These first weeks of Easter, we have been asking ourselves a simple, yet profound question, depending, that is, on how we answer it. The question is, “Just what does it mean to me that Jesus rose from the dead?”  Now the answer is simple if we are just responding to a belief system we have long held onto without really asking what difference this occurrence makes in my day to day life.  If you do ask this final question, then, as it is said, “The rubber meets the road,” and the answer becomes more profound.

This past week as I was trying my best along with medication to feel better after a case of strep throat; I can assure you that I wasn’t being too profound!  My prayer was quite simple and selfish, “Please God, be with me and help me!”  I wasn’t even asking to be well as much as I was asking not to be sick anymore! Now, on the other side of a slug of amoxicillin; I am beginning to zero in again on more of the profound.

A couple of things always happen to me when illness strikes, over and above the PLOM syndrome (poor, little, old, me) for which I am grateful; not so much that I wish to be sick, but grateful, just the same, in retrospect.

First, there is humility in realizing that I am not so self-sufficient and strong as I may think—I don’t suffer well—ask Robert.  Second, there is a great sense of compassion that comes over me for the suffering that my sisters and brothers in this world are called to bear with every day, and much of it so much more than my small pains. Now while I don’t at all think that God causes any of us to suffer;  I do think that God uses suffering, which is part of this world, to call each of us to that which is best in us, in humanity!

Simple suffering like I experienced this last week called me to humility and compassion within myself.  Those in this world who are called to more suffering than it seems is humanly possible to bear; the hungry, the homeless, the immigrants, the jobless, the abused and so on, should call the rest of us to seek justice and have righteous anger, working to bring to all, equality of services and basic needs; peace, instead of war, honesty, instead of lies, integrity of mind and heart, mercy and understanding, instead of selfishness and greed.

If we look at today’s readings for this 3^rd Sunday of Easter, all these simple, yet profound messages are here as well. Acts tells us in Peter’s voice, “Better for us to obey God than people.”  Doing the “right thing” often comes down to this—choosing who to obey—to follow, even if at times, we stand alone!

Jesus was nothing, if not understanding of what it was to be a human being—our strengths along with our weaknesses.  He looked lovingly upon his apostles, spending a good deal of time, even after his resurrection, helping them to see, helping them to make all the connections between the prophesies and their fulfillment in him.

In the gospel from John today; we see that for a time, the apostles returned to what they knew by rote—many of them had been fishermen.  Perhaps, in the ordinary—every day, they could once again, find their strength, their direction, to reclaim what they felt on a certain day, when Jesus called them and they walked away from their nets and followed him . Talk about asking what the resurrection really meant to them!

These apostles, as their turned-upside-down and inside-out world settled for them, in the days after the resurrection, would find, with Jesus’ help, the renewed call of their brother to live lives of love, integrity, mercy, understanding, justice and equality for all.

What they were ultimately to make of the resurrection; we don’t entirely know.  But on some level, they saw that the process of resurrection had changed Jesus—he could no longer be hurt or scorned.  In addition, he would live on through them, if they allowed it.  If they baptized in his name, taught in his name—lived lives of love as he did, in his wonderful name, than life in its worst sufferings could not stop them as it had not stopped Jesus, as it will not stop us, my friends.

Resurrection, as we have said, is not the same as resuscitation—but a new way of being, of moving beyond this life.  Can we understand it? No, we can’t; but we can trust that a God, who has loved us so well in Jesus, has prepared something wonderful for us, one day, when this life of living simply and profoundly is completed.  Resurrection is about choosing life at every turn—it is the call of our baptisms—it is the call of being Jesus’ follower.    And in the meantime, I don’t think God wants us to worry or fret about it, but to live our lives as best as we can, simply and profoundly, trusting and believing.  Amen? Amen!

Dear Friends,

So sorry for the lateness  of the homily, but strep throat “found” me this weekend which I finally had diagnosed on Monday at Urgent Care and am now laying low, sleeping lots and taking my medicine. In between naps, I wanted to get my homily out to you all–wishing you all the best, Pastor Kathy.

