20210406 A NEW RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD
06 April, 2021, Easter Tuesday
First reading | Acts 2:36-41 © |
You must repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus
On the day of Pentecost, Peter spoke to the Jews: ‘The whole House of Israel can be certain that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.’
Hearing this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the apostles, ‘What must we do, brothers?’ ‘You must repent,’ Peter answered ‘and every one of you must be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise that was made is for you and your children, and for all those who are far away, for all those whom the Lord our God will call to himself.’ He spoke to them for a long time using many arguments, and he urged them, ‘Save yourselves from this perverse generation.’ They were convinced by his arguments, and they accepted what he said and were baptised. That very day about three thousand were added to their number.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 32(33):4-5,18-20,22 © |
The Lord fills the earth with his love.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
The word of the Lord is faithful
and all his works to be trusted.
The Lord loves justice and right
and fills the earth with his love.
The Lord fills the earth with his love.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord looks on those who revere him,
on those who hope in his love,
to rescue their souls from death,
to keep them alive in famine.
The Lord fills the earth with his love.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Our soul is waiting for the Lord.
The Lord is our help and our shield.
May your love be upon us, O Lord,
as we place all our hope in you.
The Lord fills the earth with his love.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Gospel Acclamation | Ps117:24 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
This day was made by the Lord:
we rejoice and are glad.
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 20:11-18 © |
'I have seen the Lord and he has spoken to me'
Mary stayed outside near the tomb, weeping. Then, still weeping, she stooped to look inside, and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, the other at the feet. They said, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away’ she replied ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’ As she said this she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not recognise him. Jesus said, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him.’ Jesus said, ‘Mary!’ She knew him then and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbuni!’ – which means Master. Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and find the brothers, and tell them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ So Mary of Magdala went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had said these things to her.
A NEW RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ACTS 2:36-41; PS 32:4-5,18-20,22; JN 20:11-18]
St Peter’s first sermon on the Feast of Pentecost took pains to illustrate “how Jesus a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through Him, then delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death.” (Acts 2:22-24) The conclusion is that “The whole House of Israel can be certain that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.” Upon hearing these words, the Jews “were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the apostles, ‘What must we do, brothers?’ ‘You must repent.’ Peter answered ‘and every one of you must be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Indeed, the fact of having killed the Messiah out of ignorance and that God endorsed Him as Lord and Christ, repentance would be the right and sincere response to the truth revealed to them. Repentance simply means a change of heart because of the realization that one has been wrong, not just with respect to the identity of Jesus, as for the Jews, but always wanting to live our way of life in defiance of the Word of God. We want to continue to live a life of sin in contradiction to the life of truth and charity.
Repentance is always in response to the Word of God as heard when proclaimed. Unless we open our minds and hearts to the Word of God, we will not be able to find repentance because our hearts would not be stricken. The Jews in Jerusalem were receptive to the preaching of St Peter. And as a consequence, their hearts were ready to receive the call to repentance, “they were convinced by his arguments, and they accepted what he said and were baptised. That very day about three thousand were added to their number.”
Repentance, of course, in its negative sense is to turn away from our sins and ignorance about God, but positively it calls for a turning towards God. This is why the corollary of repentance is faith in God. Turning towards God involves hearing God speaking to us in a personal way, as what happened to the Jews when they heard St Peter’s sermon. They felt God was addressing them and they felt guilty of being accomplices to the killing of the Messiah. They were grieved when their motivations, evil intentions and ignorance were exposed. But because they were receptive, they repented and accepted forgiveness.
So, too, in a similar manner, Mary Magdalene in today’s gospel was oblivious to her attachment to the earthly Jesus before His resurrection. Whilst it is true that she deeply loved the Lord, her love was not pure. She was attached to our Lord in such a way that her love was self-centered. It was about her losing her ability to see the Lord and touch Him as before His death. Mary was still living in the past. She was crying for herself, not so much for the Lord. In other words, she was attached to the Lord for her sake rather than loving the Lord for Himself. She was weeping for herself because she could no longer see the body of our Lord. So preoccupied with her sorrows and grief was she that she was not able even to recognize the presence of the angels, or our Lord who was standing behind her. When our love is not pure, our perception of Jesus, whilst better than those who do not recognize Him at all in their lives, will prevent us from growing in faith and deepening our relationship with Him. This is the greatest danger of those who think that they know God well and have a deep faith in Him but are unwilling to be open and be receptive to new ways of relating with Him and the new approaches in meeting Him. This is particularly true for those who are steeped in their devotional practices and spirituality, believing that theirs is the only way to encounter God.
Similarly, like the Jews, only when she heard the Lord addressing her personally by name, did she come to recognize the presence of the Risen Lord. In the final analysis, real conversion can only come about when we have a deep and personal encounter with the Lord. When we come to meet Him personally, then all the different methods of prayer do not matter because they are but means to bring about a personal encounter with Him. It is not a question of which devotion or spirituality is better but whether we are being led to experience Him deeply in our hearts and our minds. One can claim to have the right liturgy, right worship and the right practices, but unless they lead us to a personal relationship with God, there will be no change of life, no increase of charity.
But if we are willing to let go of our prejudices and narrow and fixed mindsets, we can have a new relationship with the Lord beyond our expectations. This was what the Lord said to Mary. “Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father.” Mary was assuming that in her relationship with Him, she could just continue on as before. But Jesus made it clear that because of His resurrection, this relationship had to be transformed and move to a more transcendental dimension and not just remain earthly. When the Lord forbade Mary to touch Him, He was telling her to stop how she used to relate to Him. Mary needed assurance that Jesus would not leave her again. She needed to touch the Lord to assure herself that the Lord was real and truly there. However, Jesus invited her to go beyond just a tangible relationship with Him, and to a relationship with His Father in the Spirit.
Having returned to the Father, Jesus is now able to lead us to a greater unity with the Father in the Holy Spirit. His return to the Father means that we can now share His joy as well. This explains why our Lord did not say to Mary, “I have risen from the dead” but that He was returning to the Father. His Father had always been the reference point in all His teaching. He is the way to the Father. Returning to the Father after completing His mission on earth was His greatest joy. (cf Jn 14:28) For His return would allow us to receive His Holy Spirit. Our relationship with the Lord should ultimately lead to a Trinitarian relationship with God. When Jesus returned to His Father, He made it possible for us to be united with Him as well because He sent us the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and Himself. In other words, because of our relationship with Jesus, we now know who the Father is, and His Father becomes ours and His God is ours as well. It is our union with the Father through the Son in the Spirit that we will find our greatest happiness.
Clearly, this also means that by His death, resurrection and ascension, He founded a new community and a new family. Jesus instructed Mary to tell the disciples, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” At the cross already, Jesus told Mary to take John as her Son and be the mother of the new family of God. (Jn 19:26f) At the cross when He was pierced by the spear of a soldier, blood and water flowed, (Jn 19:34) symbolizing the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist, the way to enter into the Christian community and be a member of the family of God. This was what Peter said to the Jews, “You must repent and every one of you must be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Because we have a common Father and a common brother in our Lord and are united with them in Spirit, Jesus called His disciples the first time as “brothers.” He said to Mary, “But go and find the brothers, and tell them.” We are no more just slaves or even friends of our Lord, but we are now His brothers and sisters. This is the fulfillment of what our Lord taught earlier on when He praised Mary saying, “Here are my mother and my brethren! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother.” (Mt 12:49f) As a consequence, St Paul wrote, “all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” (Rom 8:14-17) This is our joy and our hope in the final analysis, to be with God in Christ Jesus through His Spirit.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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