The Last Supper Discourse from John’s gospel, read as a mystagogic catechesis, begins appropriately in our lectionary today with Jesus washing his disciples’ feet– an act of mercy– and continues with a reminder of human sinfulness and betrayal. He did not call perfect disciples; he does not eat with perfect disciples, nor does he send out perfect disciples.
Jesus took the form of a slave when he came among us today’s gospel says. At every Eucharist he comes to wash away our sins we’re reminded in the initial rites of the Mass. At the same time we’re call to be merciful, following him.
“You were sent to heal the contrite, Lord have mercy. You came to call sinners, Christ have mercy. You plead for us at the right hand of the Father, Lord have mercy.”
When Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet, he said to them: “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it. I am not speaking of all of you. I know those whom I have chosen. But so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me. From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” (John 13:16-20)
The Last Supper Discourse is a wonderful way to reflect on the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.
When Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to his disciples and other witnesses to show them he was alive. He also began in that time to wean them away from knowing him physically. His resurrection appearances are occasional. None of them are long. All of them verify he is risen body and spirit. He’s alive.
He also reveals himself to them in signs.
“Is this it?” St. Ambrose begins with those words one his catechetical sermons to newly baptized Christians. “Is this it?”The Christian life may not be the vision of Paradise the scriptures describe, the saint says. The Christian life is a life of signs, the signs of sacraments. But they wonder: “Is this it?”
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, another of the great catechists of the early church, heard the same question in his church when he was instructing catechumens. In his catechetical sermons after Easter he told them to look for Christ in the scriptures as Jesus told his first disciples to do. The Holy Spirit will reveal him to you. he told them..
Easter time is the church’s time for “mystagogic catechesis”, a big word for learning to see the presence of Jesus in sacraments. Those who saw him bodily had to learn to see him in another way –through signs, like bread and wine, water, gathering together to remember him, in the scriptures that speak of him, in the poor and suffering who are wounded like him, in the signs of the times that unfold before them.
That’s the way Jesus will remain with them, and that’s the way Jesus remains with us. Ascending into heaven, he returned to the right hand of the Father, but it also ended one way of seeing him and began another.
From Easter to Pentecost this is the myste the liturgy unfolds so beautifully. In our readings these last few days we’re told we will hear the voice of the shepherd rather than see him. On Thursday, we’ll begin reading the Last Supper discourse from John’s Gospel for the remaining days of the Easter season.
Some commentators, like those in the Jesus Seminar, question whether Jesus actually spoke the words of the Last Supper discourse in John at the Last Supper; they claim it’s a prime example of the historical inaccuracy of the New Testament.
Should we see instead John’s Last Supper discourse arising from the new presence of Jesus in sacraments, and so an early mystagogic catechesis?
In Peter’s important discourse after meeting the Roman soldier Cornelius in Caesaria Maritime, he says: “This man God raised (on) the third day and granted that he be visible not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” (Acts 10:$0-41)
Peter and the others ate and drank with Jesus after his resurrection. He invites Cornelius and his household to be baptised. Doesn’t he also invite him to share in the continuation of the Last Supper meal, to eat and drink with Jesus who shares his body and blood in signs, whose voice is heard in signs? He is present. His presence is real, a sacramental presence.
For this week’s homily please watch the video below.
The Good Shepherd
During the Easter season the church remembers Jesus in symbolic ways, ways he speaks of himself in the gospel: “I am the vine,” “I am the Bread of Life,” and the description of himself he gives in our gospel today: “ I am the Good Shepherd.”
Jesus spoke of himself in these ways because they’re the ways we know the Risen Christ now, not by seeing him, but in signs and symbols. His own disciples had to learn to know him in these ways after his resurrection. We must learn them too.
You can see Jesus weaning them away from knowing him physically in the way he appears to them. How occasional and fleeting they are. None of them are long. All of them verify he is risen body and spirit. He’s alive. But besides proving he’s alive, Jesus in his easter appearances weans his followers away from seeing him bodily. “Do not cling to me,” he says to Mary Magdalene. “Stay with us, Lord,” the disciples say to him at Emmaus” but after breaking bread with them, he disappears from their sight.
Now, they’re going to see him in another way –through signs, like bread and wine, water, in gatherings where together they remember him, in the scriptures which speak of him, in the poor and suffering who are wounded like him, in the signs of the times that unfold before them.
That’s the way Jesus will remain with them, through signs, and that’s the way Jesus remains with us.
The Good Shepherd who cares for his sheep is a good description of Jesus with us today., He is the shepherd, we are his sheep. Most of us are not experts in shepherds and sheep but we do know enough about them to recognize ourselves in them and Jesus in the shepherd.
