Faith

Took our sin, gave us HIS son – Wednesday, 2nd Week of Easter – Acts 5:17-26/ John 3:16-21

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/jail-break/ based on the First reading taken from the Acts of the Apostles.

This text forms part of the discourse that Jesus has with Nicodemus. It begins with 3:1 and extends to 3:21. The Gospel text of today brings to a close this discourse between Jesus and Nicodemus. It is to Nicodemus that Jesus quotes these lines that have become the much loved central message of Christian life. “For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

God did not just give us ‘a son’; if He did, our salvation would never have taken place. He gave us ‘His Son’ to be our Saviour with a clear mandate that believing in Him we would have eternal life. Not only is the Son given but His purpose is set clear. Just as the purpose of commanding Moses to erect a serpent on a pole was to save the people from death so also believing in Jesus, the world will have life and death will be defeated.

John 3: 16 is Jesus’ big announcement; that He came to save us all, at God’s bidding. All this happened because God loves the world. It is as if Jesus is saying, ‘I’m here because the God who loved you of old, still does. He sent me to tell you, to show you, to gather you up into life with him forever.’
But this saving action on the part of God also has a demand. We are called to believe in the Son’s name so that we may not be condemned. The love of God also demands that we walk in the light and not live as children of the darkness. In short, believing in Jesus must involve a change of heart; a movement from darkness to light.

As Christians, the question that crosses our mind is, can we really stay neutral in the midst of wrongdoing? Should we fight this rapidly growing darkness that threatens to constantly invade our life? For St John, belief in Jesus cannot be a neutral decision. A Christian is called to make a choice between believe and dis-believe, between the darkness and the light and between succumbing to evil and doing what is true.
In John chapter three, we encounter Nicodemus who seeks Jesus by night. On this occasion Nicodemus leaves the presence of Jesus but he is still in confusion and doubt. He will reappear in John 19:39 to help care for Jesus’ body. In time Nicodemus emerges from the darkness of doubt into the light. The ministry of Jesus greatly impacts his life to make a choice for the light.

So also the Samaritan woman in John chapter four, whose long conversation with Jesus ends in a tentative belief, yet far from the immoral life where she first began. Clearly there is a movement from darkness of moral sin into the light of Christ. Or consider the blind man healed in John chapter nine, whose move from darkness to light happens rather quickly in physiological terms, but more slowly in terms of identifying Jesus. Eventually he moves from sight to insight.

In all the three cases, the inner transformation may seems slow but it is heading into the right direction; into the light of Jesus. Easter is that time when we make a conscious decision to be “lifted up” from darkness and believe in the name of Jesus as our Saviour; a belief that is matched with a change of life. Often that movement may seem slow. The temptation is often to go back to the “flesh pots of Egypt” as the Israelites demanded of Moses. This is the challenge of Christian life.

So while John 3:16 may be romanticised by some Christians as a mere slogan to be plastered on every pillar and post, the demand of Christian living must be also found in verse twenty one. For thus says the Lord, “He who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.”

Fr Warner D’Souza

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Faith

Seeking your truth or ‘the’ truth? Tuesday, 2nd Week of Easter – Acts 4:32-37/John 3:7b-15

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/common-ism-is-not-communism/ based on the first reading taken from the Acts of the Apostles.

Nicodemus was a seeker but one who had his own preconceived ideas of salvation. For the Jews, their racial birth was the guarantee to enter into the Kingdom of God. For Jesus it was not enough to be born as a Jew by the flesh but to be born of water and the spirt; a spiritual rebirth.

Because you are a seeker it does not mean you are seeking the truth; you could be seeking your truth. We know that Nicodemus was present at the burial of Jesus but unlike the rest of the Sanhedrin that came to ensure that Jesus was put to death, Nicodemus came to give Jesus a Jewish burial. We do not know if this seeker was convinced of the truth of Jesus message or he remained a pious Jew, performing for Jesus the pious burial rights that should be accorded to a Jew.

What we do know is that Nicodemus was a man with questions. There is no evidence that the two questions he asks Jesus came from a stubborn heart or a conniving one that wanted to trap Jesus. Yet he has questions and both of them begin with How… How can a man be born again; how can these things be?

