Readings: |
Acts 10:34a,37-43 |
Date: |
April 20, 2025, Easter Sunday
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After the resurrection, Jesus sets out with the apostles to do some fishing on the Sea of Galilee. They get a little way from shore when Peter says, "Oh, we forgot the bait." Jesus says, "No problem. I will go get it and meet you back out here." He steps out of the boat on the water but he immediately sinks. When he came back up to the surface, he shook the water from his head and said to the Apostles, "I forgot. Last time I did that I didn't have holes in my feet!"
As many of you have heard me say before, in some Eastern Catholic churches there is a tradition of telling jokes on Easter because our laughing symbolizes the fact that, with the resurrection, God has the last laugh on Satan, who thought he had won with Jesus’ death. I love this because, first of all, I love humor but I also think that this idea helps us to focus on what Easter is all about. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus most importantly, frees us from Satan, and the fear of death which Satan uses to keep us from bringing about the Kingdom of God here on earth.
As I talked about on last Sunday, too many of us think that our baptism just wipes away the effects of original sin so we can get to heaven when we die. But as the Vatican II document, The Church in the Modern World, states so clearly, our baptism enlists us as instruments of God's plan to save the world by establishing the Kingdom of God here, as it already is in heaven. Jesus' death and resurrection defeated, once and for all, Satan's power over us to prevent us from doing that. I would suggest that understanding that is crucial to our being effective instruments. If all our baptism calls us to is being good so we can get to heaven, then we really don't need to do much except be good. There really is no compelling reason for us to attend church regularly or develop a prayer life, or get involved in parish ministry, or even to do good deeds. But if our mission is to bring salvation here, in this place, in this time, then several things become very clear. The first is that we cannot accomplish our mission individually. Just staying home and being good is not going to be effective at all. Not developing a closer relationship with God through liturgy and scripture and prayer is not an option. Without a close relationship with God we will not be effective instruments.
We are all gathered here this morning to celebrate the sacrament of Eucharist on this great Feast of Easter. Eucharist is a sacrament of initiation because what it does is form us more fully into the body of Christ who brings salvation into the world. As a reminder of the fact that Eucharist is a sacrament of initiation, today we will renew our baptismal promises explicitly instead of just reciting the Nicene Creed. And at the end of today's Eucharist we will be sent out into the world out there to proclaim in deed as well as in word, the Gospel of the Lord.
A friend of mine recently gave me a book on discipleship with the title "If you want to walk on water, you have to get our of the boat". The author's message was that Peter would have never experienced, no matter how shortly, walking on water if he had not had the courage and faith in Jesus to actually step out of the boat. As I was thinking about our baptismal mission for today's homily I realized hat it starts even before that. I am praying that all of you make the decision to first get into the boat, to become active members of our collaborative community, so that with your help our Apple Valley Catholic community can become a much more effective instrument in bringing about the kingdom of God here and now. The kingdom of God is a way of living here on earth that has no hunger, no despair, no sickness, no oppression or power over, no war, no poverty, and in the end, no death. I think I am safe in assuming that is something we all want. On behalf of Fr. Jeff and our whole parish staff I thank you for being with us today and I pray that God continues to bless you and your families. And I pray that you at least consider becoming more involved in our baptismal mission right here and now in our Apple Valley Catholic Community.
And who knows, maybe at some point, we will be able to get out of the boat and walk on water, since we don't have any holes in our feet.