SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER. YR B.-br. Simeon

Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Homily preached by Br. Simeon at Blaxland on Sunday 12th April 2015:

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER. YR B.

Gospel: John 20:19-31

"Unless I see - I will not believe"

May I speak in the Name of the One God, +Father, +Son and +Holy Spirit. Amen

God’s story is our story. We have been blessed with the Bible, God’s story of his interaction with his beloved creation. The stories we read in the gospels are our story. In Holy Week we tried to step into God’s story as we looked at the stories of some of the lesser characters in Mark’s gospel. Now we have come to the Easter season and we walk in the most astonishing and delightful part of the story of God’s dealings with his people. So let us again seek to step into this story.

There must be something confronting about facing a friend scarred with the marks of crucifixion. Such a confrontation would be only a fraction of what these disciples are facing. And even more so when Jesus appears to them in person, alive and very much real!

The Risen Lord Jesus revealed the glory of his resurrection to his disciples gradually and over a period of time. Even after the apostles saw the empty tomb and heard the reports of Jesus' appearance to the women, they were still weak in faith and fearful of being arrested by the Jewish authorities. When Jesus appeared to them he offered proofs of his resurrection by showing them the wounds of his passion, his pierced hands and side. He calmed their fears and brought them peace, the peace which reconciles sinners and makes us friends of God.

Jesus did something which only love and trust can do. He commissioned his weak and timid apostles to bring the good news of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. This sending out of the disciples is parallel to the sending out of Jesus by his heavenly Father. Jesus fulfilled his mission through his perfect love and obedience to the will of his Father. He called his first disciples and he now calls each one of us to do the same. Just as he gave his first disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit, so he breathes on each of us the same Holy Spirit who equips us with new life, power, joy, and courage to live each day as followers of the Risen Lord.

The last apostle to meet the resurrected Lord was the first to go with him to Jerusalem at Passover time. The apostle Thomas was a natural pessimist. When Jesus proposed that they visit Lazarus after receiving news of his illness, Thomas said to the disciples: "Let us also go, that we may die with him" (John 11:16). While Thomas deeply loved the Lord, he lacked the courage to stand with Jesus in his passion and crucifixion.

After Jesus' death, Thomas made the mistake of withdrawing from the other apostles. He sought loneliness rather than fellowship in his time of trial and adversity. He doubted the women who saw the resurrected Jesus and he doubted his own fellow apostles.

When Thomas finally had the courage to re-join the other apostles, Jesus made his presence known to him and reassured him that he had indeed overcome death and risen again. When Thomas recognised his Master, he believed and exclaimed that Jesus was truly Lord and truly God! Through the gift of faith we, too, proclaim that Jesus is our personal Lord and our God. He died and rose that we, too, might have new life in him. The Lord offers each of us new life in his Holy Spirit that we may know him personally and walk in this new way of life through the power of his resurrection.

As we prepare to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, a question I leave with you to ponder in your hearts as you prepare to come and 'eat his flesh', and 'drink his blood', do you believe in the good news of the Gospel and in the power of the Holy Spirit to bring you new life, hope, and joy, today, and throughout your life's journey?

Amen.

3rd Sunday in Lent 2015 - Br Simeon

Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Homily preached by Br. Simeon vat Blaxland on Sunday 8th March 2015:

THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT. YR B.

Gospel:  John 2:13-22

“Zeal for the Father's house”.

May I speak in the Name of the One God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit . Amen.

Isn't the gospel account of Jesus cleansing the temple amazing? It stands in stark contrast to many popular notions of Jesus' character. Here is no picture of a gentle, soft-spoken Jesus calmly confronting the religious establishment with authoritative teaching and divine wisdom. Rather, here Jesus appears with His sleeves rolled up ready for a fight. After making His very own whip, He charges through the heart of the religious establishment striking forcefully and aggressively at a religious system that has become skewed. Imagine it! Jesus is opening pens and cages of oxen, sheep, and doves with one hand, while, with a whip of cords in the other hand, He is driving animals and people alike into confusion and retreat.

The temple is the focus of today’s Gospel.  Whereas the Synoptic Gospels place Jesus’ cleansing of the temple immediately after his Palm Sunday entrance into Jerusalem, John places the event early in his Gospel, following Jesus’ first sign at Cana. While the synoptics recount only one climactic journey to Jerusalem, the Jesus of John’s Gospel makes several trips to the holy city.

Pilgrims to the temple were expected to make a donation for the upkeep and expenses of the edifice.  Because Roman currency was considered “unclean,” Jewish visitors had to change their money into Jewish currency in order to make their temple gift. Money-changers, whose tables lined the outer courts of the temple, charged exorbitant fees for their service.

Visiting worshippers who wished to have a sacrifice offered on the temple altar would sometimes have to pay 15 to 20 times the market rate for animals purchased inside the temple.  Vendors could count on the cooperation of the official temple “inspectors” who, as a matter of course, would reject as “unclean” or “imperfect” animals brought in from outside the temple.

Jesus’ angry toppling of the vendors’ booths and tables is a condemnation of the injustice and exploitation of the faithful in the name of God. So empty and meaningless has their worship become that God will establish a new “temple” in the resurrected body of the Christ.

Of course, the leaders and people do not appreciate the deeper meaning of Jesus’ words, nor did the people who witnessed his miracles understand the true nature of his Messianic mission.  John’s closing observations in this reading, point to the fact that the full meaning of many of Jesus’ words and acts were understood only later, in the light of his resurrection.

In the temple precincts of our lives are “money changers” and connivers -- fear, ambition, addictions, selfishness, prejudice -- that distort the meaning of our lives and debase our relationships with God and with one another.

The action of Jesus in the Temple challenges our understanding of his character, our business ethics and our religious practices. He was not kind and gentle that day. He offended people by threatening their income, social status, and religious practices. He risked his life because a righteous anger burned within his soul.

The issues were too important. He could not accept a religion that oppressed people. He would not tolerate a faith that took advantage of others or one that excluded others. With the crack of a whip, he drove the money changers from the temple. 

Lent is a time to invite the “anger” Jesus of today’s Gospel into our lives to drive out those things that make our lives less than what God created them to be. To raise one’s voice against injustice, to stand up before the powerful on behalf of the weak, to demand accountability of those who exploit and abuse others for their own gain is to imitate the “holy” anger of Christ.

Amen.