While the Gospels are not biographies that are chronologically arranged, the Gospel of John, in the text of today indicates that Jesus has already had some kind of run in with the Jewish establishment. When Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, he confesses that Jesus has worked great ‘signs’; a word in the plural. Yet the Gospel of John has only told us of one sign so far, the sign at the wedding at Cana. One can safely assume that while John mentions seven signs in his Gospel, Jesus worked many more and it is to this that Nicodemus refers to.

What then can be safely assumed from today’s text, is that Jesus also ran into opposition with the Jews. He says, “we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony.” Clearly Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus about his rejection by the Jewish religious authorities who while ‘appreciating’ the signs clearly reject his claim to be the Son of Man (verse 13). Jesus accuses Nicodemus and his fellow-leaders of a lack of spiritual insight and a refusal to accept his testimony as coming directly from God: “If you do not believe when I tell you about earthly things, how are you to believe when I tell you about those of heaven?” It is this openness that Jesus is challenging Nicodemus to have.

Jesus now makes a bold and passionate prediction. When the Jews revolted against Moses and God in the desert, God sent serpents to bite them. This sting of death brought the Israelites to their senses and they confess their sin and repent. They plead of Moses to appeal to God. God tells Moses to fashion a bronze serpent so that the Israelites may look at it when they are bitten and thus be saved. Interestingly, God did not take away the snakes, he rather gave them a remedy for their pain. Now, Jesus boldly declares that the sting of sin will be taken away by his death on the cross. Jesus is the cure that forever endures and for those who believe, he offers eternal life.

Finally, the idea behind eternal life means much more than a long or never-ending life. Eternal life does not mean that this life goes on forever. Instead, eternal life also has the idea of a certain quality of life, of God’s kind of life. It is the kind of life enjoyed in eternity. That is what Easter invites us to embrace.

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A nocturnal visit – Monday, 2nd Week in Easter – Acts 4:23-31/ John 3:1-8

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/be-bold-and-dont-fold-monday-2nd-week-in-easter-tide-acts-423-31/ based on the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

This week we have to brace ourselves for a discussion between Jesus and Nicodemus. Over the next four days, the Gospel of John will focus on chapter 3 in which Nicodemus encounters Jesus by night.

Who was Nicodemus? Nicodemus was a learned and a respectable man and a member of the Sanhedrin. John 3:10 tells us that he was a teacher of Israel and 3:1 tells us he was a leader of the Jews. We are told in the Gospel of John, the only Gospel to mention Nicodemus that he comes to see Jesus at night. It was Nicodemus who reminded the Sanhedrin that Jesus had the right to a trial. Together with St. Joseph of Arimathea, he prepared Jesus’ body and placed him in the tomb.

We are told that Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night and the first assumption that one is drawn to is that he was afraid of being seen publicly by the members of the Sanhedrin with Jesus or that this is merely a metaphorical way of describing his spiritual life; that he lived in the darkness of the truth and it is Christ who enlightens his mind. Whatever be the case, Nicodemus must be merited as a seeker for whatever the assumptions of Biblical scholarship may be, he is with Jesus, talking to him about matters relating to the faith.

While we will have to wait patiently over the next four days to listen to the entire discussion between Jesus and Nicodemus, the focus of today’s Gospel is a man who has a sincere heart. He is respectful, for he addressed Jesus as ‘Rabbi’ and acknowledges that Jesus has come from God, working great signs. Yet, here in lies the problem.

For Nicodemus, Jesus is a ‘man come from God’ or a ‘man of God.’ At best Nicodemus could have been calling Jesus a prophet who worked great signs with the blessing of God. He sees Jesus as a man of God not the Son of God and Jesus has to stop his words of praise to correct him.

Jesus has now the unpleasant but bounded task to address the truth of faith. This is an issue we face so often when we have to contradict the mistaken teachings of even clergymen. But fraternal correction is a duty when it comes to matters of the faith; political correctness must take a back seat.

In order for Nicodemus to see Jesus as the son of God he has to let go of his blinkers. The Messiah was sitting in his presence, yet Nicodemus was still clinging on to his racial identity as a Jew with the promises it held. To see Jesus as the Messiah one had to be born from above or as the Greek translation also could be interpreted; ‘born again.’ Taking this to a practical level, Jesus was asking Nicodemus to take his blinkers off so that he could see the truth of faith; these blinkers were adding to the darkness of the night and his understanding.

