SUNDAY HOMILIES FOR YEAR A

By Fr Munachi E. Ezeogu, cssp

Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter - On the Epistle
Home > Homilies > Year A > Easter 3 Gospel

Our Time of Exile

Acts 2:14,22-28 1 Peter 1:17-21 Luke 24:13-35

An American tourist goes to see the famous Polish rabbi Hofetz Chaim.
He enters the rabbi’s house and is astonished to see that the rabbi lives
in a simple room filled with books, a table and a bench. He asks him,
“Rabbi, where is your furniture?”
“And you, where is yours?” replies the rabbi.
“Mine?” asks the puzzled tourist. “But I’m only a visitor here. I’m only
passing through.”
And the rabbi replies, “So am I.”

Today’s second reading, taken from the 1st Letter of Peter, is addressed
to Jewish Christians who were dispersed in Gentile lands on account of
persecution. "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the exiles of the
Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia" (1
Peter 1:1). Peter is writing to encourage these Christians to be steadfast
in the faith and to advise them on how to conduct themselves during the
time of their exile. Peter’s message, however, is not for Jewish
Christians alone. It is for all Christians since, as Peter says, all
Christians are in exile in so far as they still live in this world.

The text opens with Peter reminding his readers of one cardinal point of
the Christian faith and the implication this should have in their daily
lives. "If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people
impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the
time of your exile" (1 Peter 1:17). Faith and daily life are two sides of
the same coin. Faith that does not affect life is useless, and life that does
not follow from faith is futile. Peter reminds the exiles that since they
invoke God as the Father of all humankind, who judges all people not
according to their nationality, not according to their wealth, not
according to their learning or social status, not even according to their
religion, but according to their deeds, then they should put their feeling
of religious superiority aside and live in reverent fear and humility
together with the Gentiles among whom they have settled. The same
message applies to all Christians because, spiritually speaking, our life
on earth is an exile. The God we worship is a merciful Father, but also
an impartial judge. We should, therefore, live our lives in referent fear
of God, the kind of fear you have for people you really love and respect
that makes you not want to offend them. Reverential fear is different
 from servile file, which is the fear of being caught and punished, like
the fear that slaves have for their abusive masters.

Does this advice for Christians to accept people of other faiths, cultures
and societies mean that there is no difference between Christians and
non-Christians. By no means! Peter proceeds immediately to remind his
Christian readers of the special grace they have received from God.

You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited
from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold,
but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without
defect or blemish(verses 18-19).

Unlike their ancestors, who used perishable things like silver or gold or
the blood of a lamb to make atonement for their sins, Christians have
been ransomed by the precious blood of Christ, the son of God. God
raised him from the dead and glorified him. For this we can trust in God
and set our hope in Him and not in length of life or abundance of
worldly comfort and possessions. “Through him you have come to
trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so
that your faith and hope are set on God” (Verse 21).

As we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead,
the Church today invites us, through the words of Peter, to go beyond
mere belief, to let our belief affect our lives. Specifically we are invited
to realise the fact that we are pilgrims on earth, that our real home is in
heaven with God our Father, and that that is where we should lay up our
treasures and not on earth.
SUNDAY HOMILIES FOR YEAR A
By Fr Munachi E. Ezeogu, cssp
Homily for 3rd Sunday of Easter - on the Gospel
Home > Homilies > Year A > Easter 3 Epistle

Meeting Jesus in the Stranger

Acts 2:14,22-28 1 Peter 1:17-21 Luke 24:13-35

Two depressed disciples leave the company of the apostles and

believers in Jerusalem and head for Emmaus to get away from it all.
That same day, late in the evening, they come right back to rejoin the
company of apostles and believers that they had abandoned earlier in
the day, full of joy and zeal. What happened to them to give rise to this
dramatic turnaround? They met a stranger on the way – a stranger who
did not quite look like Jesus but who turned out to be Jesus after all
“Never speak to strangers!” is one of the earliest words of wisdom that
parents pass on to their children. And yet when you come to think of it,
had Cleopas and his companion followed this advice, Jesus would have
passed them by and they would never have had the transforming
encounter with the risen Lord. Who knows how many times the risen
Lord has passed you and me by and we did not recognise him or
experience his transforming grace all because of our fear or strangers?

Cleopas and his friend were trying to distance themselves from the
scandalous disaster that befell the apostles and followers of Jesus with
the shameful death of their Master at the hands of the very Roman
soldiers that they thought he had come to vanquish. But even as they
tried to get away from it, they could not get their minds off it. They
were talking about it all along the way. Could you imagine the sort of
mood they were in as they headed for an unknown future in Emmaus? It
was disappointment, sadness and deep depression all at once

Suddenly a stranger catches up with them along the way and says to
them “What are you discussing with each other while you walk
along?” (Luke 24:17). The most natural answer you would expect from
them would be, “Hey man, would you please mind your business?”
That is the typical response you get from people who operate on the
principle of fear of strangers. But Cleopas and his friend were different.
All they said was, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does
not know the things that have taken place there in these days?”
(verse 18). “What things?” asked the stranger. And this led to a frank
and profound dialogue that set their cold hearts aflame with insight and
inspiration. All because they trusted a stranger and were disposed to
inform and be informed by him!

Cleopas and his companion shared with the stranger all the way
through. Not only were they ready to share their confidences with him,
but they went all the way and shared their meal and shelter with him. It
was in the process of this sharing that the moment of disclosure
occurred and they suddenly realised that the one whom they had
accepted all along as a helpless stranger was indeed Jesus, the answer to
all their heart’s questions. This discovery that the one in whom they had
trusted, Jesus Christ, was indeed alive and not dead, gave new meaning
to their lives, their faith and their vocation. Banishing all fear and
fatigue they got up and went back that same night to rejoin the company
of apostles and followers of Jesus and share the good news with them
that they had met the risen Lord and that they met him in the person of a
stranger

The resurrection was for Jesus the dividing line between earthly life
when he was limited to the form of a male, Jewish body and risen life
when he is no longer limited in this way. The risen Lord now appears in
all types of bodies: male and female, White and Black, young and old,
rich and poor, handicapped and non-handicapped, native and
immigrant, Catholic and Protestant, Christian and Moslem, liberal and
conservative, and so on and so forth. Though we may see those who are
different from us as strangers, today’s gospel challenges us to start
seeing them simply as companions on the way. When we reach out to
them in hospitality we reach out to God and attract a blessing to
ourselves

Let us pray today for the grace to overcome the crippling fear of
strangers, for the courage to reach out with open hearts and open hands
to those who are different from us, knowing that even though the
strangers on our way may not look like Jesus, they may indeed turn out
to be Jesus just like the lonely stranger on the way to Emmaus