Sheep, at least those domestically raised, need to be cared for. They don’t seem to know the best places to graze. They need to be directed to good grazing land. Sheep seem to be animals that have their eyes fixed on the small plot of life before their eyes.
I’m sure most of you have seen pictures of those wonderful shepherd dogs that are raised to watch the sheep, to corral them, to keep them together.
Speaking for himself, Jesus says he is a shepherd who cares for his sheep. Not only does he care for them but if one is lost he goes in search of it. When he finds it he cradles it tenderly in his arms and brings it back to the flock, and rejoices. However far the sheep strays, he will go in search of it. However far we stray, he will search for us and lead us back to be safely in his presence.
Jesus was himself fulfilling that beautiful prayer we sang as our responsery song today.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
That’s what Jesus does. He is our shepherd. He leads his sheep and guides us through “a dark valley” into experiences and ways we weren’t expecting. Robbers and thieves threaten our way. But we hear the voice of the shepherd, calling us each by name. We can hear his voice.
The short scriptural summaries in morning and evening prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours during the Easter Season are important teachers of the mystery of the Resurrection of Jesus.
Jesus, risen from the dead, takes his place at the right hand of the Father and as our high priest saves those who approach God through him, interceding for them. (Hebrews 7:24-27) We are saved by confessing him on our lips and believing in our hearts he is our Lord. (Romans 10:8-10)
Passages from the Acts of the Apostles repeat the message of those who first saw the Risen Christ. Two early sermons are especially important. Peter says to the Roman centurion Cornelius and his household that “ God raised (Jesus) on the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. (Acts 10:40-43)
Paul speaking to Jews and gentiles in a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch has a similar message: For many days after his resurrection, Jesus “appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. God raised him from the dead.These are [now] his witnesses before the people. We ourselves are proclaiming this good news to you that what God promised our ancestors he has brought to fulfillment for us, their children, by raising up Jesus, as it is written in the second psalm, ‘You are my son; this day I have begotten you.’” (Acts 13: 30-33)
Elsewhere Paul describes how the Risen Jesus, after appearing to the Galilean disciples, also appeared to him. “Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me.” ( 1 Corinthians 15: 8)
The Resurrection of Jesus fulfills a promise God made long ago to save his people, the accounts insist, and now the promise is shared with the whole world.
Besides human witnesses, the Holy Spirit testifies to the Resurrection of Jesus by signs and wonders, Peter tells the crowds gathered in Jerusalem after Pentecost “God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins. We are witnesses of these things, as is the holy Spirit that God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:30-32)
In his Resurrection Jesus becomes a living stone enlivening a new creations , Peter says in a frequent reading in the Easter Season. “Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2: 1-5 )
The short readings in the church’s morning and evening prayers and liturgy during the Easter Season invite us into the mystery of Jesus’ Resurrection . Jesus does not leave us orphans or forget us. “Son though he was, Christ learned obedience from what he suffered:” he knows our human ways and he carries our wounds in his risen body. We are branches on a vine that reaches from earth to heaven.
Liturgy is a patient teacher. The prayers and readings of the Easter Season introduce us gradually into the mystery of Christ. Like the first disciples we’re slow learners. We’re learners day by day, year by year.
For this week’s homily please watch the video below.
During the easter season, we read accounts of the resurrection of Jesus from all four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. On the 3rd Sunday, St. Luke’s account is read. All the gospels tell the same story of Jesus resurrection, but each gospel writer has his own way of telling the story.
The women who followed Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover are important in Luke’s story as well as the two disciples on their way to Emmaus. They had heard Jesus preach and saw him work wonders in Galilee. In Jerusalem they witnessed his death and then went with those who took his body down from the cross, carrying it wrapped in a linen cloth to the tomb close by where they placed it.
After the Feast of Passover, early in the morning, some of the women from Galilee – Luke mentions Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James, among them–returned to the tomb with spices and ointments to complete the traditional Jewish anointing of his body. (Luke 24: 1-12)
They were puzzled when they found the stone enclosing the tomb rolled back and the tomb itself empty.
Then, two heavenly messengers “in dazzling garments appeared to them. They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground.
They said ‘He is not here, he has been raised…Remember what he said to you in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.’
“And they remembered his words. They returned from the tomb and announced all these things to the eleven and to all the others. but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them.(Luke 25)
Luke continues his resurrection account with the story of two other followers of Jesus, the disciples on their way to Emmaus. They are also told to remember what Jesus had said about his death and resurrection, and also to recognize him in the breaking of the bread. Will the women from Galilee also meet the Risen Christ in the scriptures and the bread?
