Third Sunday of Easter
Peter in our first reading, and Jesus in the Gospel are answering the question “why”, without a child asking it. Peter talks to the Jews gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost, and Jesus talks to the disciples on the road to Emmaus. In both cases, there is confusion about who Jesus is, and why what happened happened. Jesus, and Peter, following His example, open up how the Old Testament pointed to what happened to God’s Messiah and Son, Jesus. The Passion, Death, and Resurrection weren’t simply accidents or forces stronger than Jesus to which He had to submit. The Passion, Death, and Resurrection were all part of God’s plan from the beginning, culminating in new life for all those joined to Jesus and following Him.
We call this treatment of the overarching theme of salvation history the kerygma, from the Greek word meaning proclamation or preaching. It is the telling of how God has saved His people. And it is a message that needs to be heard, not only among the unbaptized and those who do not know Christ, but even among the baptized, even among those who go to church every Sunday.
Because it’s easy, especially for certain generations or personality types, to do what we’re told is right simply because we’re told it’s the right thing to do, or a person in authority tells us to do it. But for others, they want to know why. They want to know the deeper reality behind the rules, or else they will often leave due to their own lack of understanding.
So do we know the story of salvation? Could we explain it to someone? I’m not talking about doing a doctoral dissertation on different aspects of the faith, but being able to explain, as St. Peter says, our reason for hope, and how God was working from creation to the Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost for the salvation of the world, and continues to work today?
To understand salvation, we have to first believe that we needed to be saved. And we have to know from what we needed to be saved. This takes us back to Genesis. God created Adam and Eve without sin. They had everything the need, and enjoyed friendship with God. But then they traded friendship with God for trying to be their own gods on their own terms, and sin entered the world. A rupture was created between God and humanity, a rupture which we could not heal ourselves.
From that point on, every person needed a savior. No matter how good a person could be (think Abraham, Moses, and David), they could never be “good enough” to earn heaven. But God did not abandon His people. He was helping them to learn how to be like God on His terms, not on their own. God gave the law through Moses as an instructor, to help form virtues in each person, and to encourage them to say no to sin and yes to God. But even though some approached following the entire law, no one did it perfectly, as God’s own people, the Israelites, would often wander away from His rule, because they thought they were doing fine on their own. The prophets would call them back, but people generally ignored the prophets. So God allowed the consequences of their sinful actions to fall upon them, which, more often than not, made the people realize that they had abandoned God, and returned to Him.
God’s preparation of His people culminated in sending His Son, Jesus, who would not just teach a new law, but would, because He is truly God and truly man, be able to repair the sin of Adam and Eve, and reconcile God back to Himself, and open heaven, a paradise even better than the Garden of Eden. In God’s mysterious plan, our rejection of God the Son became part of the way that we were saved and that heaven was opened. Jesus took upon Himself our punishment for sin (death), but conquered sin and death, which victory was proven in His Resurrection. After the Resurrection Jesus, especially through His Church after He ascended into heaven, calls people to be joined to Him to receive the gift of eternal salvation by saying yes to God to the best of our ability each day. Fr. John Riccardo, a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit, summarizes the kerygma by putting it into 4 words: created; captured; rescued; response. That’s it. That’s the basic of salvation history.
We probably knew parts of it, if not all of it. But now our challenge is not only to make sure that we do follow Christ throughout our life, but also that we help others to recognize the basics of salvation, because they need it, or need to be reminded of it. And without knowing it, others, or maybe even we ourselves, are more at risk for walking away from the gift of salvation that Jesus offers us.
Being Catholic is not just about following the rules, but is about doing those things because of our relationship with Christ. Others want to know: why should I have a relationship with Christ? Can we now share with them the answer?
