19 May 2007

Homily for Exaudi - the Sunday after the Ascension

[Ezekiel 36:22-28 / 1 Peter 4:7-11 / John 15:26-16:4]

Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed. Allelulia!

And that is the witness the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father comes to bear: the truth that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. The Spirit, when He comes, isn’t interested in talking about Himself. The Spirit wants to talk about the Son, to bear witness to the Son. To bear such witness to the Son’s resurrection in the hearts of the disciples, that they will open their mouths and begin to bear witness too: telling everything that they have experienced of Jesus to the world.

“Because you have been with me from the beginning.” That is, you’ve seen it all. You know that I am a true man. You’ve seen that I’m creature of flesh and blood as you are. You’ve seen me get tired and sleepy. You’ve seen me cry real tears at the death of my friend, Lazarus. You’ve seen me eat and drink, laugh and play, work and toil. You know that I am truly a human being as you are – only so much more alive!

But you’ve also seen more. You’ve seen me command the wind and the waves and you were astonished as they yielded instant obedience. You’ve seen me walk across water as though it were ground. You’ve seen me feed vast crowds with tiny bits of food. You’ve seen me touch the lepers and drive away the uncleanness. You’ve seen me give the blind their sight, the deaf their hearing, and make the lame people to dance for joy. And you’ve seen what happens when death and I meet together. You know what it means that I am the Resurrection and the Life: think of Jairus’ daughter; the widow of Nain’s son; my friend Lazarus. When death and I come into contact, it may snarl and snap, but it always backs off and yields. There’s too much life in Me for it to hang around.

And now I’m ready to go meet it in myself. It won’t be long and I will be headed into death– and this I want you to witness. I want you to see that I die a true death. That my soul leaves my body. That my body lies before you, truly dead. You must see this. So that when the joyous moment comes and you see My body alive again, you will be able to bear witness. You will be able to say: “Here is a man who is truly man like us, and He died as die, but behold He lives. And not some piece of him, but the whole of Him. He’s alive in a body that now is forever beyond death. And He promises that it wasn’t for Him that He did this, but for us. For all who are baptized into Him and come to share His life, He promises that He is but the first-fruits, and we will follow. DEATH is not permanent, no matter how it seems. We’ve seen One who came out of it and HE SAYS that He will raise us too.”

That is the witness, says Jesus, that the Spirit will write in your hearts and you will proclaim throughout all the world. But notice the sad look then on our Lord’s face as He goes on. “I’ve said all this to keep you from falling away. They will toss you from the synagogues – even as you’re trying to give them this good news. Yes, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think that he is offering LATREIA, divine service, holy liturgy, to God. They do it because they haven’t known the Father nor me. When it begins to happen, remember that I told you.”

And so, when the Helper came, the witness began to ring out: Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! His rising is the end of your death as His death is the end of your sin. You are forgiven for all – divine amnesty is reached to the entire world in Him. O, believe and be baptized and receive a life that will never end.

So the Helper helped the preaching of the Apostles. But soon Jesus’ words came true. Though they offered only overflowing joy to the world, they were hated. Though they brought the good news of repentance and forgiveness, they were despised. Though they called all to receive and live from the good gifts of the Crucified and Risen Lord, they were rejected. His love that they carried was turned aside and they themselves were killed – every last one of them but John shared the same the fate as their Lord.

But those who believed their witness with the Helper’s help, with the Spirit’s power, the power that lives in the good news of Christ’s resurrection – these continued to bear witness. The Apostles’ witness could not be killed. It lived on and lives on. And as much as the world tries to stamp it out, even more so does the good news spread. Not even the concerted effort of the world mightiest empire could stop the witness to the Man who had been raised from the dead as the firstfruits of a new creation. His Spirit-giving Baptismal flood reaches from the Jordan of almost 2000 years ago to the humble font here in Hamel, IL. His Holy Supper has been celebrated without cessation through all these centuries and His death proclaimed until He comes again, the Victor.

It would never have happened if the Holy Spirit, the Helper, had not given people new hearts through the good news of the resurrection. The Church remains and she remains a miracle of the Holy Spirit. She continues to bear witness and she will until the end of the world.

Peter reminds us that because the end of all things is at hand – and by End, don’t hear the wiping out of all things, but the fulfillment of all things – and so he urges us to be sober-minded for the sake of our prayer. To think straight, if you will. We’ve got a message to bear. It will be welcomed by some who will pass it on. It will be rejected by others, and with the rejection may well come what our Lord foretold, hatred that gets violent. So be it. We’re to keep to loving no matter what. No matter what hatred comes our way, our response is to be the Lord’s own: “love those who persecute you; pray for those who curse you.” Love, says Peter, covers a multitude of sin. As Christ’s love has covered our sins with His own blood, so now we cover our neighbors’ sins in love. And we do it in joy as the Spirit's witness fills our hearts and our mouths with this good news until it overflows and we shout out to each other, to our children, to all the world:

Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

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