A continuing reality and call

Cycle C - Easter

FIRST READING: Acts 10: 34; 37-43. Peter opened his mouth and said: “You know the word which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses to all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and made him manifest; not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that he is the one ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

SECOND READING: Colossians 3:1-4. If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

GOSPEL: John 20:1-9. On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first, and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

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Peter gives the synopsis of Jesus’ public life and mission in Palestine after a crucial eye-opening experience. At the moment he was at the house of Cornelius, a Roman army officer stationed in Caesarea. Peter had had a deep antipathy towards pagans like Cornelius, and had never entered a pagan household. Even after his long acquaintance with Jesus, he nonetheless continued to be victim of the chauvinism and intolerance conveyed to him by the Jewish priests and scribes. His understanding of what ‘People of God’ meant was overpoweringly sectarian. By inviting Peter from Joppa to Caesarea, the pagan Cornelius—a good-living man, and a believer in the God of the Jews as the true God—prompted Peter to recognize the universality of Jesus’ message, death and resurrection, and announce them to him. In a way, through this experience Peter himself ‘buried’ his old prejudices and outlook, and ‘resurrected’ the new life in Jesus.

This ‘burying-resurrecting’ image is taken up also by Paul. He links the image to baptism, which in those days was administered by immersion. Paul proclaims that being ‘buried’ with Jesus meant laying to rest the old values contrary to Jesus’ philosophy and spirituality. Correspondingly, being ‘resurrected’ with Jesus meant taking up Jesus’ new vision, beliefs and attitude. Jesus and the Christian are heralds of a new social and political order.

The gospel narrative proclaims this new order. John presents three equal witnesses to it: Mary Magdalene, Peter and John. Mary represents the dispossessed (as a woman she had no social, political, religious or legal significance whatsoever), Peter the institutional aspect of the Church, and John the prophetic aspect of the Church. The three of them, together and equal unto each other, bear witness to Jesus’ revolution. Easter is the celebration of Jesus’ continuing reality and call to the transformation of the world.

Families of love

Cycle C - The Holy Family

FIRST READING: Sirach 3: 2-6, 12-14 – The Lord honoured the father above the children, and he confirmed the right of the mother over her sons. Whoever honours his father atones for sins, and whoever glorifies his mother is like one who lays up treasure. Whoever honours his father will be gladdened by his own children, and when he prays he will be heard. Whoever glorifies his father will have long life, and whoever obeys the Lord will refresh his mother. 0 son, help your father in his old age, and do not grieve him as long as he lives; even if he is lacking in understanding, show forbearance, in all your strength do not despise him. For kindness to a father will not be forgotten, and against your sins it will be credited to you.

SECOND READING: Colossians 3: 12-21 – Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

GOSPEL: Luke 2: 41-52 – The parents of Jesus went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom; and when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the company they went a day's journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances; and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking him. And after three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions; and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when they saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously." And he said to them, "How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" And they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man.

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The honour and respect due to parents, as Sirach, the pious Jew who lived in the second century BCE reminds us is fitting and just. Nevertheless, it is not absolute. Neither have parents a right to dominate their children, nor are their children bound to obey them blindly. Without mutual respect there can be no dignity in the members of a family, if a family it can be called. A contracted marriage is no excuse for abuse. Love makes a family, and families exist to secure and foster love.

This seems to contradict what Paul writes to the Colossians, a community established by Epaphras, one of his disciples. The advice to wives to be subject to their husbands, and the counsel to children to obey their parents in everything, seem to be diametrically opposed to any egalitarian principle taught by Jesus. They seem to contradict the recommendation that they should ‘let the word of Christ dwell in you richly’. Indeed, these are instructions which are to be, at best, understood in the context of the Christian love, and, at worse, as plain blunders. Marriage is an institutional micro-structure which, if accepted by the parties involved, should retain the characteristics of what Jesus willed for the whole community.

Such characteristics are, in part, indicated by Luke in Jesus’ relation to his parents, and in their relation to each other. Jesus is respectful to them, for sure, but not indiscriminately. His mission is above obedience or deference to them. Moreover, in the fact that it is Mary who rebukes the son, and not Joseph, as was his formal right as ‘head’ of the family—and this in full view of the Jewish teachers—clearly indicates the equal status of the spouses.

All families, and all marriages, of love are holy.