Welcome again to our seven-week celebration of the Easter mystery!
As we look forward to reopening our churches, let us open our hearts to the word of God today and every day.
The word of God takes us back to the beginnings of Christianity, to the outpouring of the Spirit upon the disciples, to Peter courageously and boldly proclaiming that Jesus is risen and gloriously alive; He is the Messiah, the foundation and fulfillment of the hopes of Ancient Israel.
Peter then concludes, live a God-centered/other-centered life, and be baptized. Peter's question to us may be: What kind of life are we living now?
The letter of Peter encourages a persecuted community to see Jesus as their model. Suffering is ultimately a mystery. It’s inescapable—like guilt and death. But the author proclaims that the mystery of suffering, accepted in faith, can bring healing for others. Why do I say this? Because 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 or door into eternal life. John gives us several images of Jesus: the bread; the vine; the light; the way, the truth and the life; the resurrection; the good shepherd. These so-called “I am” sayings allude to the divinity of Jesus.
I particularly like the image of Jesus in today’s Gospel as the “gate” or “door”. There are many doors in our lives. The open door can welcome friends, fresh air and warm light, and can be a sign that we belong, that inside a door we can find shelter and family and friendship.
Architects sometimes spend a great deal of effort on an entrance or facade to make a statement. Doors can speak for us, as well. They can be opened in compassion. They can be slammed shut in anger. In the corporate world, a door may indicate status. The doors we pass through in the cycle of human life may be transitions from fear to safety, from isolation to community, from struggle to peace.
The church door – or these days an online portal – welcomes us to God’s presence in the word. The courthouse door is an entry into righting wrongs. The college door is a threshold into learning and discovery.
In the Gospel, Jesus call himself the “door” through which we pass from this transitory earthly life into a transfigured heavenly life. It’s a leap from one kind of existence into another. On our earthly journey, Jesus is our gateway into truth, justice, peace and life in all its fullness. What a magnificent image.
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.”
But how to do this? Here’s one suggestion. 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 ten little things, life-lessons, that aren't little at all. Here are some:
--one, make your bed every morning, because when you accomplish one thing early, you'll be motivated to achieve more. Start your day with a task done.
--two, to change the world, find someone to help you, to mentor you from goals to achievement.
--three, always measure people by the size of their heart, not by physical size or anything else. Respect everyone. What matters is the will to do well.
--four, remember life isn't fair, but that's no reason to cry. Keep moving forward. What we learn from failures will make us wiser. Without challenges, we'll never realize our true potential.
--five, in our darkest moments, we have to be our very best—calm and strategic—so that we can bring all our skills of mind and strength of character to overcome the challenges before us.
Above all, make others believe in a brighter day. Never underestimate the power of hope. One person can change the world by giving people hope. Think, for example, of Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and of course, Jesus.
The Easter season is about hope in God. To paraphrase the author of the letter of John, what we shall be has not yet been revealed...we shall be like God, for we shall see God as God really is.
Yes, at every stage in our earthly pilgrimage and eventually through death into eternal life, God is present invisibly. As St. Paul put it, “At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face.”
Seeing God face to face is the fulfillment of our hope. In the meantime, let us pursue every opportunity, to paraphrase John Wesley, to do all the good we can. By all the means we can. In all the ways we can. In all the places we can. At all the times we can. To all the people we can. As long as ever we can.
May our hope in God always guide us to look for the good in people instead of harping on the worst; to discover what can be done, instead of grumbling about what cannot; and to get up again whenever we fall because we have the divine assurance of final victory.
Yes, Jesus Christ is risen. And because he is gloriously alive, we live forever. He is the gate, the door into eternal life. Amen.
