shift from the visible to the invisible, but the mission surely is also to allow the invisible to become visible. After all, the invisible becomes visible in the Incarnation.

 

One thing is clear from the Emmaus account: as the visible Christ becomes the invisible Christ, he is no less present in a relationship with the disciples that moves them to mission and proclamation. The breaking of the bread is the visible, prophetic, life-giving gesture of Jesus which actually takes shape in the lives of these disciples. Something like this is at the heart of what is called mystagogy. (proceeding from the visible to the invisible, from the sign to the thing signified, from the sacraments to the mysteries’.[2]) The invisible takes shape in the disciple. By this shall everyone know that you are my disciples. One could speak about the death and resurrection of Christ as the DNA of the Christian. It is what is also called grace, that God-shaping of us by the divine goodness.6

Don Schwager quotes “The Easter Alleluia,” by Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

 "Now therefore, brethren, we urge you to praise God. That is what we are all telling each other when we say Alleluia. You say to your neighbor, "Praise the Lord!" and he says the same to you. We are all urging one another to praise the Lord, and all thereby doing what each of us urges the other to do. But see that your praise comes from your whole being; in other words, see that you praise God not with your lips and voices alone, but with your minds, your lives and all your actions." (excerpt from commentary on Psalm 148)7

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 24:13-35 comments that “Stay with us.” Those three words changed everything for these disciples. When their fellow traveler broke the bread, they recognized him as Jesus, risen from the dead. He had been walking by their side all along!

 

When we ask Jesus to stay with us, it shows our deep longing for him. We don’t want him to leave our side—ever—because, as he did for the disciples, he opens our eyes to spiritual realities we would otherwise miss. He is always ready to fill our hunger for him.8

Friar Jude Winkler explains that the Acts of the Apostles shares the continuation of Jesus' work in the Church. The Resurrected Jesus is the same but changed in three appearances in Luke. Friar Jude reminds us of the connection of Luke to the Stoic idea that God has a plan for Creation.

 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, offers part of Mirabai Starr’s wonderful translation of Julian of Norwich’s Showings, which is also aptly called Revelations of Divine Love.

 

Sometimes, however, that sacred sweetness lies deeply buried, and we fall again into blindness, which leads to all kinds of sorrow and tribulation. So we must take comfort in the essential article of our faith that teaches us not to give into our negative impulses, but to draw strength from Christ, who is our defender against all harm. We need to stand up against evil, even if to do so causes discomfort—even pain—and pray for the time when God will once again reveal himself and fill our hearts with the sweetness of his presence. And so we remain in this muddle all the days of our lives. But our Beloved wants us to trust that he is always with us.9

We have Jesus with us in community, Word, and Sacrament as we attend to His Way of fullness in life.

 

References

1	(n.d.). Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB. Retrieved April 7, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/3
2	(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 105 | USCCB. Retrieved April 7, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/es/node/3843?33=
3	(n.d.). Luke, CHAPTER 24 | USCCB. Retrieved April 7, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/24
4	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Creighton University. Retrieved April 7, 2021, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/040721.html
5	(2012, May 9). Easter Reading: The Acts of the Apostles | Thinking Faith: The online .... Retrieved April 7, 2021, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20120509_1.htm
6	(2012, April 25). Mystagogy and the Synoptic Gospels | Thinking Faith: The online .... Retrieved April 7, 2021, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20120425_1.htm
7	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved April 7, 2021, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/
8	(2021, April 7). Wednesday within the Octave of Easter - The Word Among Us. Retrieved April 7, 2021, from https://wau.org/meditations/2021/04/07/183831/
9	(2021, April 7). A Sacred Sweetness — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved April 7, 2021, from https://cac.org/a-sacred-sweetness-2021-04-07/