The
accounts of appearances by the Resurrected Christ in the letters of the
Apostle Paul and in the canonical Gospels are truly priceless. I know
of only one event in the unfolding of history that can be compared to
these visions of Christ raised: the account of Moses encountering the
unknown God--”I AM that I AM”--through the burning bush. History is
indeed constituted by such divine revelations. For human history is
essentially the process of the unfolding of the divine--the eternal--in
the souls of particular men and women. Such divine-human events are the
overwhelming truths of human life. The visions of Christ raised, and
other divine-human encounters, become in time the nucleus around which
human communities build themselves up. The Jewish people will ever be
grounded on God-in-Moses, and the ensuing Exodus from the realm of death
into life under the true God. The Christian Community, the Church,
centers decisively on the experiences of Jesus Christ risen and alive in
His people.
At the Easter Vigil and on Easter Sunday, the faithful heard the account of the empty tomb, and faith responses to the event: “He saw and believed.” On the Second Sunday of Easter we hear the clearest and most complete brief confession of faith in the entire New Testament. On the lips of the Apostle Thomas--believing Thomas--St. John places the extraordinary words in response to the appearance of the Risen LORD: “My Lord and my God!” Faith in Jesus as truly Lord and God, completely one with the unknown God called “the Father,” and guide and ruler of the faithful, remains the bedrock of our Christian faith then, now, and throughout time. In the Risen Christ we encounter the God of Moses, the I AM, fully present in the man, Jesus, and now active, alive, governing His people through faith working by love.
On the Third Sunday of Easter the Church listens to the account of the Risen Christ’s appearance to selected disciples as they were fishing. Typical of the Gospel of John, the passage is packed with symbolic meanings to open us up to the presence of Christ Jesus here and now. We are not only hearing events in the past, but divine-human events that do indeed bring divine reality into human life as we listen, respond with faith, and obey. We hear Jesus question of the Apostle Peter, and free him from guilt and shame for his denial of Christ. The one who denied Jesus three times is now asked three times by the Risen One: “Do you love me?” As Peter responds from the heart--”Yes, LORD, you know well that I love you”--Jesus tells him how to put his love into practice for others: “Feed my sheep.” Through the recount of this event, Christ is telling each of us who has ears to hear: “Feed my sheep, tend my lambs.” Each one of us has some beings in our lives whom we must lovingly tend, and help guide into a deeper union, a living communion, with Christ, and through him, with God and with all creatures in God. Through our faith-union with the Risen Christ, God is restoring humankind and creation. Day by day, through faith working by love, we are being renewed, transformed, even divinized, so that in time beyond time, “God will be all in all.”
At the Easter Vigil and on Easter Sunday, the faithful heard the account of the empty tomb, and faith responses to the event: “He saw and believed.” On the Second Sunday of Easter we hear the clearest and most complete brief confession of faith in the entire New Testament. On the lips of the Apostle Thomas--believing Thomas--St. John places the extraordinary words in response to the appearance of the Risen LORD: “My Lord and my God!” Faith in Jesus as truly Lord and God, completely one with the unknown God called “the Father,” and guide and ruler of the faithful, remains the bedrock of our Christian faith then, now, and throughout time. In the Risen Christ we encounter the God of Moses, the I AM, fully present in the man, Jesus, and now active, alive, governing His people through faith working by love.
On the Third Sunday of Easter the Church listens to the account of the Risen Christ’s appearance to selected disciples as they were fishing. Typical of the Gospel of John, the passage is packed with symbolic meanings to open us up to the presence of Christ Jesus here and now. We are not only hearing events in the past, but divine-human events that do indeed bring divine reality into human life as we listen, respond with faith, and obey. We hear Jesus question of the Apostle Peter, and free him from guilt and shame for his denial of Christ. The one who denied Jesus three times is now asked three times by the Risen One: “Do you love me?” As Peter responds from the heart--”Yes, LORD, you know well that I love you”--Jesus tells him how to put his love into practice for others: “Feed my sheep.” Through the recount of this event, Christ is telling each of us who has ears to hear: “Feed my sheep, tend my lambs.” Each one of us has some beings in our lives whom we must lovingly tend, and help guide into a deeper union, a living communion, with Christ, and through him, with God and with all creatures in God. Through our faith-union with the Risen Christ, God is restoring humankind and creation. Day by day, through faith working by love, we are being renewed, transformed, even divinized, so that in time beyond time, “God will be all in all.”
