Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR
Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A
Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN
Sunday, April 26, 2026
According to Pope Benedict XVI, the Church exists to do three things: first, to worship God; second, to evangelize; and third, to feed the poor. When it comes to evangelization, every Catholic Christian, not just the ordained, is called to get involved. We preach with our actions as well as with words. One of the problems we see today is familiarity with Christianity. Why is it a problem? It often leads to a dangerous lack of reverence, awe, or obedience. Is it a good thing to build a long-term relationship with God and the Church? Yes indeed! But once this is done, be watchful for spiritual complacency, casualness, taking God’s grace for granted, and failing to respect spiritual authority. If you have this problem, listen now to Peter, the Chief Apostle, as he preaches with fire and passion.
In his Pentecost sermon (Acts 2:14, 36-41), we see an exemplar of evangelization. We witness a master class in kerygmatic proclamations. Luke, the author of the Acts of the Apostles, tells us that Peter stood with the Eleven in the temple precincts and raised his voice. The first lesson is that announcing Christ to the world is not something we should do in hushed tones among ourselves. Peter is obeying Jesus’ own instruction, “What I say to you in the dark, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops” (Matthew 10:27). Evangelical preaching is public. It must be proclaimed in the midst of the culture. The secular culture wants to silence the voices of those who believe in Christ Jesus. While secularism is loud, forceful, and persistent, it seeks to marginalize the religious voice. But we must not let it. We must resist that demonic voice that wants to enthrone the philosophy of “everything goes.” No matter where you are, let your faith speak. No matter where you are, speak your faith. Wear your faith like a dress. Do not allow the shouting noise of secularism to win. The price that Jesus paid is too great to ignore.
As Peter got up, what did he say? “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” That is, let the whole culture know… let the whole world know… let every human being on earth know… What a confrontational preaching. He is putting the blame where it belongs. We all participated in the crucifixion of Jesus. Don’t tell me, “I am a good person.” Don’t tell me, “There is nothing wrong with me.” When I was studying CPE in Whittier, California, one of my fellow interns, while giving feedback on my presentation, blurted, “I am sick and tired of hearing about being remorseful. There is nothing wrong with us.” When I had a chance to reply, I said, “If nothing is wrong with us, why was Jesus crucified?” She was speechless. This mentality is unacceptable to evangelical preaching. We crucified the Lord. The Author of life came, and we killed him, including Peter. The proclamation of Jesus crucified is, ipso facto, a judgment upon sin. Authentic evangelical preaching does not avoid the question of sin. In the words of Saint Oscar Romero, “A church that doesn't provoke any crises, 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 kind of gospel is that?” A preacher who plays nice and does not want to mention the predominant sin of the time, no matter how good the preaching is, is not engaging in evangelical preaching. Peter was so clear about the cross and the crucifixion of the Lord that it is a judgment on our sin.
In Peter's kerygmatic preaching, he reminds us that this Jesus, whom we put to death, is “Lord and Christ.” The word “Lord” in the Greek of the New Testament is “Kyrios.” The word Peter would have used is “Adonai,” “The Lord.” That’s the term ancient Jews used for God. They did not call God by his divine name, “Yahweh,” out of reverence. The revealed divine name was considered too holy to mention, so they substituted it with Adonai (Lord). What is the lesson here? Jesus is not one rabbi among the many rabbis in Israel. He is not just an inspiring man we are fond of. I tell you, human history has loads of inspiring figures. Socrates was an inspiring figure. Abraham Lincoln was an inspiring figure. Martin Luther King Jr. was an inspiring figure. Saints Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa of Calcutta were inspiring, too. But none was called “Adonai.” But Jesus is Lord. In Jesus, the invisible face of God is made visible. From Jesus’ lips we hear, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Peter also called him Christ, Christos in Greek. In Peter’s Hebrew, he would have said “Mashiach.” The word “Messiah” is derived from it, which means “the anointed one.” Who is the anointed one in the Old Testament? King David! In 1 Samuel 16:1-13, we read of the secret anointing of King David in Bethlehem by the prophet Samuel, and of the Spirit of the Lord rushing upon him. In the Old Testament, King David was the “Mashiach.” After King David, the people were looking forward to a new David, who would accomplish far more than the great David of the Old Testament, who would gather the tribes of Israel and, through that gathering, gather all the tribes of the world. In the Resurrection of Jesus, this great gathering commences. Jesus is the magnetic point. He is to gather first Israel, but through Israel, all the world. So authentic evangelical preaching presents Jesus, not as one interesting figure among the many, but as the central figure in human history. A true evangelical proclamation presents Jesus as the honey that attracts all bees in the wild. He is the still point around which the whole of society revolves. He is both Lord and Christ. If you see him as anything less than that, you are really missing the point. Evangelical preaching does not avoid mentioning sin, but it then declares this Jesus as Lord and Christ, who conquers sin and death and is in the business of gathering the world.