Many churches have stained glass windows of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. A window of Jesus’ rising from the tomb, shining in great glory while the soldiers guarding the tomb are blinded by the light is a popular one. But the gospels depict Jesus’ resurrection appearances quite differently.
In the gospel accounts the tomb is not the usual place where Jesus shows himself risen. He appears to the women on their way from the tomb carrying the fearful news he’s been raised from the dead, in Matthew’s gospel. He appears in the city in a locked room Easter Sunday evening where his disciples are hiding in fear. He appears to disciples who have gone back to Galilee, who are probably still trying to make sense of all that has happened.
In Luke’s gospel today, Jesus appears far from the tomb, to two disciples leaving Jerusalem and going home after the terrible crucifixion. Again, he doesn’t appear in glory, they haven’t the slightest idea who he is when he first joins them on their way. He seems like someone else leaving Jerusalem after an awful experience.
How does Jesus make himself known to them? He describes the Messiah in simple words from the prophets and the psalms. “As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them.With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight.
Is that the way Jesus appears to us now? In the readings we read, in the bread we have? He appeared to women on their way fearful and confused, to his disciples hiding in a locked room, to these disciples disappointed and losing hope, ready to give up. Is that the way it is with us now?
Is Jesus speaking to us in the words of scripture we’re listening to now, in the bread we eat now, in the fears, hopes and disappointments we have now? The Risen Jesus is not gone and far away. He is here, with us now.
“The Lord be with you,” we hear as our gospel is announced. Yes, he is.
Easter’s over for many people, but it isn’t over. We celebrate Easter for 50 days, from the Easter vigil till the feast of Pentecost. It’s a long day. Over and over we say: “This is the day the Lord has made.”
The reason we celebrate the long day of Easter is because the Lord’s plan takes time to understand. Jesus spent many days with his disciples, who were “slow to understand.” So are we.
Cardinal Newman spoke of this long day:
“Let us rejoice in the Day that He has made… the Day of His Power. This is Easter Day. Let us say this again and again to ourselves with fear and great joy. As children say to themselves, ‘This is the spring,’ or ‘This is the sea,’ trying to grasp the thought, and not let it go; as travellers in a foreign land say, ‘This is that great city,’ or ‘This is that famous building,’ knowing it has a long history through centuries, and vexed with themselves that they know so little about it; so let us say, This is the Day of Days, the Royal Day, the Lord’s Day.
“This is the Day on which Christ arose from the dead; the Day which brought us salvation. It is a Day which has made us greater than we know. It is our Day of rest, the true Sabbath. Christ entered into His rest, and so do we. It brings us, in figure, through the grave and gate of death to our season of refreshment in Abraham’s bosom. We have had enough of weariness, and dreariness, and listlessness…
“May we grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, season after season, year after year, till He takes to Himself, first one, then another, in the order He thinks fit, to be separated from each other for a little while, to be united together for ever, in the kingdom of His Father and our Father, His God and our God.”
John Henry Newman, “Difficulty of Realizing Sacred Privileges,”
Today’s first reading at Mass describes the early Christian community in glowing terms: “The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own but they had everything in common. With great power the Apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the Apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need. (Acts 4, 32-37)
The community described here and in Acts 2, 33-47 is an important model for the church. It has influenced Catholic social teaching over the centuries. What would our world be like if the world community, individual nations, the church, the parish, the family could be like this? In a society like ours where excessive individualism is so strong, where so much wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of so few, this ideal is surely appealing.
A note in the New American Bible, however, cautions that Luke is painting a “somewhat idyllic” picture of the early Christian community. Idyllic means idealized, even unsustainable. In other words, given human nature, the early Christian community never measured up altogether to the picture Luke paints.
The commentator Luke Timothy Johnson suggests Luke’s glowing picture might be influenced by the Hellenistic writers of his time– like Plato–who describes the early days of Athens as a time when “none of its members possessed any private property but they regarded all they had as the common possession of all.” Early writers also put great stock in friendship; people of “one heart and mind become builders of community. ” (The Acts of the Apostles. Sacra Pagina, Collegeville, Min 1992 p. 62)
Reading Luke’s description of the Christian community, then, we need to avoid the temptation to look for utopias. We can’t expect perfect communities anywhere. They don’t exist here on earth. Nor should we think they existed in the past and all has gone downhill since. That’s“Golden Age” thinking. Our readings from Acts of the Apostles in the Easter season describe an enthusiastic, dedicated group of Jesus’ followers. The gospels describe more skeptical followers, like Thomas and Nicodemus. We have to keep both groups in mind; they make up our church too.
