About three years earlier, he came to the limelight and began to recruit his followers. At one point, there were 70 or 72 of them as disciples. He later chose 12 out of that number who became closer to him, and they became his apostles. He taught them many things about God, neighbors, themselves, and life. Even though he had these numbered apostles and disciples, his goodness knew no bounds; he was good to even those who were not part of his team. He taught the ignorant, healed the sick, and raised the dead. At other points, he defended the unjustly accused and even fed the hungry crowd. Such a good man! What is there not to love about him?
But what did he get in return for his goodness? Rather than attract applause, his goodness attracted the hatred of the religious leaders of his time. They cooked up some fake allegations against him, and they nailed him to the Cross until he died. Could no one have bailed him? Was there no influential person to have pulled the strings in his defense? What about those who were beneficiaries of his miraculous healing? Where were the over five thousand who ate free dinner from his generosity? Five thousand protesters storming the palace of Pilate would have secured his unconditional release. I wonder why none of those he raised from the dead offered to take his place on the Cross.
The most disappointing part of the story was the attitude of his close male followers. They were the apostles; they followed him where others could not go. When he spoke to others in parables, he told these twelve men what he meant in plain language. They were the first to taste his body and blood in the Holy Eucharist. One would have expected that at his most difficult moment, these close friends would be by his side. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
On Holy Thursday, they stayed with him and had a solemn dinner. But after the dinner, these friends began to expose their other side. At first, one of them, Judas Iscariot, sold him for an amount that was less than the price at which people sold slaves in those days. When the eleven saw how real the fight was that night, most of them ran away. A close admirer, who was almost one of the twelve, even ran away for his life naked. Peter, the chief of them, showed some bravery and continued to follow him. But when a little girl asked him if he was with Jesus, he swore with his life that he knew nothing about that man. What a betrayal! To cut a long story short, all his close male friends abandoned him when he needed them the most. Only one of them, John, and the women remained with him until the end.
Thanks be to God, death did not have the final say! Even with the soldiers guarding the tomb, when it was time for life to come out of death, the tomb could not keep its occupant for more than three days. Alleluia, he came back to life!
What would have been your first move if you were in his shoes at this point? Maybe, I would have gone to see all those who nailed me to the Cross to tell them to get ready for me. Then I would have gone to my closest friends, who betrayed and denied me, and I would have asked them to return all the property I entrusted to them. That is, after I might have, in clear terms, told them how cowardly and unreliable they were in spite of all I did for them. Then, I would have taken John and the women who stood by me to a new city to start life afresh.
But thanks be to God, I was not him. He came up with a different plan. When he showed up in the upper room, he said nothing about the failure of his followers. He came with the prize he won through his death, the prize of peace, and he gave it to all of them; peace be with you! While they were still in that locked room, shaken by the trauma of the Cross and their betrayal, Jesus broke into the room, and he broke into their hearts to set them free and to give them peace.
He then did another remarkable thing: He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them.” This act became the foundation of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The unjustly crucified Lord came back to life not for revenge but to set free those who took him to the Cross. That is Divine Mercy. On this day, he shows the clear connection between peace and forgiveness. When we forgive, we experience the peace the world cannot understand. My dearly beloved in Christ, today, Jesus comes back to those who abandoned him. He forgives them without asking for an apology; he forgives them without robbing their failure on their face. And he has empowered them to go and forgive others. Yes, he has forgiven us all and wants us to pass the forgiveness on to others. As we celebrate the Mercy of God in our lives today, let us go out and forgive one more person who has hurt us, and may that act bring us the peace that the world cannot give, and the peace that the world cannot take away from us, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Homily for 2nd Sunday of Easter Year C 2025
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