What was the reaction of Peter’s congregation? Our first reading says, “When they heard this, they were cut to the heart.” The preaching of the first Bishop of Rome reached deep into hearts. In my final year of theology, my classmates and I were already ordained deacons. Redemptorists in Nigeria have a custom of inviting transitional deacons to visit nearby Redemptorist-run parishes on weekends and to preach at all the Masses. This particular weekend, it was my close friend's turn and mine. On Monday, when the Moral Theology professor entered the classroom, his question was, “How many of you preached during this weekend?” After we answered, his next question was, “Did you theologize or moralize?” Someone from the class asked him, “Father, what do you mean?” “When you theologize, you are teaching, and your teaching is focused on God’s actions and character. But when you moralize, you are simply focusing on behavior (telling people how to be good), rules (giving a litany of do’s and don’ts), and judgment (hell and heaven). Is moralizing in itself a bad thing? Not at all! Sometimes, it is necessary to do it. But here is the kicker, moralizing preaching does not cut to the heart. What cuts to the heart is this Jesus, whom the crucified, whom God has raised from the dead, is both Lord and Christ. He is the center of all of our lives. Everything— mind, will, senses, body, private life, public life, all of it, belongs to him and must revolve around him.”
Good evangelical preaching, among other things, can accomplish either of two things: a revolt (anger, rejection, and a walkout) or a question. In the course of his public ministry, Matthew tells us that a rich young man came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16). Having had their hearts cut by Peter’s proclamation, the people asked, “What are we to do, my brothers?” (Acts 2). Replying to their question, Peter echoes the first word from the lips of Jesus as he emerged onto the public scene (Mark 1:15): “Metanoite,” which means “go beyond the mind you have.” “Repent and be baptized.” Today, everyone talks about welcoming everyone, and I support it. But that’s not Jesus’ first utterance, according to Saint Mark. Following the preaching of Saint Peter came a question of what to do, and Peter’s first word was “repent,” meaning change your mind, change your life, change your worldview, change your culture, change your attitude, change the way you talk, change the way you think, change your friends, change your overall attitude. Give the whole of your life—mind, heart, soul, spirit, feeling, friendship, relationship, marriage, work, everything—to him. Not part of it, but all of it. Give your Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to him. Not just Sunday alone, but the other days.
I am sure everyone listening to me now is already baptized. But if you have not, please see me or call the parish office. Baptism is the sacred door to spiritual life. It is the means by which we are grafted onto Christ. When Nicodemus, a Pharisee and Jewish leader, visited Jesus at night to discuss his teachings and recognize him as a teacher from God, Jesus taught him that to be saved and enter the Kingdom of God, one must be “born again” of water and the Spirit. That’s baptism. After baptism, what happens? The answer is found in Peter’s counsel: “You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.” In baptism, we receive the Holy Spirit and its gifts—wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. Confirmation only confirms the gifts given and received at baptism. The rest of our lives are about cooperating with the Holy Spirit and using the gifts he has given us to build God’s kingdom. Finally, Peter says, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” If you are looking for a biblical expression to put on your refrigerator, please consider this very line. Christians are never meant to adopt the values of this world. We are not meant to fit in. We are countercultural and counterintuitive people. Don’t just live for this world alone, for the beauties, fancies, and riches of this world are fleeting. Jesus said we are the salt and light of the world. We are called to be different. Although we are in the world, we are not of the world. Run away from worldly influence. We are baptized to be different and to live differently. If you are like everyone else, you have not saved yourself from this corrupt generation.
God bless you!
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