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FAITH IN CHRIST’S RESURRECTION MAKES ALL THINGS CLEAR - stephenkhoo - 04-24-2014 09:53 AM
FAITH IN CHRIST’S RESURRECTION MAKES ALL THINGS CLEAR
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ACTS 3:11-26; LK 24:35-48
http://www.universalis.com/20140424/mass.htm
Sometimes when we hear of someone who has been so worldly and incorrigible suddenly converted to the Lord, we are surprised. Or when we hear of someone who has been medically diagnosed as suffering from some terminal illness, miraculously recovered, we cannot but marvel. If we are astonished at such unexplained happenings in our lives, then we are just like the Jews and the apostles before their conversion.
The apostles, too, were surprised when they heard of the resurrection of Jesus from their fellow disciples. They were astounded when Jesus appeared to them in the upper room, showing them the marks of crucifixion left on His risen body. The evangelist recorded that “their joy was so great that they still could not believe it, and they stood there dumbfounded.” The Jews were equally surprised to hear the apostles preaching so courageously at the Temple, when just a few days earlier, they were nowhere in sight. Then when Peter and John healed the crippled man, the Jews were amazed that he was able to walk again.
The question is: as Christians, should we be surprised at all at such miraculous happenings? Shouldn’t it be something that is expected? If we were surprised, it is because we expect things in life to happen within our limited understanding and human power. This was what Peter told the crowd when he declared that the man was healed neither through their power nor their holiness. Indeed, for Peter and John, they were not surprised at all that the man was able to be on his feet again. They had no doubt that it was Jesus who “has brought back the strength of this man … it is faith in that name that has restored” the man to health. The apostles were clearly conscious of the presence of the Risen Lord in their lives; and that He continued to act in and through them. So with the Risen Lord, nothing can be said to be of a surprise any more since He can work anything through them.
In the light of Christ’s resurrection, everything is given its meaning. This is what the scripture readings seek to emphasize to us. With the resurrection of Christ, history becomes clear. Hence, we have the Risen Lord explaining how He is the fulfillment of the salvific plan of God; that He is the One that has been prophesied in the scriptures, from Moses to the prophets and in the psalms. St Peter repeated this motif of Jesus as the fulfillment of history in his speech to the people as well. Nothing is a surprise because God has planned it all along. It is only a surprise because we are ignorant of His providential plan.
So, if we are fearful about the events that are happening in our lives today and, like the apostles, lock ourselves behind closed doors, then it is because we lack faith in the resurrection of Jesus. This was the same experience of the disciples at Emmaus when they were depressed at the death of Jesus. Such is the climate of unbelief today. In a Gallup poll conducted in Britain in 2000, only 38% of those questioned said they believed Jesus was the Son of God. When the same question was asked in 1957, the comparable figure was 71%. One can imagine what the figure would be like today? It is clear that without the resurrection faith we cannot explain the meaning of our lives and history. We are unable to see the things that are happening in our lives and to connect the events.
Faith in Jesus’ resurrection is the key to our continued hope in the world. Yes, with faith in Jesus’ resurrection and His living presence in our midst, there is no question of limiting the power of the gospel. With the Risen Lord, there is nothing we cannot do. In raising Jesus from the dead, we know God writes straight in crooked lines. With the Risen Lord, there will be no surprises because everything is possible in and through Him. In the light of Christ’s resurrection, we know that everything that happens in our lives is within God’s plan and providence.
Peter himself, like the rest of the apostles, experienced the power of the Risen Lord working in and through them. Indeed, in the early Church, the working of miracles and healings always accompanied the preaching of the apostles. These miracles are testimony to the Risen Christ. If the crippled man could walk again, it was because of the power of the name of Jesus. As Peter said, “God, however has raised him from the dead, and to that fact we are the witnesses; and it is in the name of Jesus which through faith in it, has brought back the strength of this man.” If that were so, it means that Jesus is alive and continues to live and work through and among them. If we surrender in faith to the Risen Christ, we, too, can proclaim the Gospel worthily and powerfully, manifesting His Risen presence in the signs of wonders in our ministry.
How then can we have this faith in Him? During this octave of Easter, the Church invites us to seek the presence of the Risen Lord in our lives. We do this by recalling once again the events of our salvation history. But most of all, we must also reflect on our own life events in our individual and common history and seek out the signs of the Risen Christ who is constantly at work in our lives. Nevertheless, the signs of the Risen Christ will also bear the marks of the crucifixion as well, since that was how the Lord appeared to the apostles. Indeed, the marks of the Risen Christ will be manifested in our struggles and in our sufferings, in our dying and rising. Through our victory over them we will be able to see clearly the power of the Risen Christ at work in our lives. Every time we conquer our fears and struggles, there we meet the Risen Christ, because very often we know that it is not within our power to overcome our weaknesses, but we do so only because of Christ in us. And the more we surrender ourselves to the Lord, the greater will His presence be felt in our lives each day. In this way, we can live our lives always in faith and trust, even in difficult times because we know that with the Risen Lord, we will be victorious in the end.
But to be able to recognize the traces of the Risen Christ in our lives, the gospel tells us that we must go through the scriptures once again and see how Jesus is truly the fulfillment of salvation history. Like the apostles who listened to Christ; and the Jews who listened to Peter; we must today listen to the Church, the Christian Community’s insights into the connections between all the events of history, thereby, recognizing how they are fulfilled in Christ. Thus, we know that history has a destiny and God has a plan for all of us.
Of course, this full recognition of the Lord as Risen and real in our lives takes place only in the breaking of bread. For in the Eucharistic celebration, not only do we come to understand Jesus and His role in our salvation history as we read the scriptures proclaimed and preached to us, but we also come to experience Him in the breaking of bread and through our fellowship with His body, the Church. Thus, the preferential place of encounter of the Risen Lord is the Eucharist as experienced by the disciples of Emmaus. In encountering Him, we will be filled with peace and joy even whilst we live in difficult times, because we know with Jesus as Lord, we will share in His ultimate victory over sin and evil.
Written by The Most Rev Msgr William Goh
Archbishop of Singapore