Go and Proclaim

For forty days after his Resurrection, Jesus appeared time after time to His disciples to assure them of two things: (1) he had truly risen from the dead and (2) they were to carry on the work that

he began during His public ministry.

Jesus’ ascension into heaven was both an end and a beginning for His disciples—the end of Jesus’ physical presence with them, but the beginning of his presence with them in a new way. Remember, He promised that He would be with them always to the end of time and part of that promise was to give them the power of His Holy Spirit, which we will see “fulfilled” next Sunday on the Feast of Pentecost. The disciples were not being abandoned.

When Jesus physically departed, Mark tells us His last words were, “Go into the world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” Those words were meant for us as well because we have all been given this task to share—to proclaim the good news. We can rely on the power of the Spirit to accomplish our mission as well.

So the message today is clear: Jesus wants us to finish what He began. Our faith tells us that our task to proclaim the Gospel to every creature is something that we can do because Jesus’ presence is always with us. We can do it where we are; with those we meet, with those we work with, with those we go to school with, etc. Our call is to be a witness for Jesus in our lives—more by what we do than what we say.

You Have a Friend in Me

Throughout the New Testament, we hear Jesus speak over and over about love—232 times to be exact for all you trivia buffs. Other than references to Jesus and God, it’s the most repeated word in the New Testament. It pretty much tells us Jesus wanted us to remember its importance.

Today, Jesus tells us to keep His commandments and goes on further to reduce that to one phrase—love one another as I love you. If we did that, there would be no sin. There would be no violence in this world.

A little further on in John’s Gospel passage Jesus speaks to His disciples (and to us) and says, “I have called you friends…” We put a lot of emphasis on friendship. When we were children, and maybe more so today, it was devastating to us when a person told us we were no longer friends. We take joy in friendship. We grieve at the loss of friendship. Other than family, friends play the most important role in our lives.

So what is Jesus telling us today? He tells us He has chosen us as his friend. We didn’t choose Him as a friend but He chose us! WOW!! He then continues The Message from last week. It’s our responsibility to go out and bear fruit by loving one another.

More of You, Lord

We’ve heard this Gospel from John so often we may let it go right over our heads. However, there is such an important message here, we need to take a fresh look at it.

For a long time we may have incorrectly read that Jesus was the vine and we were the branches and if we didn’t bear fruit we would be cut off the vine and thrown into the fire to be burned. That’s like amputating our arm. That doesn’t make sense and that’s not what this Gospel is saying. If we no longer bear fruit the Gospel says we would be pruned so that we might begin to bear that fruit again. It also says, and this is the important part, that even if we were bearing fruit we need to be pruned as well. 

What in the world does that mean? Most gardeners know that in order to bear more fruit, even if the branches are producing, they need to be pruned back occasionally. Jesus is the vine—the strong and sturdy part of the plant. We need to stay connected and continue to grow through reconciliation and humility. Often our pruning usually occurs as a major event in our life—loss of a spouse, child, job, etc. Our pruning makes us more aware of how dependent we are on the vine. In other words, More of You, Lord and less of us. That’s the message for this week. Let’s remember how totally dependent we are on God and that staying closer to him enables us to bear much fruit.

A Love Without Limits Starts.

It’s Easter Sunday. The pouring rain stopped yesterday. We’re wearing our best “church” clothes. Our parents tell us not to go outside right now. But it’s Easter and it’s sunny now and we sneak out anyway. All of a sudden, we fall down and scrape our knee and get our brand-new outfit all muddy. We might expect to hear, “I told you not to do that! Don’t you ever listen to me?” But our parent’s first reaction is to take us in their arms and comfort us and tell us everything is o.k. We experience their love without a word being said. In human terms, it’s a love without limits. It’s what parents do. They look beyond what has happened and replace that with love.

Now consider the love God has for us. It is exponentially greater than what we can ever imagine. Try to recall a time in the life of Jesus when he turned his back on someone. Those who wouldn’t follow, those who ridiculed him, those with unimaginable sins, those who crucified him were all people who turned their backs on Jesus but He still pursued them. That is truly a love without limits.

