3^rd Sunday of Easter (B); April 18, 2021

Acts 3:13-15,17-19.  Ps 42.  1 Jn 2:1-5.  Lk 24:35-48

Deacon Jim McFadden

         In the mid-‘80s the Australian director Peter Weir (Gallipoli, Mosquito Coast, The Truman Show) did his first American film, a successful thriller, Witness (1985), which starred Harrison Ford (in his only performance that earned him an Academy Award nomination).  The movie is about a young boy who sees the murder of an undercover police officer by corrupt coworkers and he’s hidden away in an Amish community for protection.  As the story unfolds he recalls what happened by putting the pieces together, then he tells the Ford character named John Book (note the Gospel symbolism).  The movie contains the marks of a witness: one sees, recalls, and tells.

            In today’s readings the term ‘witness’ is mentioned twice.  The first time is on the lips of Peter in our first reading of Acts.  After the healing of a paralytic at the Door of the Temple, Peter exclaims: (You) “killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.  To this we are witnesses” (3:15).

            The second time it is on the lips of the Risen Jesus.  On the evening of Easter,  he opens the minds of the disciples to the mystery of his death and Resurrection, saying to them: “You are witness to these things” (Lk 24:48).  The Apostles who saw the Risen Christ with their own eyes, could not keep silent about this incredible experience.  Jesus had shown himself to his innermost circle so that the truth of the Resurrection would reach everyone through them.  What’s true for the Apostles is true for us because we are members of the Church, the mystical Body of Christ.  So, Jesus commissioned his disciples to “go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19).

            The only way we can enthusiastically and steadfastly embrace this Mission is that we have seen through the eyes of Faith that Jesus is Risen, that Jesus is alive and present within and among us.  As missionary disciples we testify that Jesus is alive.

            That’s what a witness does.  Circling back, how does one “see” the Risen Christ? Jesus instructed us on the 5^th Sunday of Lent when he said that “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (Jn 12:23-24).  Put simply, if we really want to see Jesus, that is to say if we want to know him deeply and personally, if we want to understand him, we have to look to the grain of wheat that dies in the soil: in other words, we have to look to the Cross.

            The Sign of the Cross marks a radical shift from self-reference  (Ego-drama) to  being Christ-centered (Theo-drama)–cf. Urs von Balthasar).  It is only through sacrificial giving of Self for the praise and glory of God and the good of others, that we can see Christ and enter into Trinitarian Love.  The Cross in itself can only express love, service, and unreserved self-giving.  Only in this way can we be grafted onto the “tree of Life” and truly see Jesus.

            Jesus is Life itself.  And, we are hard-wired to seek Life because we are made in God’s image.  That’s why we’re drawn to Jesus, that we want to “see” Jesus, to meet him, to know him, to fall love with him.  That’s the only way we can be effective witnesses to the Risen Christ.

We too must respond with the witness of a life that is given in service, a life that is patterned after the Way of Jesus, which is so beautifully captured in the Beatitudes: that we live a life of closeness with others, compassion and tenderness—a life in which we give our lives away.  It means that we just don’t say, “Praise Jesus,” but we share our time, talent, and resources with our brothers and sisters through daily and simple gestures of care and concern.  Concomitantly,  we avoid  condemnations, name-calling, objectifying others, and discriminating  against those who are different; we avoid the seductive web constant conspiracy theories, lies, and fabrications; instead, we will the good of others because they are God’s beloved children. 

            Brothers and sisters, it is only through the Cross, of the hidden seed ready to die that we can truly “see” Jesus and therefore give witness to him.  It is only through this intertwining of death and life that we can experience the joy and fruitfulness of a love that flows from the heart of the Risen Christ. 

            So, during the Easter season, let us resolve by the gift of Faith to be witnesses of the Risen Lord and bring the Paschal gifts of joy and peace to the people we encounter.  Amen.