(Tuesday, April 14)
In his Good Friday homily, preached before Pope Francis and the world, Father Raneiro Cantalamessa reflected on the events of our day. In an age that prides itself in power, it is ironic that the tiniest of matter—a small protein molecule—has brought the entire world into silence. We could understand that a great king armed with millions of soldiers and backed by the power of nuclear weapons might be able to cause the world to stop and listen. But a tiny, almost invisible virus?
We ask, “what is going on?” The same kind of question arose when it was reported that the seemingly defeated Jesus of Nazareth had risen from the dead. The one that the authorities finally put away was more alive than ever. What was God doing?
The Church takes us beyond the resurrection appearances of Jesus to the sermon of St. Peter on Pentecost. This, once bumbling fisherman from Galilee who had denied Jesus, suddenly became a confident spokesperson for God. Speaking to the Jewish people he said (Acts 2:36-41):
“Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
The miracle of the resurrection was one thing; its significance was another. By raising Jesus back to life, God was making the greatest statement ever. This humble rabbi from Nazareth whom the religious authorities wanted to erase from the pages of their history was now “both Lord and Christ.”
Being “Christ” meant that he indeed was the promised one of Israel, the culmination of their history–the new David, the Messiah who came to reign over Israel. If Peter stopped there, it would have been an earth-shaking statement. Yet it was not just about being Israel’s new king. His significance extended far beyond Israel into the whole world—and even the whole universe. Jesus was also “Lord.” Though he came out of Israel, Jesus was Lord of all creation.
Everything that has happened since that moment has been the work of God bringing everything under the footstool of his only Son.
St. Paul explained that God raised Jesus from the dead and gave him “the name above every name.” He proclaimed that one day “every knee shall bend both in heaven, on the earth, and under the earth and every tongue shall confess to the glory of God that ‘Jesus Christ is Lord.’”
Not being able to grasp such a truth, we humans like to confine Jesus to being a great religious teacher or the “founder” of the Church. Relegated to such categories, we put limits on who he really is. We take on a secular mind that says Jesus is okay as long he stays within the bounds of religion and doesn’t “overstep his bounds.”
When the people heard Peter, they repented.
“Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart and they asked Peter and the other Apostles, ‘What are we to do, my brothers?”
We are told that about “three thousand” people were baptized and thus added to the Christian community that day.
Our response to this message, also, is to repent and allow Jesus Christ to be Lord of our lives—our whole lives, not just the so-called “religious” part of them. And when one person accepts the Lordship of Jesus, that person becomes an agent of God in helping bring the rest of creation into God’s Kingdom on earth, where Jesus reigns as Lord.
“This is the day the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it” (Ps 118:24).
