4th Sunday of Easter Year A

Acts 2:14,36-41
1 Peter 2:20-25
John 10:1-10

Opening the gate to God’s grace.

All of us commit sins and make mistakes. Sins hurt us and those around us. Sometimes, we make the mistake of trying to avoid sin altogether. And if we fail, as we inevitably do, we become discouraged. If this is our approach to sins, we missed the point – we missed the point of God’s grace. Indeed, what matters is not how to can avoid sins. We can’t – by our human strength, we are simply unable to avoid sins. What matters is how we respond to sins. It is our response that channels God’s grace.

Last week in the First Reading, we read St Peter’s sermon to the crowd on Pentecost Day, explaining to them how, in their ignorance, they have crucified the Son of God. In this week’s First Reading, we read how the crowd has responded. We read, “they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?'” (verse 37) Peter responded, “Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (verse 38) My brothers and sisters, do we reflect on our sins as the crowd did? Having reflected, do we feel sorry and repent? For repentance opens the gate through which God’s mercy flows to us, where relationships are mended – among us and between us and God. This is God’s promise of grace. As St Peter said to the crowd, “For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” (verse 39) And as we read, the people took the message to heart. That day, 3000 of them were baptised. Alleluia!

But the grace of God goes beyond the times when we have done wrong. For the times we are righteous and done no wrong, grace is abound as well. In the Second Reading, St Peter expanded on his teachings: “If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval.” (verse 20) In other words, in times when we are righteous, we are called to not bear ill will to those who wrong us. In other words, we are called to emulate Jesus Himself: “When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.” (verse 23) What motivates Jesus to perform such an act of meekness? He did it for love – for the love of us – so that we may turn back from our erroneous ways, as the crowd has done so in the First Reading. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (verse 24) Hence, for the times that we are righteous and suffer undeserved inflictions, rather than feeling bitter – or worse – retaliate, we are called to channel our sufferings towards the conversion of others, just as Jesus has done so. So that together, righteous ones and unrighteous ones reconciled, we may “turned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.” (verse 25) My brothers and sisters, this too is a response of grace.

This week, we celebrate the Good Shepherd Sunday. The message of Jesus the Good Shepherd is one of grace and mercy, where Jesus personally tends to us. We read in the Gospel: “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.” My brothers and sisters, let us ask ourselves: Do I hear Jesus calling me? He is constantly calling us to put on grace ? God’s grace. If I have not heard Him, what are the obstacles? There could be many reasons. Perhaps, I have not reflected on my wrongful actions. Perhaps, I am not repentant in my heart. Perhaps, because I have done no wrong, I have grown self-righteous. Perhaps, innocent sufferings have been inflicted upon me, and I feel bitter or worse vengeful. Whatever, the obstacles, Jesus the Good Shepherd is calling me to Him. To hear Him I just have to listen, not with my ears but with my heart.

“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (verse 10) Amen.

3rd Sunday of Easter Year A

Acts 2:14,22-33
1 Peter 1:17-21
Luke 24:13-35

Experience His resurrection, transform our life.

My brother and sisters, have we ever made a mistake and regretted it greatly, so much so that we carry the guilt throughout our life? Indeed, most of us have made this kind of mistake. Often, the only way we know how to deal with such a mistake is to bury it so deep in our consciousness that we pretend it is not there. But once in a while, when we are reminded of it, we react with great emotions – sometimes in shame, sometimes in anger. And until we are healed of this wound, we will always carry the baggage with us. We will never be truly free.

My friends, we are not alone in this. The Jews have made such a mistake when they crucified Jesus. In Pilate’s courtyard, they shouted, “Crucify, crucify him!” (Lk 23:21) The First Reading is taken from a speech by St Peter to the Jews on Pentecost Day, where Peter admonished them for having crucified Jesus: “Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know – this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law.” (verse 22-23) The purpose of Peter’s speech was not to hold them to account so that punishment may be meted out. In the same way that, even though the disciples have all abandoned Jesus at His greatest hour of need, the first words the resurrected Jesus said to the disciples were: “Peace be with you.” (Jn 20:19) Indeed, healing is at the heart of Jesus’ and Peter’s actions. St Peter said in the Second Reading: “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.” (verse 18-19) In the First Reading, Peter stressed the point that Jesus died on the cross so that we may see with our own eyes the extent of God’s mercy towards us: “Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear.” (verse 33) This is how God heals us – He paid the ransom for all our sins with His very life, so that upon reflection of what Jesus did, we might be free of our burdens. Indeed, readiness to receive God’s mercy is start of our healing process.

In the Gospel this week, we read the famous story of the Road to Emmaus. We read how, after the event of the crucifixion, two disciples were leaving Jerusalem going toward Emmaus, about 10 km away. Like us and the crowd in the First Reading, the two disciples were carrying a heavy burden. To them, the crucifixion is a big let-down. Their leader Jesus, who showed so much promise, was dead. Like us, they were at a loss and were discouraged, hence their decision to leave the holy city of Jerusalem. It was at this moment that Jesus appeared before them. Though they did not yet recognise Jesus, our Lord helped them understand true significance of His Passion. Jesus’ suffering and death are necessary acts for their healing and salvation. Jesus said, “‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.” (verse 25-27) The two disciples spent the day with Jesus, blissfully unaware that it was the Lord. It was only at the breaking of bread that they recognised Him: “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him” (verse 30-31). Jesus’ taking, blessing and breaking of the bread were all distinctly Eucharistic actions. The Eucharist is a gift Jesus left with us His disciples. He left us His true presence. It is a reminder to us that through times of triumph and defeat, Jesus is always with us. Hence, it was appropriate that the two disciples recognised Jesus at the breaking of bread.

Jesus accompanied them to Emmaus so as to heal them of their disenchantment. The breaking of bread marked the point when they were fully healed. Hence, the two disciples exclaimed: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” (verse 32) Having been healed, the disciples got up immediate and return to the Apostles at Jerusalem, bearing witnesses to the Good News of the Resurrection: “they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.” (verse 34-35) Through this story, we saw how an encounter with the resurrected Jesus healed the two disciples; and how upon being healed, the disciples were transformed.

Indeed, my brothers and sisters, this is the effect of having experienced the resurrected Jesus. Have I experience this? Or is Easter still just a season of rituals to me? How do I make the resurrection real to me? Let me start by contemplating on God’s mercy on the cross and accepting the cross as the necessity for the redemption of my sins. It is only then that I am able to experience the resurrection. And having experienced the resurrection, like the disciples at Emmaus, our hearts are filled with joy and exuberance. So much so that each time we read the Bible, pray or participate in the Sacraments, we experience a real encounter with Jesus. And once we encounter Him in this way, we can’t help but join the disciples at Emmaus in saying: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” (verse 32)

Alleluia. Let us experience His mercy, redemption and healing. Amen.