Nicodemus is confused. He understands Jesus as speaking literally. “How can anyone be born after having grown old?” Jesus now explains further. It is not that one has to reenter their mother’s womb but being born again is being open to water and the Spirit. This was hard for Nicodemus to understand.

It was taught widely among the Jews at that time that since they descended from Abraham, they were automatically assured of heaven. In fact, some Rabbis taught that Abraham stood watch at the gate of hell, just to make sure that none of his descendants accidentally wandered in there. For Jesus, what was born of the flesh is of the flesh but to enter the kingdom of God we need to born of water and the spirit. This is a clear reference to Christian baptism. Flesh only produces flesh (as in natural birth) but it is a spiritual birth that we should seek for that merits us the kingdom of heaven.

Once we are reborn in the Spirit, we let ourselves be led to where God wishes. In explaining our spiritual birth to Nicodemus, Jesus said “the wind blows where it will. You hear the sound it makes but you do not know where it comes from, or where it goes.” The ‘wind’, ‘breath’ of the Holy Spirit is the sole Guide for our lives. He brings about our renewal in his own way. The word for “wind” here is a word which also means “breath” and “spirit”

For Nicodemus this must have been a difficult moment. He was being challenged to let go of his traditional Jewish ideas of salvation. Unless Nicodemus allowed God to change his whole way of being in the world, he would not be able to perceive God at work in him.

Tomorrow, the debate continues…..

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The inner circle of disbelief – Saturday within the Easter Octave – Acts 4:13-21/Mark 16:9-15

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/when-enemies-make-strange-bed-fellows/ based on the first reading.

For most Christians, the Easter proclamation, “he is risen” has become a creedal proclamation. We don’t have any difficulty saying, ‘Jesus is risen’ or ‘He is alive.’ However, creedal proclamations, if not truly reflected upon, can come as a nasty shock when God decides to put our proclamations or faith statements to the test.

Take for example the proclamation we sing at Mass, “I surrender all.” While it is not a creedal proclamation it is a proclamation of faith. But what If God decided to take you seriously and take all you have and truly ask for your surrender to his will? Would you be mad at God or shocked?

Or for example, we profess our own hope in the resurrection of the body, of life everlasting and of heaven and hell. What if we profess this, preach it, proclaim it but not live it or truly believe it? The result will be seen in us standing on the wrong side of the pearly gates.

In the narrative of today, ‘the eleven’ find themselves at the wrong end of the stick. The resurrection was something Jesus spoke of at length and he does this thrice in the Gospel of Mark; in chapters eight, nine and ten. This is not something new as a concept. Yet when the resurrection of Jesus did come to pass, they ‘stubbornly’ refuse to believe.

The word stubbornness finds its way in the Easter narrative to describe the eleven closest collaborators of Jesus. This was the inner circle that had heard Jesus preach every doctrine over three years. The resurrection was admittedly a tough one for them to understand. In Luke 18:34 Jesus talks about his passion death and resurrection. Scripture tells us, “They understood nothing about these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.” Yet, at the raising of Lazarus in John 11, Martha professes not only her faith in the resurrection on the last day but at Jesus’ prompting professes her faith in Jesus as the resurrection and the life. The eleven struggled and Martha got it all right!

So why is it that the eleven did not heed the words of Mary of Magdala whom the Lord appeared to (16:9) and those or the two disciples in the country to whom he appeared? (16:12) Interestingly the Gospel text of today lays it out clearly; the closest and dearest in Jesus’ inner circle, “lacked faith and were stubborn.” These are harsh words to hear in the Easter narrative.

Make no mistake, Jesus did not upbraid the eleven because they betrayed, denied or ran away from him during his passion and suffering. We know from the Gospels that he asks the women to “go to his brothers.” He calls them brothers and in that he has clearly forgiven them but when faith is rejected because we cling on to our stubbornness, then you see Humble Jesus, now no longer meek but riled.

Jesus us not unreasonable in his anger when he ‘upbraided them.’ His resurrection was something he discussed several times and after his resurrection he sent Mary of Magdala and the two disciples and yet they did not believe.

Stubbornness is a choice and a sin. In Scripture, this word “stubborn” is often surrounded by other “challenging” words such as proud, rebellious, unfaithful, greedy, obstinate and defiant. None of these actions or attitudes are in line with Perfect Love. The sin of stubbornness and arrogance, which is strengthened by pride, is awful. This is the sin of the devil himself (Genesis 3:5; Isaiah 14:14; Ezekiel 28:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:4). He will deceive you into believing his lie, then he will entangle you in his punishment, if you let him.

It is ironic that the Easter message was at first rejected by the eleven because of their stubbornness. This is so because Christianity is not sanitized and given to us packaged in a bow. The fact that the failures of the eleven are out on display draws each of us to evaluate our own failings; our own stubbornness and surrender it in faith to the Lord. We have to die to our pride, our thoughts, our ways, our wants, our beliefs for the Lord to rise in our hearts.

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The second charcoal fire – Friday within the Easter Octave – Acts 4:1-12/John 21:1-14

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/preaching-not-from-might-but-what-is-right/ based on the first reading.

The text of today plays out a good one week after Easter Sunday. We don’t know the exact time but we know that Jesus appeared to the apostles on Easter Sunday and then for the benefit of Thomas he appears a week later. The Gospel of John tells us that after the events of Thomas’ encounter, the Lord worked “many other signs but these are not written in this book.” One must remember that the Gospels are not biographies but a faith narrative that is written so that “we may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah.” Yet, Saint John feels compelled to tell us just one more easter narrative that has Peter at the heart of it all; Peter is mentioned by name seven times and while our text does not include the climax of the narrative it sets the background for it.

Simon Peter seems unfocused. On Easter Sunday, Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on the apostles (John 20:22) with a purpose and a mandate. Perhaps Peter, as head of it all, was lost and so he thought it better to go back to his old trade. Somehow the events of the last week seemed to have clouded all that Jesus had prepared him for. He has received his personal out pouring of the Holy Spirit yet he chooses for some unapparent reason to go back to his profession; he decided to go fishing and was joined by six others.

John 21:3 tells us the outcome of a distracted ministry; “that night they caught nothing.” Strange as it may sound, they were mandated by Jesus to be fishers of men, casting their nets on land and yet they were casting their nets into the sea. The results were quite expected; “they caught nothing.”

In the midst of their misery, Jesus walks in. There is no judgment but only kindness. He calls them “children,” and instructs them to cast their nets on the right side. While the “right side” may seem like a physical space, it was also a spiritual admonition to cast our nets in the ‘right place’. Every decision to minister, must be directed in prayerful consultation with the Lord or else we won’t be casting on the ‘right side,’ and will end up catching nothing.

Meanwhile, we are told that Peter is overwhelmed with the haul in the nets. But while he is tongue tied it is John who makes the proclamation of faith, “it is the Lord.” Can we recognise the miracles in our life as coming from the hands of the Lord or are we mesmerised with the miracle itself? The object of very miracle is not the spectacle we behold but our acclamation of the Lord who works it for us. “It is the Lord” should be our cry every day when we see him working miracles in our lives, every moment of the day.

While Simon jumps into the Sea of Galilee, the six other disciples haul in the catch. Verse eleven tells us that there were a hundred and fifty-three fish and then goes on to give us another detail; though there were so many fish, their nets were not torn. Memories are powerful, be they joyful or tragic. Memories imprint themselves on our minds and the minutest details are etched on our brain. This was one of those memories where John, the author of the Gospel, was so touched that he remembered every single fish that was caught. He remembered it enough to etch it for all of us to remember; 153 in total.

Yet there was another memory that John could not forget. While the six disciples dragged in the haul of fish, Jesus was already ready on the shore with some bread and fish and yes, another interesting detail; a charcoal fire. Clearly Peter was sitting with Jesus as he had jumped into the water and swam ahead of the rest.

The last time Peter was around a charcoal fire it was the evening of Maundy Thursday. John 18:18 tells us that they were in the courtyard of the high priest and there was a charcoal fire around which the slaves and the ‘police’ were warming themselves. Peter was also warming himself and it is around a charcoal fire that Peter when confronted about his association with Jesus denied him three times. Now, once again he finds himself around a charcoal fire. This time there are no accusers, there is no denial and the Lord too has no condemnation.

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