My friends, just as it takes us at least six weeks to prepare for the awesome feast of Easter, it takes that long as well to fully celebrate the mystery of the resurrection. We can’t fully understand this event and that is why we call it “a mystery.”

At the Easter Vigil, I shared a couple Scripture passages—that of Mary of Magdala meeting Jesus in the garden and Jesus walking with disciples on the way to Emmaus to highlight the fact that resurrection is not the same as resuscitation.  A definite difference in how a person looks apparently happens in a resurrected form—or else Mary and the disciples would have known Jesus on first sight.  Scripture tells us that Mary only knew Jesus when he said “her name” and that the disciples only recognized him in “the breaking of the bread.”  This is a mystery that we can only hope, one day, to understand.

The important thing for each of us to hold onto is that Jesus came to show us the way—not only how to live and to love, but how to die and to rise one day.  So much of this we take on faith because we can’t fully understand, but part of the joy we should feel through this season is the hope that this life is not the end.

Jesus told the apostles, and we are ultimately included in this, that he is going to prepare a place for us of which we simply can’t imagine—also a mystery!  None of us can imagine what this will be and sometimes, I am more inclined to think that heaven is not so much a place as it is a state of heart and mind.

Perhaps we enter what we call heaven after we have journeyed through this life striving to become our best selves; when our mind and heart is set on “feeling the joy” only when others—all others, can know the same joy, knowing the happiness of family nearby, caring for one another, only when others, all others, know that same happiness; living in peace with all or most of our needs met, only when others in the world, all others, live in that same peace.

The Easter Scriptures, in the days and weeks after Jesus’ resurrection, with the apostles fully filled with the Spirit of Jesus, are reported to have shown great powers to heal—a mere shadow of one of them passing over an affected person brought a cure.

We can look at these cures as pure power, or we can see them as a result of great faith, or probably, a bit of both.  Jesus was always a bit disappointed when people came to him simply for a physical cure—when they weren’t willing to see his mission about anything more.  Of course, he understood and had mercy and compassion—but I think he really was about changing people’s hearts.

The reading from Acts today records the fact that “through the hands of the Apostles, many signs and wonders occurred among the people.” This statement I’d like to apply to what I just said above—mainly that the power that came to the first apostles and disciples was, I believe, always meant to be about more than curing physical ailments.  Through their hands, through our hands, many signs and wonders can and do occur.  We have the power of physical touch—a calming hand; the ability to physically care for others, to be with them in their need—cook a meal, pick up some groceries, visit a shut-in, take some food to a neighbor, offer a prayer.     I believe we sell ourselves short when we consider these Scriptures speaking of signs and wonders.  Each of us comes upon needs each and every day and we simply need to respond.

The reading from Revelation speaking to John the Apostle and Evangelist on the island of Patmos carries the simple message that was always on Jesus’ lips throughout his ministry, “Don’t be afraid!”  If we forget most of what we read in Scripture; we really only need remember that our brother Jesus was always about caring for our needs, loving us and asking us to love others.  In addition to the words imploring us to, “not be afraid,” Jesus’ other most familiar words coming our way, were, “Peace be with you.” In today’s gospel, we hear twice a wish for peace.

Jesus truly understood his apostles’ fear—he was telling them some seriously profound things—asking them to stretch their faith to its greatest degree.  Faith is truly central in these post resurrection days.  Nothing meaningful can happen without it!

Today’s gospel zeroes in on the apostle Thomas’ lack of faith.  It isn’t enough that his brothers in ministry have testified that, “We have seen Jesus!”—he isn’t going to believe until he can see with his own eyes, touch Jesus with his own hands!  We have to wonder what was going on for Thomas—there must have been a great deal of fear holding him back.

We can compare his lack of faith with Mary of Magdala’s all-encompassing faith. One senses that she was someone who had been so touched, influenced, that is, by Jesus and his love and care for the world, that she simply could not, but, believe.

So, in the end, my friends; I think the question that each of us must face during this Easter Season is, “Do we believe?” And if we do, what are we going to do about it?! Amen? Amen!