JESUS IS LORD

20160328 JESUS IS LORD

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: White.

First reading

Acts 2:14,22-33 ©

On the day of Pentecost Peter stood up with the Eleven and addressed the crowd in a loud voice: ‘Men of Israel, listen to what I am going to say: Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God by the miracles and portents and signs that God worked through him when he was among you, as you all know. This man, who was put into your power by the deliberate intention and foreknowledge of God, you took and had crucified by men outside the Law. You killed him, but God raised him to life, freeing him from the pangs of Hades; for it was impossible for him to be held in its power since, as David says of him:

I saw the Lord before me always,

for with him at my right hand nothing can shake me.

So my heart was glad

and my tongue cried out with joy;

my body, too, will rest in the hope

that you will not abandon my soul to Hades

nor allow your holy one to experience corruption.

You have made known the way of life to me,

you will fill me with gladness through your presence.

‘Brothers, no one can deny that the patriarch David himself is dead and buried: his tomb is still with us. But since he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn him an oath to make one of his descendants succeed him on the throne, what he foresaw and spoke about was the resurrection of the Christ: he is the one who was not abandoned to Hades, and whose body did not experience corruption. God raised this man Jesus to life, and all of us are witnesses to that. Now raised to the heights by God’s right hand, he has received from the Father the Holy Spirit, who was promised, and what you see and hear is the outpouring of that Spirit.’

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 15:1-2,5,7-11 ©

Preserve me, Lord, I take refuge in you.

or

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you.

  I say to the Lord: ‘You are my God.

O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup;

  it is you yourself who are my prize.’

Preserve me, Lord, I take refuge in you.

or

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel,

  who even at night directs my heart.

I keep the Lord ever in my sight:

  since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm.

Preserve me, Lord, I take refuge in you.

or

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

And so my heart rejoices, my soul is glad;

  even my body shall rest in safety.

For you will not leave my soul among the dead,

  nor let your beloved know decay.

Preserve me, Lord, I take refuge in you.

or

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

You will show me the path of life,

  the fullness of joy in your presence,

  at your right hand happiness for ever.

Preserve me, Lord, I take refuge in you.

or

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Gospel Acclamation

Ps117:24

Alleluia, alleluia!

This day was made by the Lord:

we rejoice and are glad.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Matthew 28:8-15 ©

Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples.

  And there, coming to meet them, was Jesus. ‘Greetings’ he said. And the women came up to him and, falling down before him, clasped his feet. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; they will see me there.’

  While they were on their way, some of the guard went off into the city to tell the chief priests all that had happened. These held a meeting with the elders and, after some discussion, handed a considerable sum of money to the soldiers with these instructions, ‘This is what you must say, “His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.” And should the governor come to hear of this, we undertake to put things right with him ourselves and to see that you do not get into trouble.’ The soldiers took the money and carried out their instructions, and to this day that is the story among the Jews.

JESUS IS LORD

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ACTS 2:14. 22-33; MT 28:8-15 ]

We can empathize with non-Christians who cannot accept our proclamation that Jesus is Lord and God.   How can a man be God?  This is ludicrous.  It was also true for the early Church as well.  The early disciples of Jesus were Jews and they professed faith in the One God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.   Furthermore, the stress is on the transcendence of God.  So how could they proclaim Jesus as Lord and God as it went against their own beliefs?   So should we be surprised that the world views us with skepticism and see as naïve and superstitious to believe that a man could be called Lord and God?

What is the crux of the matter?  What is the real obstacle to faith in Jesus as Lord?  It is all boils down not so much on whether Jesus is Lord and God but whether we believe that He has been raised by the Father from the dead.  In other words, faith in Jesus as Lord hinges on faith in His resurrection.  The claim of Jesus as Lord is unthinkable only because the resurrection of Jesus is always unacceptable, for no one has been raised from the dead, at most resuscitated.

Again, we can appreciate denial of the resurrection of Christ.  Non-Christians often make fun of our belief in Christ’s resurrection.  Again should we be surprised?  The women we read in today’s gospel too were amazed and ran away in awe when they saw the empty tomb instead of the corpse of Jesus.  In Mark’s gospel, they were filled with fear but in St Matthew’s gospel, they were “filled with awe and great joy” because it was simply incredible, too good to be true and an out-of-this-world kind of experience.  The joy that comes from the hope that He was still alive was too great.  Their hope was not disappointed because the Lord appeared to them along their way.  “And there, coming to meet them, was Jesus. ‘Greetings’ he said.”

Of course, this initial reluctance to believe in the resurrection was also true for the apostles and disciples except St John.   We read that St Peter, who was the first to arrive and enter the tomb of our Lord, left mystified.  At any rate, the disciples would not believe the testimony of the women as they doubted their integrity.  As for others, they dismissed it as a hoax.  This explains the story that was circulated as recounted in the gospel.  They bribed the soldiers to say that “His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.”

