The Sánchez Archives EASTER SUNDAY Year C

By
Patricia Datchuck Sánchez

Easter Faith

ACTS 10:34, 37-43
1 CORINTHIANS 5:6-8
JOHN 20:1-9

In Richard Wagner’s opera, Das Reingold (“The Rhinegold,” 1869), one scene features the gods, gathered together on a mountain top, looking across a deep chasm. On the other side stands Valhalla, their beautiful and palatial home, for which they have longed for many years. Worn and weary, the gods are eager to rest in Valhalla’s welcoming comfort but, much to their dismay, there is no way to cross the chasm. After a time, Thor, the storm god produces a rainbow from which he fashions a bridge. The scene concludes with the gods making their way across the bridge to their beloved home.

Today, on this Easter Sunday, worn and weary Christian believers are celebrating their safe passage across another bridge to an even more wonderful home. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus Christ has become the bridge by which all of humankind can traverse the chasm from sin to forgiveness, from slavery to freedom, from darkness to light, from self to God, from death to life. Those who would avail themselves of the bridge and safe passage which Jesus offers can do so only by faith. This is the challenge of today’s feast, to bridge the chasm, i.e. to move beyond a mere mental recollection of the events we celebrate so as to make the leap of faith. Only by faith will we truly appropriate the reality of Jesus’ resurrection as well as our own.

Each of the readings for today’s liturgy references the concept of knowledge in the sense of intellectual comprehension while inviting each member of the gathered assembly to allow that knowledge to lead them to faith. Peter, addressing those gathered in Cornelius’ home (Acts), says, “I take it you know what has been reported.” Then he reiterated the facts concerning Jesus’ ministry, death and resurrection. However, mere knowledge of the good news about Jesus is not sufficient. There were many people, in Jesus’ day, who knew what he did and said and who saw how his life evolved, but they did not believe in him. Knowledge may lead one to the brink of the chasm but only faith will dare to leap headlong toward God. Only a commitment in faith to the person of Jesus Christ will lead to forgiveness and salvation.

Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, reminds his readers that, just as they know how yeast affects dough, so also should they know that corruption and wickedness affect the believer. Only faith in Christ, our Passover, will enable us to overcome these evils.

Today’s gospel is replete with references to not knowing and not understanding. Arriving at the tomb and seeing the stone moved away, Mary did not know where Jesus was; she did not know he was risen. In an aside with which today’s gospel concludes, the Johannine evangelist tells us that the disciples “did not yet understand the Scriptures that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” Nevertheless, we are told that the disciple with Peter, whom most scholars believe to be John, the beloved disciple, “saw and believed.” Beyond knowledge and understanding, the insight which is faith pierces the mystery of the resurrection.

Remarkably, the Greek noun for faith, pistis, never occurs in the fourth gospel. Rather, as Raymond E. Brown (The Gospel According to John, Doubleday, New York: 1966) has explained, the evangelist has a penchant to use verbs and action words; therefore, he preferred the term pisteuein which means “to believe”, “to have faith”, “to come to faith”, “to put faith (into).” This term appears no less than 107 times in the Johannine literature as compared to 34 times in the Synoptics. For John, being a believer is synonymous with being a disciple because faith is the primary factor in becoming a Christian. The fact that John prefers the verb, pisteuein, than the noun, pistis, is also an indication that he thinks of faith, not as an internal disposition but as an active commitment. This faith involves more than trust and/or confidence in Jesus; it is a deliberate, willed acceptance of Jesus as the Christ, which is expressed in a lived dedication to his person, words and works.

As Brown has further noted, faith grows and develops in stages and full salvific faith in Jesus is a gift of God which, like the gift of the Spirit, can come only after the resurrection. It is this gift which God holds out to each of us today. As we see Jesus in the signs of the sacraments, as we hear him in the sacred word of scripture, as we recognize and care for him in one another, each of us is invited to be renewed in our faith commitment to him.

I believe Lord; help my unbelief. I believe Lord; help me so to live, and die, and then to rise to everlasting life in you.

ACTS 10:34, 37-43

In the first part of his two volume contribution to the Christian Scriptures, the author of Luke-Acts presented the risen Jesus commissioning his disciples for service: “Thus it was written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things!” (Luke 24:47-48). In today’s first reading, Luke portrays Peter at work, preaching the message as Jesus had directed and offering the truth of his testimony to those who would listen.

