{"id":2491,"date":"2018-04-15T12:24:29","date_gmt":"2018-04-15T16:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2491"},"modified":"2018-04-15T12:24:29","modified_gmt":"2018-04-15T16:24:29","slug":"3rd-sunday-of-easter-year-b-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/3rd-sunday-of-easter-year-b-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"3rd Sunday of Easter, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

3rd<\/sup> Sunday of Easter, Year B<\/a>
\nActs 3:13-15, 17-19
\nPsalm 4:2, 4, 7-8, 9 (7a)
\n1 John 2:1-5a
\nLuke 24:35-48
\nApril 15, 2018<\/p>\n

For the last two weeks we have heard stories of the risen Jesus appearing to his disciples as told in the Gospel of John.\u00a0 This week we hear a story of the risen Jesus speaking to his disciples from the Gospel of Luke.<\/p>\n

What we hear today is not the first time Jesus appeared to his disciples after his Resurrection in Luke\u2019s Gospel.\u00a0 We see this in the very first line of today\u2019s passage when it says, \u201cThe two disciples recounted<\/strong> what had taken place of the way, and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of bread.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

What they are recounting to the other disciples is what happened in the passage right before this one.\u00a0 It is the story of the road to Emmaus.\u00a0 Jesus had been crucified.\u00a0 The tomb was found empty.\u00a0 Later that day, two of Jesus\u2019 disciples are walking on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus.<\/p>\n

They are talking about what has happened when Jesus came up to them walking on the road \u201cbut they were kept from recognizing him<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 As they walked, Jesus explained to them what had been written about him in the scriptures.<\/p>\n

Their hearts burned with zeal at what Jesus said but they did not recognize him until he broke the bread as he did at the Last Supper.\u00a0 This is wonderful news!\u00a0 Jesus is risen!<\/p>\n

They immediately returned to Jerusalem to tell the others that they had seen Jesus.\u00a0 That passage ended with news that Jesus had also appeared to Simon.<\/p>\n

I tell all this to help us relate to what goes on in today\u2019s passage.\u00a0 As the disciples were sharing what happened on the road to Emmaus and the appearance to Simon, Jesus once again \u201cstood in their midst<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

One might think they would be excited and joyful.\u00a0 Instead, \u201cthey were startled and terrified<\/em> and thought they were seeing a ghost<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 This meant seem odd, at least for Simon and two disciples who had already seen Jesus risen.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the problem or, as Jesus says, \u201cWhy are you troubled?\u00a0 And why do questions arise in your hearts?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, the three of them have already seen the Risen Jesus and the others have heard of him.\u00a0 Yet, this is still all brand new.\u00a0 Remember it is still the same day when the tomb was found empty.\u00a0 No one had risen from the dead before.<\/p>\n

Jesus wants to give them assurance.\u00a0 He allows them to touch him so that they know he has flesh and bones.\u00a0 He ate fish in front of them to confirm this.<\/p>\n

From there, \u201che opened their minds to understand the scriptures<\/em>\u201d and how the scriptures foretold all that would happen to Jesus.\u00a0 Jesus helped open their eyes to see the scriptures in a new way.\u00a0 They had expected a Messiah to be a great political king based on the promise the Lord made to King David that an heir of his house would sit upon his throne forever.<\/p>\n

The Jewish expectation of a messiah in Jesus\u2019 day focused on this one promise.\u00a0 So, Jesus\u2019 Crucifixion did not fit this at all.\u00a0 Jesus gives them a broader view to look at the Hebrew Scriptures as a whole.<\/p>\n

In our passage from Acts today, Peter helps the people to understand how what happened to Jesus was the fulfillment of all the God had foretold through the words of the prophets.<\/p>\n

We have not seen Jesus for ourselves.\u00a0 We have statues and paintings of him to help us visualize him but, again, we have not seen him for ourselves.<\/p>\n

If we were to hear just one of the stories of Jesus appearing to his disciples after the Resurrection, we would probably tend not to believe, but with several stories, we begin to accept it.\u00a0 And when we look at Salvation History as a whole<\/em><\/strong>, we see how Jesus really is the fulfillment of what God foretold.<\/p>\n

Do you remember Jesus\u2019 last words to Thomas last week?\u00a0 \u201cBlessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”\u00a0 We have not seen Jesus for ourselves but we do believe.\u00a0 We believe because the Holy Spirit has given us the gift of wisdom and understanding so we can take the knowledge of Jesus and believe.<\/p>\n

When Jesus appeared today, the disciples were \u201ctroubled.\u201d\u00a0 What do you have going on in your life that causes you trouble?<\/p>\n

Do you find it difficult to believe that God is there with you?\u00a0 It might seem odd.\u00a0 We have faith.\u00a0 We believe that God is with us.\u00a0 Why is it so difficult to find peace?<\/p>\n

When we pray, we come closer to Jesus.\u00a0 We are more aware of his presence among us.\u00a0 Yet, then we finish our prayer and go out into the world and face the same old struggles or perhaps a new struggle.\u00a0 These struggles can be very evident.\u00a0 They distract us from Jesus.<\/p>\n

This is why coming to church once in a while is not enough.\u00a0 Coming to Mass is very important for one of our closest moments to Jesus in this world comes in \u201cThe Breaking of Bread\u201d that we know as the Eucharist.<\/p>\n

Yet, if we only come once in a while, the struggles of this earthly world draw us away from Jesus.\u00a0 That\u2019s why when we feel distanced from Jesus (when we might doubt) that we actually need to come more.<\/p>\n

Then, even when we are not in church, to take some time each day to connect with Jesus.\u00a0 We can\u2019t wait for the bad times.\u00a0 We need to remain connected to Jesus all the time and then we see our struggles through the eyes of Jesus.\u00a0 We see past our doubt to see Jesus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

3rd Sunday of Easter, Year B Acts 3:13-15, 17-19 Psalm 4:2, 4, 7-8, 9 (7a) 1 John 2:1-5a Luke 24:35-48 April 15, 2018 For the last two weeks we have heard stories of the risen Jesus appearing to his disciples as told in the Gospel of John.\u00a0 This week we hear a story of the …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘3rd Sunday of Easter, Year B – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[29,82],"tags":[434,432],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-Eb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2492,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2491\/revisions\/2492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}