27 April 2014 - The Second Sunday of Easter
Shared Homily Starter
First Reading: |
Acts 2.42-47 |
Second Reading: |
1 Peter 1.3-9 |
Gospel Reading:
|
John 20.19-31 |
During
the Easter Season, people who went through the Rite of Christian
Initiation for Adults, commonly known as the RCIA program, enter the
final stage of the RCIA process, called Mystagogy. Mystagogy is the
period after Baptism meant to be one of spiritual
growth where the newly baptized learn ways to strengthen their faith
and apply it to their daily lives. But this time is also a special
time for us; a time to recommit to metanoia, that is, to our ongoing
transformation and conversion-- individually and communally.
The
early Christians in the First Reading present the picture of
practices that bring about mystagogy and metanoia. They faithfully
continued in the Apostle's teaching, they socialized and shared
everything with each other, practised neighbourly love, broke earthly
and sacramental bread together and prayed together. We get the
picture that they were a joyous people. They were confident in their
Messiah's love and had each other for support in good times and bad.
It appears also that their discipleship was magnetic and sustaining.
Even
though the Church has fractured into denominations and factions
within denominations, there still exists across the fragmentation,
those who, whether they know it or not, are closely connected through
their faithfulness in discipleship. From the distance of time, we
can see this enduring faithful discipleship speaks to the truth of
what Peter is saying in the Second Reading.
To
put it in down-to-earth terms. Rome, which saw itself as the
all-powerful ruler of the world, we know, as an empire, has indeed
perished from the earth. Yet these two thousand plus years later,
the name, words and works of the One they crucified lives on.
Although we have not seen Him, we love Him and to the best of our
abilities, try to follow him.
Following
Jesus, for us means trying to understand the Scriptures and today's
Gospel contains an element that has been used to exercise the type of
religious tyranny that Jesus spoke out against. I'm talking
specifically about this part, verse 20.23: “If you forgive the
sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any,
they are retained.’”
The
Holy Spirit, breathed upon the disciples by Jesus, is given in turn
through Baptism to all believers. Hence, the power to forgive sins
is meant to affect all believers. Regarding
this verse, the
late Roman Catholic priest and biblical scholar, Raymond Brown, wrote
... we doubt that there is
sufficient evidence to confine the power of forgiving and holding of
sin, granted in John 20.23, to a specific exercise of power in the
Christian community, whether that be admission to Baptism or
forgiveness in Penance. These are but partial manifestation of a
much larger power, namely, the power to isolate, repel, and negate
evil and sin, a power given to Jesus in his mission by the Father and
given in turn by Jesus through the Spirit to those whom he
commissions. It is an effective, not merely a declaratory, power
against sin, a power that touches new and old followers of Christ, a
power that challenges those who refuse to believe.1
Brown
is saying this power is not exercised by some incantation said by a
priest. It is a power that should bring about a change of heart.
Discipleship entails helping each other and our neighbours persevere
in the ways of love, justice, and peace-- and forgiveness.
Forgiveness has two aspects, inward and outward. We practice the
inward aspect when we seek to reestablish right relationship because
we have failed to act with love or when we have hurt or harmed
someone in any way. When someone fails to act lovingly with us,
hurts or harms us, we practice the outward aspect of forgiveness when
we are willing to forgive and graciously accept attempts at
reconciliation. When this outward aspect of forgiveness is too hard
for us to do alone, we can pray for God to forgive them until we can
do so ourselves.
Living
a way of life according to the will of God is not exclusively
Christian, just as Christianity is not devoid of those who love
power, money and position. Those who are addicted to power, money,
position, will misunderstand, ridicule or despise lovers of
compassion, justice and peace. Therefore, the retaining of sin is
not something God does, or a priest does or that we do, sin is
self-retained by anyone who refuses to act
justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God. This
is not an “us and them” scenario because in varying degrees there
are parts of “them” in “us.” We are called to love them as
ourselves-- and the “them” in ourselves. We are called to pray
for unity and oneness with the Creator's will, and just maybe by
living lives of constant conversion, all “themness” will be
transformed into Godliness. Alleluia Alleluia!
Please
add your own thoughts/reflections
1 Brown,
Raymond Edward. The Gospel According to John (XIII-XXI, Vol. II).
New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 2008, p. 1044.
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