This, the last of Peter’s speeches included in Acts, was delivered in the home of Cornelius. As Luke Timothy Johnson (The Acts of the Apostles, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville: 1992) has pointed out, Peter’s final missionary sermon is a master summation of Luke’s own gospel narrative. In it we find: the geographical movement from Galilee to Jerusalem, the ministry of John the Baptizer, the emphasis on Jesus’ healings as an overpowering of the devil; the Jewish rejection of Jesus, the saving death and resurrection of Jesus, the appearances of the risen Lord and the commission to preach the good news.

Unlike the speeches addressed to Jewish audiences, that began with Jesus’ rejection and death, the speech to Cornelius and his household accented Jesus’ life and ministry of good works and healing. Rather than draw on references from the Hebrew scriptures to support his proclamation, Peter offered only the testimony of the apostolic eye witnesses.

Of special interest are the affirmations that Jesus is “judge of the living and the dead” (v. 42) and that “everyone who believes in him has forgiveness of sins through his name” (v. 43). Peter had learned, through his divinely directed encounter with Cornelius that even gentiles could be judged as righteous and just by God and that, because of their faith, even gentiles could be forgiven and saved. Moreover, the Cornelius event, which has also been called the Pentecost of the gentiles, affirmed the fact that God’s saving plan had not been rerouted because the Jews declined to accept Jesus but was intended to encompass all peoples from the outset. Indeed, the universal scope of God’s saving concern was clearly in evidence from the time of Abraham; “you will be a blessing, and all the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you” (Genesis 12:2-3).

Yet another indication of the ecumenical quality of the Christian mission, begun by Jesus and continued by the church, was its public character. Unlike many of the esoteric cults of the ancient world, whose activates were held in secret and whose memberships were restricted, Jesus and his own had done “nothing in a corner” (Acts 26:26). Therefore, Peter could presume that his hearers already knew (v. 34) the particulars about Jesus. All that was needed was God’s gift to move them beyond these facts to faith in Jesus. That movement of faith would be met by forgiveness of sin and, ultimately, salvation. Unfortunately, this pericope concludes one verse short; in verse 44, Luke tells his readers that the gift of the Spirit, and with it, the gift of faith “fell upon all” who were listening to Peter. These same gifts fall upon Luke’s readers today as the kerygma is proclaimed in our midst. Cornelius and his household eagerly appropriated God’s gifts and were baptized in Jesus’ name. As each member of the gathered assembly stands to renew their baptismal commitment to Jesus, each of us is also invited to appropriate once again God’s gifts of faith and the Spirit.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:6-8

When Paul exhorted the Corinthian Christians to “get rid of the old yeast”, he was, in effect, applying the old maxim, “One bad apple can spoil the whole barrel!” Paul’s wise counsel was occasioned by a report that had been sent to him in Ephesus concerning a problem in Corinth. A certain man in the community was living with (literally: was having) his father’s wife in an incestuous relationship.

As the apostle noted in the verses preceding today’s second reading, such a union was not even tolerated among pagans (1 Corinthians 5:1). Incest was strictly forbidden by Jewish (Leviticus 18:8; Deuteronomy 27:20) and Roman law (Cicero Pro Cluentia 6:15; Gaius, Institues 1.63). However, there were some misguided believers in Corinth who misinterpreted the meaning of their freedom in Christ and engaged in such activities. To further exacerbate the situation, some in Corinth were proud and boastful of what was going on in their midst!

Paul held both the miscreant and the community responsible, one for perpetrating the sin and the other for permitting it to go uncorrected. He called the community to rid itself of the man and his immorality, just as the Jews would rid their homes of all leaven at Passover (Exodus 12:15).

In the ancient world, yeast or leaven was generally regarded as an impurity because of its seemingly powerful and yet mysterious effect upon dough. Therefore leaven was prohibited in foods that were to be sacrificed and it became a metaphor for corruption and wickedness. Recall the fact that Jesus had warned his disciples to “watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees”, referring to their hypocritical teaching and behavior (Matthew 16:6, 11, 12; Luke 12:1).

