Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A

Subversive, Confrontational, Authentic

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center

Sunday, April 30, 2023 

The first book after the Gospels called The Acts of the Apostles, is filled with colorful narratives, adventure, martyrdom, persecution, missionary journeys by sea, powerful and persuasive sermons etc. If you want to know the early beginning of Christianity, the nature of Christianity, what happened after the crucifixion, death, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus, if you want to know how the spread of Christianity started, read The Acts of the Apostles. One thing you will definitely come away with is the robust excitement of being a follower of Jesus Christ. Long before there were particular churches (parishes) and local churches (dioceses), the Vatican and other institutional structures, there was this group of men and women who were so dazzled, so energized by the stubborn fact of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. They were so excited that they were willing to travel to the end of the world and to their death with the message of Jesus. 

The Acts of the Apostles contains some of the earliest preachings of the Apostles (kerygma) in the New Testament. A very good example is St. Peter’s sermon on Pentecost morning which is today’s first reading (Acts 2:14a, 36-41). We are told that Peter stood up with the eleven and raised his voice and said, “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made both Lord and Christ (Messiah), this Jesus whom you crucified.” Believe me, that’s an earth-shattering proclamation, and confrontational too. Peter spoke with vigor and confidence. There is nothing weak, nothing hesitating or unsure about his declaration. He is not expressing a doubt or an opinion. What he is speaking about in a loud voice is his conviction that Jesus of Nazareth whom the Jews crucified, has been made both Lord and Christ. 

What led Peter to believe that Jesus is Lord and Christ? His Anastasis! Yes, Jesus is Lord! The greeting statement among many Christians is “Jesus is Lord!” “Amen, to the glory of God the Father.” But what does the lordship of Jesus mean? In the first century, the term “Lord” had both a Jewish and a Roman meaning. In the Jewish reading, God’s personal name, YHWH (Yahweh), which was revealed to Moses was considered by the Jews to be too transcendent for humans to pronounce. Consequently, it was substituted with the Hebrew term, “Adonai” which means “Lord.” So, from ancient times, the God of Israel was addressed as “Adonai” by the Jews. St. Paul who frequently calls Jesus “Lord,” says that Jesus was given the name above every other name, by that he means the name of God. The implication is that any preaching that undermines or weakens the divinity of Jesus is not apostolic in nature. Christians who do not believe that Jesus is God are domesticating him, belittling him and reducing him to the level of a prophet, a wise man or a nice moral man as many secular minds do today. And such Christians are risking their salvation. In the Roman reading, Caesar was called kyrios (lord), meaning the one to whom final allegiance is due. Do you now see how disruptive, confrontational and provoking it was to declare that Jesus is Lord? To say that Jesus is Lord implies that Caesar is not. It also implies that final allegiance and loyalty belongs not to Caesar Augustus but to Jesus. Caesar stands for earthly power and everything earthly. To finally submit to the lordship of Jesus is to make him the absolute center of your life. If you are still wondering why a good number of early Christians were imprisoned, and or put to death, here is your answer. In an insightful manner, the famous Anglican bishop, N. T. Wright said, “When Paul preached, there were riots; when I preach, they served me tea.” Preaching that “Jesus is Lord” is deeply subversive and troublemaking, but it must be preached because Jesus is indeed the Lord, the one to whom absolute loyalty and commitment is due. 

God has made Jesus, not only Lord but also Christ. The crucified and risen Son of Mary has been made Christ by the God of Israel. We are accustomed to calling the holy name— Jesus Christ. Is Christ his last name? Not at all. The Greek term for “Messiah” is “Christos” from which the English word “Christ” is derived. And it means “anointed.” By addressing Jesus as Christ, Peter is declaring that Jesus is the anointed one; he is the new David and the fulfillment of the expectation of Israel. Listen everybody, Jesus is not just a prophet, or a sage, or an inspiring man; he is God’s anointed. He is the Savior of the world. Always, we need Jesus to save us. So, don’t allow your cockiness, or your ability to get things done, or your fame, or your financial freedom, or your achievements and successes etc to lie to you that you don’t need a Savior. We need Christ, the only true Savior offered to the human race by God now, tomorrow and everyday. 

In his Pentecost sermon, Peter did not preach to find favor with his audience. He said, “God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” He is not pulling any punches or trying to make friends. Bluntly and clearly, he names the sin of his listeners. It is the direct bluntness of his speech that cuts to the heart of his listeners, who right away asked, “What should we do?” Preaching to please people won’t cut to their hearts. Speeches meant to soothe or to generate a feel-good experience does not cut to the heart of the hearers. Only the undiluted word of God delivered powerfully and truthfully can get to the heart. Any preaching that does not make people uncomfortable may not be the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The great El-Salvadoran Archbishop, St. Oscar Romero famously said, “A church that doesn’t provoke any crisis, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a word of God that doesn’t get under anyone’s skin, a word of God that doesn’t touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed— what gospel is that? Very nice, pious considerations that don’t bother anyone, that’s the way many would like preaching to be. Those preachers who avoid every thorny matter  so as not to be harassed, so as not to have conflicts and difficulties, do not light up the world they live in.” Peter, responding to his listeners’ question, “What should we do?” simply said, “repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Every true kerygmatic proclamation, every truly evangelical sermon should call people to repentance and invite people to turn their lives around. 

Concluding his sermon, Peter urged, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Disciples of Jesus are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people set apart” called out of darkness into God’s marvelous light. We have renewed minds and wills. We should not live according to the standard of this fallen world. If we think, speak and act like everyone else, then what’s the heck? It only goes to show that we haven’t yet consumed the Gospel. It means we are still baby Christians unable or refusing to grow up. Add to it, if what you hear from your priests from the pulpit is what can be heard on talk shows, in group discussions and in political campaigns and conversations, you are not hearing the Gospel of Christ. Finally, we are told that “about three thousand persons were added that day.” I know we have been told not to worry about numbers, and there is some truth to that. However, the Bible is interested in numbers. Good evangelical preaching can draw people into the Church. Today, we have the phenomenon of the empty pews in our churches across the country. Some churches have been closed and the buildings where the Eucharist and other sacraments were once celebrated sold. What are the reasons why many people are leaving the Church? One reason is secularism, which gives birth to the loss of the sense of the sacred, loss of the sense of God and loss of the sense of sin. The second reason may be connected to the poor quality of our preaching. When Peter preached, people asked, “What shall we do?” But when I preach, people clap and say, “Father, you are a fantastic preacher.” Until people begin to ask me what they should do to turn their lives around, I won’t believe my homilies are cutting to the heart of the people. Lord, help me!