Second Sunday of Easter Year B | Homily for 7th April 2024

 

My dear friends today we celebrate the Second Sunday of Easter Year B and also Divine Mercy Sunday. The readings reveal to us the significance of the resurrection or the answer to the question what does the resurrection of Jesus make possible? In the first reading taken from the Acts of the Apostles, we get a glimpse into the life of the early Christian community which had grown rapidly. The book of Acts tells us that three thousand were baptized on the Day of Pentecost (2:41) and shortly later those who heard the word and believed “they were numbered about five thousand” (4:4). Therefore, we should not think of the early church as only a small group of believers who stayed together in one house. The early church was a fast-growing community that achieved remarkable unity and harmony, cooperation and interdependent identity – they were of one heart and soul.

A key feature of this community was that everyone was included. Each member was an equal. The text tells us “no one claimed private ownership of any possessions.” (Acts 4:32) The focus is not so much on mutual concern but mutual identity – an identity based on belonging to Jesus. Following Jesus’ example of complete surrender to God, the early church renounced all they are and own into God’s hands. This wasn’t communism neither was it mere charity. The sharing was completely voluntary and private property was surrendered only as it was needed for a particular situation. Also, giving up personal property was not a requirement for membership in this group of believers. It was not a case of the rich doling out their excess to provide for the poor and the poor becoming dependent on the rich to take care of them. When a need arose, someone who had some resources willingly contributed those resources to meet the need. The apostles distributed the resources accordingly. There was no shame in asking, and no pride in sharing.

The narrative of the early Church presents before us an ideal that is much required in today’s times. It invites us to reflect on our attitude to money and possessions. Do we possess money or does money possess us? The media propagates that happiness and peace are possible only by possessing more and more things. The bigger your house or TV is the more happy you will be. The reading makes us aware of the shallowness of this message. True happiness and peace come from belonging to the community and reaching out to those in need. When we are of one heart and soul, when none of us thinks we are better or superior to our neighbour, but we hold all things in common, then we experience the grace of the risen Lord.

The second reading taken from the first letter of John, is addressed to a community that was facing a crisis regarding the identity of Jesus caused by false teachers who had left the church. The letter reminds the community that everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah — the anointed Son of God — has been born of God. As God’s children, they can be rest assured that they are loved and protected by their divine parent. If they love God, then naturally they will love anyone born of God too. The child of God referred to is first and foremost Jesus, but this also includes any child of God. If we have any love for the Father, we need to honour his love for his children by sharing his love for them.

When we keep God’s commandments, we not only demonstrate that we love God’s children but we also demonstrate that we love God. John says that faith is the key to victory over the world. As long as we have faith in the Lord Jesus we can be assured that the faithful people will avoid temptations and will overcome the world slowly but surely. John refutes the false teachers who would not accept that Christ could be associated with the physical elements of water and blood by using those terms to refer to Jesus’ baptism and death. In the latter part, he mentions that the Holy Spirit dwelling among us and within us will bear witness to Jesus, who came by water and blood to save the world. The conclusion that we can draw from this passage is quite significant - Every child of God is linked to Jesus. Hence, every injustice done to a child of God is an injustice done to God Himself. Every act of violence committed against a child of God is violence committed against Jesus Himself. This awareness has to grow deeper in each one of us.

In the gospel taken from John, we witness how the first disciples struggled with the reality of the crucifixion of Jesus and were still unsure about the resurrection. Despite Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the risen Lord, instead of celebrating, the disciples were hiding behind locked doors. Jesus, however, appears in their midst and greets them “Peace be with you”. Again Jesus speaks a blessing of peace and tells them, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” and then goes ahead and gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit – the Advocate who was promised to the disciples (Jn 14:16-17). We then have Jesus speaking about the forgiveness of sins followed by the episode of Thomas coming to believe in the resurrection.

One of the important aspects in the gospel of John is the pre-requisite of believing in Jesus as the Messiah (Jn 20:31). The believing disciples are then sent on a mission. What is this mission? While there are different ways to interpret this, I believe that fundamentally the mission is to continue Jesus’ mission of revealing the love of God to the world. The resurrection of Jesus makes it possible for us to be channels of peace and reconciliation. Our world today is torn apart by violence and war. Society is merely a reflection of what is going on inside each one of us. We need to ask ourselves, are we at peace? Do we get a good night’s sleep or are we taken up with regrets about the past and anxieties about the future? If we are at peace within only then can we bring peace outside. One of the essential factors in experiencing peace is reconciliation. And Jesus gives us the key to reconciliation when he speaks about forgiveness. Only when we are reconciled with God, others and ourselves will we be able to experience true peace within ourselves.

Like all communities, the early church too was not homogenous. Each community will have a betraying Judas, a denying Peter and a doubting Thomas and this is what makes community building a challenge. If we desire to create a community that would be like the early Christian community we must not look at creating regional or linguistic or caste or even religion-based communities, we must instead work towards creating human communities.

I pray that this Easter season we may all experience peace and reconciliation, first, in our own lives and then in the society at large. May we all experience the overflowing love and mercy of God on this Divine Mercy Sunday. May God bless us all.