Following Jesus’ lead, Paul told the Corinthians to “deliver the man to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit will be saved on the day of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 5:5). Kevin Quast (Reading the Corinthian Correspondence, Paulist Press, New York: 1994) has correctly explained that Paul was not calling for the death of the man but for such discipline that would eradicate the man’s sinful nature. The goal of discipline is to restore not to destroy. When the community followed Paul’s advice to get rid of, i.e., to excommunicate the sinner, his entire existence would be challenged. Without the benefits and support of other Christians, he would be compelled to evaluate his actions and, it was hoped, to repent and be restored to the community.

Paul’s words reach through the centuries and across the miles to warn his contemporary readers whose lives may also need to be re-evaluated. If, upon examining our own hearts for evidence of sin and corruption we find any lingering trace, we must also be willing to rid ourselves of it. Because of Christ’s dying and rising, i.e. because of Christ’s Passover, each believer is challenged to maintain himself/herself in a constant state of “Passover purity.” With the “old yeast” properly disposed of through repentance, and kept in check through prayer, we can prepare a ready welcome for the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

JOHN 20:1-9

While browsing in the local library recently, I came upon a Gregory Stock’s The Book of Questions. Curious as to its contents and expecting that I had discovered a treasure trove of trivia, I was surprised to find that Stock had bypassed trivia in pursuit (pun!) of more serious fare such as: “How often do I pause and reflect upon how I am living and where I am headed?”. . . “How does my understanding of death affect the way I live?”. . . and “If a crystal ball could tell me one thing about my future, what might I want to know?” In a sense, today’s gospel narrative poses similar serious questions to believers. . . How does my belief in the resurrection of Jesus and in my own resurrection affect the way I live? the way I think about death? Do I truly accept that my journey to glory must necessarily follow the pattern set by Jesus?

To aid us in considering these questions and others like them, the Johannine evangelist shares with us the responses to Jesus’ resurrection of Mary, Peter and presumably that of the beloved disciple, John.

Mary’s response should be regarded as a work in progress. Moreover, the responses of all three disciples should be understood in terms of the evangelist’s editorial comment: “as yet they did not understand”. . . about Jesus’ resurrection (v. 9). Initially, when she came to the tomb and saw the stone rolled away, Mary presumed that Jesus’ body had been taken. Only later, when she was called by name by someone she mistook for the caretaker of the garden did she come to faith. The mere discovery of an empty tomb was not sufficient to undo her confusion and move her to faith. Indeed, in the Talmud, the empty tomb was interpreted as part of a scheme devised by the disciples to carry off the hoax of a risen Jesus. Although the empty tomb was a very early tradition and was included in all four gospels, it functioned only as a secondary witness. As recorded in the earliest testimony to Jesus’ resurrection (see 1 Corinthians 15:5), Christian faith in Jesus’ Passover from death to life is rooted primarily in the appearances of the risen Lord to his followers. For those who came to faith in Jesus by virtue of his appearances, the ambiguity of the empty tomb was resolved.

Although the evangelist does not immediately comment on Peter’s response, his disclaimer about the disciples’ lack of understanding speaks volumes. The response of Peter’s companion, however, is quite detailed. In this pericope, the beloved disciple performs the same function as did the angels-messengers in the synoptic narratives, viz., to explain and interpret the event. Peering into the tomb, he saw the cloths with which Jesus’ body had been wrapped (v. 5). This discovery would seem to rule out foul play; thieves would probably not have taken time to unwrap the body before stealing it. This assumption is further supported by the fact that, after entering the tomb, he observed the cloth which covered Jesus’ head “rolled up in a place by itself” (v. 7). Such “neatness” would also seem to preclude theft.

As for the response of the beloved disciple, readers of John are simply told, “He saw and believed” (v. 8). Scholars are quick to clarify the fact that it was not the burial cloths or their location in the tomb that prompted the disciple’s faith. As Stanley B. Marrow explains, “Faith in the resurrection cannot be the argued conclusion from a syllogism, nor deduced form accumulated facts. It is and can only be a response to a revelation” (The Gospel of John, Paulist Press, New Hork: 1995). Raymond E. Brown (The Gospel According to John, Doubleday, New York: 1966) suggests that that revelation was comprised of the special, mutual love that was shared between Jesus and the beloved disciple. Says Brown, “We see no basis for all the polemic and symbolic interpretations” (as to why the beloved disciple ran faster that Peter to the tomb and saw and believed); “the writer is simply telling us that the disciple who was bound closest to Jesus in love was the quickest to look for him and the first to believe in him.” Contemporary readers of this gospel are called to share a similar mutual love with the risen Lord and so be moved to believe.

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