Jesus is the Gate or Door into Eternal Life

I am the "Gate" or "Door" into Eternal Life

Welcome again to our celebration of the Easter mystery! As we look forward to protecting and reopening our stores, schools and places of worship, let us open our hearts to the word of God today and every day.

The word of God takes us back to the outpouring of the Spirit upon the disciples, to St. Peter courageously and boldly proclaiming Jesus is risen and gloriously alive; Jesus is the Messiah, the foundation and fulfillment of the hopes of Ancient Israel.

The letter of Peter encourages a persecuted community to see Jesus as their model. The mystery of suffering, accepted in faith, can bring healing for others. The suffering of Jesus reestablished our relationship with God: God in us and we in God!

The Gospel portrays Jesus as the Good Shepherd, the gate into eternal life. It gives us several images: “I am” the bread; the vine; the way, the truth and the life; the resurrection; the good shepherd. These “I am” sayings allude to the divinity of Jesus.

I particularly like Jesus as the gate or door. An open door welcomes friends, fresh air and light. A door can shelter.  Architects spend a great deal of effort on an entry or facade to make a statement. Doors can speak for us, as well. A door may indicate status. The courthouse door may lead to justice.  The college door: learning and discovery. Doors may be transitions from fear to safety, from isolation to community.

The church door – or these days an online portal – welcomes us to God’s presence.

Jesus is the gate, the “door” through which we pass from this transitory earthly life into a transfigured heavenly life. On our journey, Jesus is our gateway into life in all its fullness.

The Easter season is all about life and hope. In Jesus’s death on Good Friday is hidden his glorious resurrection at Easter. Yes, Jesus Christ lives and because he lives, we live. The Easter season challenges us to “reset our lives” each day.

How? A best seller titled Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...and Maybe the World offers some advice. The author, William McRaven, cites little things, life-lessons, that aren't little at all. Here are a few:

--make your bed every morning, because when you accomplish one thing early, you'll be motivated to achieve more. Start with a task done.
--to change the world, find someone to help you, to mentor you from goals to achievement.
--always measure people by the size of their heart, by the will to do well.
--remember life isn't fair, and keep going. Without challenges, you'll never realize your potential.
--In dark moments, you have to be your very best—calm and composed and strategic—to bring all your skills of mind and strength of character to bear.

And never underestimate the power of hope. The Easter season is about hope in God. At every stage in our earthly pilgrimage, through death into eternal life, God is present. May our hope always guide us to look for the good in people; to discover what can be done.

Yes, Jesus Christ is risen. And because he is gloriously alive, we live.

Saved by Hope

Rembrandt's Ascension

We have been celebrating the Easter Mystery these forty-some days: the death and resurrection of Jesus, today his ascension to our Father in glory, and next Sunday Pentecost or the descent of the Spirit upon the disciples. These are four different aspects of the one Paschal or Easter Mystery.

The ascension is Jesus’s final leave-taking so something awesome can happen. Let us take to heart Jesus’s parting words: “you will be my witnesses … to the ends of the earth” Yes, Jesus leaves to us the mission of continuing God’s work on earth: proclaiming the good news to all.

The ascension connects the Gospel and the book of Acts which heralds the beginning of the church’s ministry.

In the Gospel according to Luke, Jesus tells the disciples that they are to proclaim the good news to all people, and that Jesus, gloriously alive, will send the promise of God, the Spirit, so they can continue his saving ministry until he comes again at the end-time to transform this universe into a new, indescribable reality. And then Jesus was taken up into heaven; and the disciples were filled with hope.

Hope is a confident anticipation of something yet to come. Pope emeritus Benedict XVI captured its meaning magnificently in his encyclical Saved by Hope. This hope looks forward to seeing God as God really is—face-to-face.

Hope looks for the good. Hope discovers what can be done. Hope propels us forward.

History is filled with people of hope. One of my favorites is Helen Keller, who overcame physical obstacles that most of us can’t imagine. Here is a thought of hers that speaks of hope. Helen wrote, “When one door of happiness closes, another opens but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”

Helen Keller also observed, “No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars or sailed to an unchartered land or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.” We too, with a positive can-do spirit, can find a world of possibilities.

Hope points to the future. We are fascinated with the future. What will it be like? We see change everywhere. Some may not like it. But how react?

There is only one Christian response to the future: hope. Images of hope weave in and out of the bible. God by the power of the Spirit transformed the earthly Jesus into a heavenly Jesus. And Christ anticipates God’s future for all of us.

Yes, the universe in which we live has an ultimate purpose. Hope challenges us to do everything we can to usher in the future: always to be in relationship with God and in relationship with one another as compassionate, generous, forgiving and fair human beings. Above all, hope challenges us to reach out to that which alone is of everlasting value—the human person, the image of God, no matter how unkempt the appearance. In the end, all hope will be realized when the risen Christ, by the power of the Spirit, hands over the universe at the end of time to his heavenly Father.

May God fill us with hope this Ascension Day and every day.

God's Gift of Forgiveness

Pieter Bruegel's Christ and the Woman  Caught in Adultery

How many followed this year’s NCAA championship basketball games? Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. As the saying goes, what’s important is how you play the game, and how you live with what you learn.

Today’s word of God takes us back to Ancient Israel in the 6th century before Jesus. Babylonia had conquered the Hebrews; destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple; and deported many Hebrews. Yet God fired up the Hebrews with hope for the future. Set free by Persia, they returned to their homeland to rebuild. The author proclaims God will breathe hope into the Hebrews. Yes, God will usher in a new age, and a newly created people will praise God.

The author may well ask you and me: When have we breathed hope into the life of someone who is “down and out” with encouragement or a helping hand?

Paul writes his letter to the Christian community in Philippi, Greece from an unknown jail cell, perhaps in Rome. And what motivates Paul?  Paul proclaims that Jesus Christ “possesses” him. Yes, years before, Christ had turned Paul’s life “upside down” on the way to Damascus. And ever since, proclaiming the good news--Jesus Christ is alive.  And because He lives, we live-- was Paul’s one passion in life. And so Paul sets his eyes on “what lies ahead”: eternal life.

In the Gospel of John today, we hear that Jesus meets a woman who had been caught in an adulterous relationship. I wonder if Nathaniel Hawthorne read this Gospel story before he wrote The Scarlet Letter.

Anyway, Jesus says to us in the Gospel story, “Don’t be so negatively judgmental about other people.” All of us need forgiveness. That’s why Jesus came: to forgive, heal, transform us, to save us from death and propel us into a glorious future, like Jesus did to this down-and-out woman and to her accusers. And what about the man in the adulterous relationship, who was as guilty as the woman?

This story invites you and me to reflect on our own willingness to forgive people who have wronged us, intentionally or unintentionally. Jesus says forgiveness is a primary characteristic of discipleship.

We have to forgive ourselves as well as others so we can move forward with our lives. To forgive as Christ forgives sometimes seems impossible to do on our own. It calls for a humility, a generosity, a spirit of compassion. But Christ doesn’t ask us to forgive on our own. He simply asks that we participate in his gift of forgiveness.

Forgiveness is an act of the will that overrides negative feelings about someone. Forgiveness is possible, not when we try to forgive, not on our own, but when we trust in God to bring healing. As God constantly searches out the lost and the stranger, so should we. Forgiveness can be a long journey, but at the end lies freedom and new life.