Homily for April 21, 2013

Homily for 4 Sunday Easter C

On the first day of creation, God created the dog.

On the second day, God created man to serve the dog.

On the third day, God created all the animals of the earth (especially the horse) to serve as potential food for the dog.

On the fourth day, God created honest toil so that man could labor for the good of the dog.

On the fifth day, God created the tennis ball so that the dog might or might not retrieve it.

On the sixth day, God created veterinary science to keep the dog healthy and the man broke.

On the seventh day, God tried to rest, but He had to walk the dog.

This week I was caught by the irony of this joke because one of our Siberian Huskies stole a half pound of deli meat as I was putting things away after grocery shopping.  It’s funny how much we love our pets and are willing to forgive there irritating behavior.  We humans have a great capacity to love.  We are even more loving towards our children - to the point of great self sacrifice.  We may punish their wrong doing, but we still love them, forgive them and want them around us.  It is pretty much a limitless proposition.  

I believe God’s love and readiness to forgive us is even greater than our capacity to love and forgive.  Vastly greater!  This is the undercurrent of today’s lessons.    

In our first reading today, God’s love is manifest through Peter’s ministry (he is following Jesus’ own example) raising Tabitha from the dead.  Peter was visiting people who are already Christians (near modern Tel Aviv). In Lydda, he has healed a paralyzed man saying: “Jesus Christ heals you.”  Now he visits Joppa. “Tabitha” is an Aramaic name that means gazelle.

In our second reading we see a scene from the visions of John the Divine.  What will happen at the end of time? Will our persecutors be brought to justice? Will God really give us victory over death? These were important questions to early Christians. John answers the questions by sharing his vision of the “survivors” in paradise.  Once again, God’s love, mercy and forgiveness is never lacking for those who love Him and remain loyal to Him.  

In the gospel lesson we hear John the Evangelist describing an encounter between Jesus and some people in the Temple.  We get a glimpse of John’s mystical understanding of Jesus himself and his gifts to his followers.  Jesus and God (A.K.A., the Father) are one.  That is, they are fully united in some unexplained way.  Jesus shares in the Father’s power (grasp) to protect his own. But once again the punch line is not about Jesus himself.  This time it’s about the gift of eternal life.  

God’s desire to have his people around him, sharing the good things of heavenly life, is much stronger than our desire to have our family and friends around us.  God’s readiness to reconcile with us goes to the extreme of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  My brothers & sisters, let us never hold back when we need to make peace with God.  God’s love for us clearly goes beyond anything we experience in our human capacity to love.  And we can be very forgiving when we are motivated by love.