So it is important that we are able to adduce the reasons for our faith in the resurrection of our Lord.  Right from the outset, we must state in no uncertain terms that the resurrection of our Lord is a trans-historical event.  This is to say that we are speaking of a resurrected body at the end of time, which is beyond history, and now made present in history.  This explains why it cannot be seen with ordinary eyes and without the grace of God.  Jesus gave this grace to the women who saw Him and touched His feet. Because the resurrection cannot be proven empirically like a scientific observation, then we need to draw from other supporting evidence to show the reasonableness of our claim.

St Peter established and verified the truth of the resurrection by referring to the fulfillment of scriptures.  Quoting from the prophecy of King David who said, “I saw the Lord before me always, for with him at my right hand nothing can shake me. So my heart was glad and my tongue cried out with joy; my body, too, will rest in the hope that you will not abandon my soul to Hades nor allow your holy one to experience corruption. You have made known the way of life to me, you will fill me with gladness through your presence.” (Cf Ps 16:8-11)  So the resurrection of our Lord fulfills the prophecy of David.

Secondly, we have the testimony of the life, passion, death of our Lord.  He was doing good on earth, and fulfilled the messianic promises of bringing healing and restoration.  St Peter said, “Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God by the miracles and portents and signs that God worked through him when he was among you, as you all know.” As Jesus said, even if we do not believe in Him at least believe in the works He had done.  Such works vouched for His identification with the Father.  “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. ³⁸ But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”  (Jn 10:37f)

Thirdly, that He was raised from the dead, even though He was condemned unjustly as a criminal and political revolutionary, showed again the fulfillment of God’s plan.  God did not allow Him to be condemned to death.   St Peter said, “This man, who was put into your power by the deliberate intention and foreknowledge of God, you took and had crucified by men outside the Law. You killed him, but God raised him to life, freeing him from the pangs of Hades; for it was impossible for him to be held in its power.”  Indeed, the power belongs to God ultimately, not to man.  So everything happened according to the plan of God and His divine wisdom.  No one can jeopardize and derail the plan of salvation.

Fourthly, note that on this first Monday of the Octave of Easter, the Church selected the discourse of St Peter from the Acts of the Apostles as the first reading when this discourse was given at Pentecost, not at His resurrection. Why?  The conclusion is obvious.  If “God raised this man Jesus to life, and all of us are witness to that”, then it means that He has been “raised to the heights by God’s hand. “  It means that “he has received from the Father the Holy Spirit, who was promised, and what you see and hear is the outpouring of that Spirit.”  Jesus, in other words, at His resurrection was not simply raised from the dead but exalted and seated at the right of God, assuming all divine powers and therefore able to send us the Holy Spirit that He received from the Father.  Unless He is God, He would not have been able to send us the Holy Spirit.  Hence, in the mind of St Peter, it is beyond doubt that Jesus is Lord and God.

So what does it mean for us who confess that Jesus is Lord and God?  Firstly, it means that following the women, we too must do what the women did.  What did they do?   “And the women came up to him and, falling down before him, clasped his feet.”  To come up to Him implies that we must now approach Him in awe and devotion.  Like them, we must fall down in worship and adoration by clasping His feet.   Only because He is Lord do we bow down before Him.   But worshipping Jesus as Lord is more than just sentimental expression of love and reverence.

To confess that Jesus is Lord means that He will from now on be the center of our life, our devotion, all that we live for and die for.  In other words, “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.  For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.” (Rom 14:7-9)   Jesus, as Lord, means that we will obey Him and take directions from Him because He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  Whatever we say or think, it will be rooted in the Lord and not in the wisdom of the world.  We will from now on measure all things by Christ’s standards, not that of the world.   With the psalmist, we pray, “I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel who even at night directs my heart. I keep the Lord ever in my sight.  Since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm.”

Finally, it means to announce to our brothers and sisters that Jesus is Lord.  Jesus said to the women, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; they will see me there.”  By our lives, our words, actions and testimony, we are called to witness to His resurrection.  We are called to live adventurously and courageously.  “Be not afraid” is what the Lord told His disciples.  We are called to live as freed men and women.  Death has been overcome and life is certain, here and now and in the next life.  We can surrender our lives and future to Him because God is faithful to us.  Just as the Father showed His fidelity to His Son by raising Him from the dead, He too will be faithful to us.  As the psalmist says, He will preserve us from death and rescue us from our enemies.  “And so my heart rejoices, my soul is glad.  Even my body shall rest in safety for you will not leave my soul among the dead, nor let your beloved know decay.”

Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved