Without a commitment to Jesus’ living, dying and rising, we won’t be able to persist in doing what He asks us
We all have likely experienced meeting someone for the first time and listening to them share the pain or agony they are currently undergoing, often looking for sympathy. Listening to the Gospel for the second Sunday of Easter, we may mistakenly label Jesus as coming forward as a victim, but that would be incorrect. He shows His hands and side to identify who He is and His victory over death. Instead of wallowing as a victim, He shows His disciples that it is possible to find witness in the wounds and continue to live a life of resurrection.
We all have our share of suffering and pain, but some among us seem to have a dark cloud hovering over them — any imaginable calamity or difficulty seems to come their way. We all know the isolation of pain and suffering and how easy it is to become depressed and disconnected. We sometimes convince ourselves that God is somehow behind the suffering and pain that comes our way.
As Jesus comes through the locked doors, He shows those gathered in fear that pain and suffering shouldn’t keep us from going out into the world and being His witnesses and disciples. We often hear that nothing is worthwhile if there isn’t a struggle involved, but how many of us have that viewpoint once a struggle comes our way? It’s normal to try to do everything we can to remain healthy and without tragedy. Still, followers of Jesus will inevitably experience some of the pain and agony that He experienced. It’s tough to love our enemy, choose to do good to those who would hurt us and to see poverty as the richest choice we can make. Society may try to coerce us into believing that it might be right. We may be pressured to believe and act as if the poor and the marginalized are not worth as much as we are. Suffering will come our way if we are truly committed disciples of Jesus.
Easter season leads us toward Pentecost and the mission Jesus gave us. Without a commitment to His living, dying and rising, we will not be able to persist in doing what He asks us.
Imagine the power Jesus shared with Peter, that even his shadow crossing over a sick person would cure them. Our Lenten acts of prayer, fasting and almsgiving were meant to train us for the long haul. Are we ready to believe that Jesus has shared with us a power to bring life back to those suffering and in pain? Are we ready to act on the knowledge that we have the power through Jesus to lift up the downtrodden and heal the brokenhearted? Do we believe that we have the power of the light of Christ that we can carry with us into prisons, hospitals and nursing homes?
If we still lack Easter courage, find someone spending their time feeding the poor, visiting folks in prison, accompanying those in hospice care, actively protesting injustices or consistently helping people come from conflict to resolution and peace. Ask to shadow them for a day. We might find that what we feared would be true is not. We might even learn something from folks that we used to pity. But I say pray for more Easter courage!
Father Donald Wester is retired and serves as lecturer of homiletics at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary.