At the same time, though, we can’t give up on the ideal Luke presents and think it unreal. It’s an ideal to be aimed at, a norm to measure ourselves and the communities we belong to. Not to strive for Luke’s ideal is to lose faith in the mystery of the resurrection. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” We have to pray for and work for God’s kingdom to come now, here and now.
21 Fri Glorious Wounds of Christ Zec 12;10-17/Jn 20:24-29
Easter Weekday[Saint Anselm, Bishop and Doctor of the Church]
Acts 5:34-42/Jn 6:1-15
22 Sat Easter Weekday Acts 6:1-7/Jn 6:16-21
23 SUN THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER Acts 2:14, 22-33/1 Pt 1:17-21/Lk 24:13-35
The church grows gradually after the resurrection. The followers of Jesus meet him, but they’re slow to believe. The ApostleThomas exemplifies their skepticism. The week’s gospel readings from John introduce us to another group slow to believe– people like Nicodemus, who comes to Jesus by night. Nicodemus, supposedly a well-informed religious person, only understands Jesus Christ slowly.
Our readings from the Acts of the Apostles describes a later time when the apostles witness bravely in the temple after the Holy Spirit comes upon them at Pentecost. “Uneducated, ordinary men,” the temple leaders call them, but they proclaim boldly God’s mighty works in Jesus Christ. Told to end their witness, they cannot. “It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.” They’re persecuted, imprisoned, yet the number of believers grows.
The healing of the crippled man which we read about last Wednesday is only the beginning of the healing miracles that accompany the preaching of the resurrection of Jesus. Signs must accompany preaching. Signs not only prove the credibility of the witnesses; they point out that God is creatively restoring humanity and the earth itself.
The Acts of the Apostles for Saturday points to a new development of the Christian community. ( Acts 6:1-7) Seven men are chosen to provide for the needs of Greek-speaking followers of Jesus, Stephen and Philip among them. This leads to Christians breaking away from Jerusalem, its temple and its laws, for a new center in Antioch in Syria.
On Friday the Passionists celebrate the “Glorious Wounds of Christ.” We also begin reading about the miracle of the loaves from the 6th chapter of John’s gospel, an important reading for the Easter season. Bread is a sign that the Risen Jesus remains with us. Bread, “which earth has given and human hands have made,” is also a sign that creation itself shares in the mystery of the Lord’s resurrection. We will continue to read from John’s gospel into next week: the mystery of the Eucharist has a major place in the Easter season.
Since the Easter Vigil we’ve been reading the resurrection accounts from the four gospels.
Today John’s Gospel takes us to Galilee with Peter and the other disciples. It’s the third time Jesus appeared to them, John’s Gospel says, a week after Good Friday. Tradition says it took place at Tabgha, a stretch of wooded land just south of Capernaum, the center of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. Fresh water from seven springs flow into the lake there.
It was an obvious place for fishermen to come for water or to eat after a night’s fishing. Peter and the others returned to Galilee after that first Easter and went fishing, John’s gospel says. ( John 21) An ancient church marks the spot at Tabgha; it’s a likely place.
They caught nothing through the night, but at dawn they heard a call from the shore to cast out their nets again.“… Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
Then, they caught a large catch of fish. Jesus called from the shore to come eat some fish at a fire he had started; he gave them bread and some fish to eat and revealed himself to them.
Peter has a big role in this story. After they ate, Jesus took him aside and asks him three times “Do you love me?”
Three times the apostle who cursed and swore he did not know him, three times he answers “Yes, I do. I love you.” And Jesus tells him “Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep.”
Peter isn’t alone here. The other disciples and all of us receive that same gift of mercy.
There’s a statue at Tabgha in memory of that beautiful meeting of mercy between Peter and Jesus. No scolding words,. No “I told you so.” No warning, “You do that again and …” No demotion.
Rather, Jesus gives Peter new responsibility.“Feed my lambs” he says. God’s mercy does not take away, but gives more. The disciples look again at what happened in Galilee and see more than they saw before. They look again at what Jesus did, what he said and promised. They will proclaim it to others, to all nations, as they are told by Jesus to do.
A reading in our liturgy from the Acts of the Apostles accompanies this reading from John’s Gospel, offering an example of Peter’s address to the people in Jerusalem after Pentecost, fearlessly proclaiming the good news he has heard. We can hear in his words something of what he learned personally on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. He echoes God’s forgiving love spoken to him. Now he proclaims God ’s forgiveness to others.
I’ll leave you with some pictures of the beautiful place recalled today on the Friday of Easter. The previous Friday Jesus promised the thief at his side forgiveness and a place in his kingdom. Today, the Risen Jesus brings Peter, the disciples, and us, the promise of mercy and a call to follow him.
The Victor's Place 