Common Stuff - Homily Easter Sunday

Common Stuff
ACTS 10:34A, 37-43; 1 COR 5:6B-8; JN 20:1-9

Each of us has something in common with the apostles from that first Easter morning. What can it be?

Breakfast – not all of us had breakfast; we don’t know about the apostles. Possibly, it is coffee; no coffee for the apostles. In the gospel, they all got up and went for a run. Nope, I didn’t run.

The mother might think, “It’s getting everybody up and dressed to come to Jesus just like Mary.” That’s a good suggestions but I don’t think that’s it.

Maybe, it’s belief. The disciple Jesus loved “saw and believed.” I’m not sure what he believed except that Jesus wasn’t in the tomb. The gospel says “He did not yet understand the scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.”

Mary believed. She believed that someone had stolen the body of Jesus. She ran to the first person she saw and asked what had happened to the body of Jesus.  

Peter believed, probably, that Mary was a hysterical woman.

The gospel doesn’t tell us what Peter believed. He ran to the tomb with a “show me” attitude. What Peter sees makes him think; but, he did not yet understand the Scripture.

Peter doesn’t go and gather the apostles saying let’s start Jesus’ Church. He doesn’t go immediately and preach the Gospel. I think Peter, known to be a hot head, was mad; so he gets his friends and goes fishing.

In three years with Jesus, the apostles heard Jesus prophesy, saw miracles, and recognized Him as the Son of God. Yet, at the empty tomb did they understand, Jesus was risen.

Amazingly, it might not be belief we have in common with the apostles. We believe Jesus has risen. Maybe we can figure it out by the other readings.

Peter who went fishing speaks in the Acts of the Apostles. “He commissioned us to preach and testify that he is the one appointed by God.”

Paul wasn’t one of the original 12, but he persecuted Christ. Paul writes, “Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.”

It seems their understanding was awakened.

That’s it. THEY WOKE UP AND GOT OUT OF BED.

They woke up that Easter morning just like we did this Easter morning. They went to find Jesus. We came to find Jesus. Alleluia! We open our eyes to the promise of Easter morning.

A lot of people have things in common with the apostles. It is true in the United States and all over the world. People get up on Easter morning. They go to find Jesus and find an empty tomb.

Some go home. Some go back to sleep. Some go fishing for something else. Some speak against the Church. We all react different because we believe but we don’t understand.

Belief isn’t easy.

I presided at a funeral for a young man who died in a horrific accident. Speaking with his mother she said that he went to mass some of the time. Mostly, he had fallen away. He was well read and well educated. I wondered if this caused him not to believe.

I asked his mother about her son’s beliefs. She said I know he believed because he was always mad at God.

During my life, I have been mad at God and I know others with the same feelings. We believe but we don’t understand.

So many times we’re still asleep; but, the wonderful thing is we can wake up.

Jesus Christ is risen. He is alive. Because he is alive he comes to us. He comes to us in the love and charity we have for each other. He comes in the justice we bring to the world. He comes to us in the face of the poor, the suffering, the persecuted, and the marginalized.

When people come to St. Lawrence they don’t find an empty tomb but God’s temple alive with Christ.

I pray those looking for Jesus find him. I pray they find Jesus in our faces. I pray they find believers that live and preach the gospel of Christ. I pray those angry with God lose their anger and wake up to his mercy. I pray we all wake up to the promise of Easter.

Christ is risen so everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name. His mercy endures forever, even for those of us who are still asleep.

Y’all be good, y’all be holy. Preach the gospel by the way you live and love. Amen