We know well the story of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit filling the upper room with a mighty wind, descending as tongues of fire upon the apostles, and sending them out into the streets to preach. We heard last week, Peter’s sermon on that first Pentecost: calling the people of Jerusalem to repent and believe in the risen Christ. About three thousand people converted on that day.
3000 new Christian converts, and reports of miraculous healings in the name of Jesus Christ, began to create quite a stir, especially amongst the Sanhedrin. So we hear today, how Peter is brought before the Sanhedrin, and questioned.
And I’d like to focus on two points from Peter’s speech today. First, Peter says, Jesus who you crucified, God has raised from the dead. He is the stone rejected by the builders who has become the cornerstone. Why does Peter call Jesus the cornerstone?
Peter perhaps remembered the time Jesus referred to himself as the cornerstone after he had cleansed the Temple. Isaiah foretold of how the Messiah was the foundation stone, the cornerstone in God’s plan of salvation. But in Psalm 118, which we sang today, that foundation stone, that cornerstone is rejected by the supposed builders of Israel.
The building of edifices included the placing of a cornerstone as the foundation and standard for its construction. Once in place, the rest of the building would conform to the angles and size of the cornerstone. In addition, if removed, the entire structure could collapse.
The chief priests and the Sanhedrin were involved in a building project, they oversaw the renovation of the Jerusalem Temple, but in a spiritual sense they were supposed to be “building up” God’s kingdom. They didn’t take it too well, when Jesus accused them of hindering God’s work. So, they rejected Him.
So, Peter in explaining his preaching, his ability to perform healing miracles, he points to Jesus. Jesus Christ, risen from the dead is the cornerstone for this work, for this mission. It was only through Jesus that Peter was able to perform the miracle for this crippled man, and it is only through Jesus that our lives are held together.
He’s what holds together the mission of the Church, the structure of the Church. Without Jesus we are just a bunch of people, each with our own ideas of how the world should work, our own goals, but Jesus unites us.
The Easter season helps us, each year, to ask ourselves Is Jesus really the cornerstone of my life? Is he holding my life together, or am I trying to do it on my own? Is He your constant strength throughout the challenges of your life? Is he the cornerstone of your family? Is he the cornerstone of your marriage? Is he the cornerstone of your professional life, your social relationships, your political associations?
How am I called to serve God today in the name of Jesus should be the first thought when we wake up in the morning, every day. What can I do to build up the kingdom of God today? And at the end of the day we should examine, did I build up or did I reject and tear down today?
So that’s the first point. The second is this. Peter then preaches the most absolute and universal statement in Scripture that Salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone. Peter says, “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are saved."
Here, Peter sets an example for Christians throughout the ages not to be afraid to present the Christian claim to those who do not yet believe. It was controversial then, and controversial now.
For our culture says, and even some Christian denominations will say that, “well, there are really many ways to salvation, Christianity is just one way among many. Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, paganism, secular humanism, these are just different ways up the mountain. You can have your way, I can have my way, but in the end, we all end up in the same place.”
This is not, nor ever has been the teaching of the Catholic Church. This is not the teaching of Scripture. This is not the teaching of Jesus, Himself, who says “I am THE way, THE truth, THE life, no one comes to the Father, except through me.”
Now, we can HOPE that those who do not believe will be placed among the saved. We shouldn’t wish damnation on even our worst enemy. But If a Jew, a Muslim, or a Hindu makes it to heaven, it is because of Jesus Christ. Jesus died for all. The Good Shepherd laid down his life for all. All were in need of salvation. No one comes to the Father except through Him. And we preach that, proudly and patiently, even in this politically correct age.
Pope Francis echoed this teaching earlier this week. There was a young boy with tears in his eyes, who approached the Pope and whispered a question into the Holy Father’s ears. The boy explained that his father, who had recently died, was an atheist. The boy said that his father was a good man, he had all his children baptized, but the child despaired for his father’s soul. And so the boy asked, “Is my Dad in heaven?”
The Pope explained the perennial Church teaching, “The one who determines who goes to heaven is God….We are all children of God, the Pope said. The non-baptized, the members of other religions, those who worship idols, even the Mafiosi who terrorize neighborhoods are children of God, though they prefer to behave like children of the devil. And so your Father, who had much good in Him, who had his children baptized even when he did not himself believe. There is hope for him, for he was a child of God.”
Now, Pope Francis isn’t saying, all atheists, all non-baptized, all Mafiosi automatically go to heaven. He’s not saying anyone automatically goes to heaven, even Christians. Baptism isn’t an automatic guarantee. But he is saying, God the Father of All, sent his Son to die for all. And because of this, there is hope for all. There is hope for the fallen-away Catholic, the atheist who seeks truth and goodness the best he can.
Pope Francis is echoing Catechism number 1260, which states: “Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved.”
Now we may think, oh good, there is hope for everyone, so why go to all the trouble of preaching and dying for the Gospel?
That an atheist or a hindu might be judged worthy of heaven doesn’t change our mission, nor does it alleviate our individual responsibility of following all of the teachings of the Church, all of the commands of the Lord. For as the Lord teaches, “from those who have, more will be expected.”
Catholics possess the fullness of Truth, and therefore, our responsibility to be faithful to that Truth is greatest. And just as the Atheist, Muslim, or Buddhist will be judged on the criteria of his life, we will be judged on the criteria of our own, of whether we have made Christ the cornerstone of our life, or not.
May we be generous in making Christ the cornerstone of our life, and preaching always that salvation is found alone in Him, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
In light of the rampant unbelief in the world, St. John Paul II offered some very challenging words to Christians: "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyles. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”
