3rd Sunday of Easter 2019 - For the sake of the name

Each Sunday of the Easter season, our first reading is taken from the Acts of the Apostles, while our second reading is taken from the Book of Revelation. There is a beautiful connection between these two books of the New Testament, if you think about it. The Acts of the Apostles describes the first days of the Church in time and history, Revelation describes the Church that will last forever. Acts of the Apostles takes place in the earthly Jerusalem, Revelation takes place in the new and eternal Jerusalem. Acts of the Apostles describes the Church’s pilgrimage, with all of its difficulties and trials, Revelation reveals the Church having reached her destination—the reward for her faithful perseverance.

In Acts we read how the Apostles, having witnessed the Resurrection of Christ, and having been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, go out into the streets of Jerusalem, the very town where Jesus was arrested and crucified, and preach his Resurrection.  “Jesus, whom you killed, has been raised, just as he promised” Peter preached on that first Pentecost Sunday. For their preaching of Jesus’ Gospel, the Apostles quickly gain the attention of the Sanhedrin and other Jewish leaders, the same men who conspired against Jesus, to put the Savior to death.

Today’s passage from Acts sees Peter and the gang, having been imprisoned and brought before the Jewish high court. The Sanhedrin demand that Peter and the Apostles immediately cease and desist preaching about Jesus.  Peter says, you don’t understand, this task has been given to us by God himself, and “we must obey God rather than man.” 

Here stands Peter before these corrupt Jewish leaders, knowing that they have the power to totally ruin his lie, even to have him put to death, as they did to Jesus.  Peter had already been arrested and thrown into jail, and he knew there could be dire consequences for resisting their threats. No doubt, Peter would have thought about the scene from our Gospel today. Sitting before the Risen Lord on the seashore. Do you love me Peter? Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, preach the Gospel, build my Church. You will go where I have gone, you will do what I have done.

Peter then looks int Sanhedrin in the eye: and says, “Jesus, who you crucified, has been risen.” But after courageously proclaiming Christ, Peter and the Apostles, “left the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.” Bleeding and wounded after having been whipped and humiliated, they left rejoicing. Would you or I be rejoicing after that? We find it hard enough to put up with morning traffic! To rejoice in suffering for the sake of Christ is a sign of Christian maturity.

When I was thinking of a modern day example of this form of mature Christian faith, I thought of the parents of Pope Benedict XVI.  Pope Benedict, Joseph Ratzinger, grew up in Germany as the National Socialist party was coming to power.  Joseph Ratzinger, Sr. the Pope’s father was a police officer in Bavaria.  The Ratzinger family experienced great hardships because they would not support the Nazis.  The pope's brother Georg said: "Our father was a bitter enemy of Nazism because he believed it was in conflict with our faith." The family knew first-hand how dangerous the Nazi philosophy was. In the late 1930s, the Nazis had implemented a euthanasia program for the handicapped. Pope Benedict had a cousin with Down’s Syndrome, and in 1941, the Pope’s cousin was taken by Nazi authorities for “therapy” as they called it.  Not long afterwards, the family received word that the cousin was dead, labeled as an “undesirable” by the Nazi party. Mr. Ratzinger spoke out publicly against the evils of Nazism, and for this, he faced demotions and the family had to move several times.

The example of Joseph Ratzinger’s parents, their willingness to suffer for the sake of the name, no doubt left a lasting imprint upon the young man, who would later become one of the greatest theologians of the last hundred years, not to mention, a good and holy Pope.

One of the goals of the Easter season is helping us to develop mature Christian faith. Where Immature faith flees from hardship, shirks demands for commitment, self-sacrifice, and selflessness and runs away from preaching the Gospel in fear, mature faith embraces hardship, accepts commitment, places the good of others before the good of the self, and preaches the truth with courage. Immature love seeks only the fulfillment of its selfish desires, mature Love, as St. Paul describes, is patient, kind, not jealous, not pompous, not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

In the second reading we are given a vision of heaven, the reward for those who are willing to suffer for the sake of the name.  On the throne of heaven is not some earthly king who never suffered a day in his life.  On the throne of heaven is a lamb who was brutally slain by his enemies.  And surrounding the lamb are those who suffer for him.  This is the fulfillment of Jesus promise in the beatitudes: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for my name, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The Lord was very clear in his earthly ministry, that those who follow him faithfully will likely suffer on his account. We might suffer for reaching out to our fallen away family members, to speak to them of the importance of weekly Mass attendance.  We might suffer for standing up for the right to life, campaign to enact laws for the protection of the innocent unborn and the vulnerable.  We might suffer for refusing to engage in immoral business practices. We might suffer simply for holding fast to the moral teachings enunciated in the catechism.

Pope John Paul II calling to mind the teachings of the Second Vatican Council said, “The truth about ourselves and the world, revealed in the Gospel, is not always what the world wants to hear. Gospel truth often contradicts commonly accepted thinking, as we see so clearly today with regard to evils such as racism, contraception, abortion, and euthanasia - to name just a few.”

To proclaim Gospel truth, to teach Gospel truth, to live Gospel truth, this is the call of the mature Christian in 2019 and of every generation. This is a task that may bring persecution from the world, but faithfulness to the task, is to identify with the ever-faithful Son of God, Our Lord, and to receive the rewards he promised to the faithful.

Our own parish’s patron saint, Ignatius of Antioch, exemplified this truth. As bishop, Ignatius was arrested during the Roman persecution of Antioch. He was put in chains and marched to his martyrdom in Rome where he would be thrown to the wild beasts. En route to martyrdom he wrote to several congregations of Christians including those in Rome. In his letter to the Romans we find the same sentiment as Peter and the Apostles in the first reading. Ignatius writes, “I look forward with joy to the wild animals held in readiness for me… I am God’s wheat, and I am ground by the wild beasts that I may be the pure bread of Christ… come fire and cross and grapplings with wild beasts, wrenching of bones, hacking of limbs, crushings of my whole body; only be it mine to attain Jesus Christ.”

To attain Jesus Christ. This is the point of our faith. This is the point of enduring suffering for the sake of his name, persevering in faith amidst worldly pressures and satanic temptations. To attain Jesus Christ and to be counted among his blessed ones. For the glory of God and salvation of souls.