Jesus used the imagery of a shepherd because it was a familiar occupation at the time—perhaps not so much today. What’s the message then? If a spouse or a child or a close friend or even an acquaintance hurt us we couldn’t answer how we would respond because we don’t know the circumstances. Jesus could always answer because his response would always be the same—a love without limits.

Jesus doesn’t harbor ill feelings because of things we’ve done or promises we’ve broken. Jesus forgives despite the magnitude of our sin and that’s the example we’re asked to follow today. We are the sheep and Jesus is the shepherd who knows us, loves us and comforts us. We are also the shepherd to all those we come in contact with. That means it’s our responsibility to protect, feed, love and nurture others just like Jesus did.

It’s a tall order but it’s where a love without limits starts.

You Are Witnesses Of These Things

Luke tells us today when Jesus appeared, the disciples’ minds were open and they understood all that they had witnessed. Jesus then tells them, “You are witnesses of these things.” Peter also repeats that same phrase in the first reading today. This is our theme today.

What is a witness? Someone who can attest with confidence to a specific event or events. Yes, you are nervous…but you know what you saw and you speak the truth. A witness CHOOSES to step forward and recount what they saw or heard. That’s what Jesus was asking the disciples then and is asking us today. We’re not recounting an historical event, we’re part of it all. Do you have your doubts? 

Remember the Easter Vigil a few days ago. Christ, represented by the Paschal Candle, was the only light in church. Each of us then received our own light from that Paschal Candle. Each of us received our “marching orders” from the source of the light. What if the first person on that Saturday night refused to light their candle and spread that light to others? The church would have remained dark. Symbolic? Yes. It means we are called to be witnesses to the Light. That’s the message today. We are not bystanders. We are called to be witnesses in life.

Faith Always Trumps Doubt

We hear a version of this Gospel every year after Easter. Why? It’s an important message even today. 

The doors were locked. The courage the apostles showed the last three years with Jesus at their side was replaced with fear. So, when Jesus appeared to them, their knees were knocking. His first words were, “Peace be with you.” Reassuring words! He calmed their fears and brought them peace. We hear that phrase repeated three times in today’s Gospel.

Then Jesus did something which only love and trust can do. He commissioned His weak and timid apostles to preach the Gospel and make new disciples. As the Father had sent Jesus, He now sends them. But to calm their fears and give them strength, his last gift was the Holy Spirit. We get that same gift and we get that same commission—to be disciples and spread the word.

But we hear Thomas wasn’t there. Even though the others told him of Jesus’ resurrection and his appearing to them, he didn’t believe. So Jesus appeared again and Thomas recognized Jesus, believed and exclaimed that Jesus was truly Lord and God! 

Through the gift of faith we, too, proclaim that Jesus is our Lord and God. We may think we couldn’t possibly “preach the Gospel” and make“ disciples” of others. We doubt our abilities and we feel the job of discipleship should be left to someone else.”

Think about it. Jesus laid down his life for us. Is spreading His word too much to ask? We’re not asked to stand on a street corner. We’re asked to lead a life that reflects Christ in us so others may see that light and find hope and consolation in the Resurrected Lord.

Alleluia – He is Risen!

The Resurrection—something without which Christianity would be meaningless. Mary of Magdala tells Jesus’ disciples, who were still unsure of everything that had transpired over the past week, that someone has taken Jesus from the tomb. Peter and John run there, don’t understand but still believe.

We all have a mental picture of this gigantic boulder rolled away from the tomb on Easter morning. These days we have our own boulders as well. Many of us walk through life as if we were already dead and buried. We get caught up in all the false promises of this world and find ourselves in tombs— wrapped in burial cloths of depression and fear. Oftentimes we are trapped in tombs of our own making. 

On this day of rejoicing, we should look at Easter as our “reality check” reminding us believers that the Resurrection is real and it spits in the face of this world’s tombs! Today, that is the message for us. Roll away those heavy stones! Leave the tombs behind! Accept the gift we have been given by Jesus’ Passion, Death and Resurrection. Unbind the self-imposed burial cloths and walk out into the bright Light of Easter.