3rd Sunday of Easter
Acts 2: 14, 22-33; 1 Peter 1: 17-21; Lk 24: 13-35
Dc. Larry Brockman
Just what is our salvation all about, have you ever really thought about that? For the Jews in ancient time, who eagerly awaited their Messiah, salvation meant restoration of the glory days of Israel, the days of King David and King Solomon. They were looking for a worldly Messiah. Jesus didn’t fit that bill at all. In fact, Jesus suffered one of the most humiliating and desecrating deaths that a Jew could suffer- death by hanging on a tree. Jewish scriptures could easily be cited that implied a person who suffered such a death could not be from God. And so, most of the Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah- and with righteous conviction, they rejected Jesus based on their own scriptures. So, what is so amazing is that Christianity established any roots at all in such a difficult environment- a Jewish people whose scriptures and culture rejected Jesus as an outcast living in a secular Roman state whose only recognized God was Caesar and multiple mythical imperfect gods. There simply must have been something to Christianity, there must have been something that really happened, something that was so significant that it transformed those who became exposed to Jesus with such tremendous conviction that they were willing to endure anything for their Faith. I believe that the Easter event, which we continue to celebrate this week and for several more weeks, is it- that is, it is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
And just what is so special about Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ; and just what was so transforming about his message and the Easter event? I think it was a realization of something very, very profound. It was a glimpse of the certainty of something, the certainty of something that otherwise seemed so unreal, unintuitive, and even impossible- the fulfillment of the Covenant promising salvation and everlasting life. Yes, everlasting life was proven a certainty by the Resurrection!
Now the Jews of Jesus time were split on the resurrection and after life. Some, like the Pharisees, believed in an after life; others- the Sadducees, did not. These competing groups would argue about it; but they didn’t know what it was like. They hadn’t experienced a resurrected person. All they could do was speculate. But that all changed on the first Easter Sunday and for 40 or so days afterward because hundreds of people, people like you and I, actually saw the resurrected Jesus. And that was a transforming event because it did two things. First, it opened their eyes to the fact that this was the real promise to the Jews of a Messiah and Salvation all along. That is why Peter quotes King David this morning- Peter proves that David’s words in scripture are not about an earthly salvation and the restoration of an earthly kingdom, but rather, they are about a new life in the everlasting Kingdom of God. Peter openly argues that the words of David simply cannot be about restoration of David’s Kingdom, as the Jews had always interpreted them. Why- because the earthly Messiah, like all other human beings, will suffer corruption? The Holy One, the True Messiah, according to David, will not suffer corruption. Jesus resurrected body validated the incorruptible after life. And this eye opening realization would revolutionize the way the other Old Testament Scriptures were read as well. That is a major point in today’s Gospel- we hear how Jesus personally interpreted all the scriptures in the Jewish Old Testament that talked about himself as the Messiah. Indeed, this realization of the fulfillment of the Covenant was a cause of great joy, because it made the entire tradition of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses and David and Solomon instantly relevant. Not only that, Jesus resurrection meant that the covenant had just been fulfilled in their own times- they were seeing it. It was real, and it felt real.
But that wasn’t all. In addition, Jesus was the living proof of the reality of everlasting life. Jesus proved he was alive; that he was not a ghost; and that he could eat and drink. Despite his mortal wounds and entombment for 3 days, he was very much alive and in a transformed, incorruptible state. There were hundreds of witnesses to all of that. But more than that, Jesus promised repeatedly in his resurrection appearances that those who repented of their old way of life, believed in Him, and followed His teaching, would share in the everlasting life that He, Jesus, was living.
So, these two realities, the fulfillment of the Old Testament Covenant and the Living Resurrected Christ, made the Resurrection the transforming event it was to those who saw and heard it at the time. They were forever changed, because they believed; they were convinced; it was so real to them; that no matter what would happen to them in this world, they were guaranteed, through Faith, everlasting life.
The Gospels and New Testament Scriptures record all of this for our benefit, and our Church, through the Church Calendar each year, commemorates and relives this wonderful Easter event. We who are living some 2000 years later are privileged to the same promise. It should be just as transforming for us. But is it?
Now one of the things that people often discuss these days is the afterlife. Does it exist, and if so, what is it like. People share “God incidents” in which they may have experienced the presence of God when they are in the Adoration Chapel, or dreams or visions of their relatives who are deceased; or little things that happen that are signs in answer to prayers of intercession; and some folks have near death experiences, and have lived to tell about wonderful glimpses of an afterlife. Other folks haven’t experienced any of that, and some people might even be skeptical of those who do. It’s like most of us want to believe in the Resurrection and the promise of life after death, but deep down, we still long for proof.
But actually, we don’t really need any of these experiences or any new proof to convince us of our salvation. We have the Easter story- and that is why we spend 40 days each year celebrating Easter. It comes down to a very simple thing in the end. Recall the end of today’s Gospel story on Thomas. Jesus tells Thomas: “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed”. Yes, blessed are we who just believe even though we have not seen.
