5th Sunday of Easter
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
OLR, NOLA
During
their last supper together, Jesus tells his disciples that one of
them will betray him to the authorities. Peter balks, swearing up and
down that he would never betray his Master. Jesus says Peter, “Will
you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock
will not crow before you deny me three times.” Here's where our
gospel scene this evening picks up, “Do not let your hearts be
troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” Christ's
three-year ministry among God's people is unraveling. The Romans are
paying way too much attention to them. The High Priest is definitely
looking for a way to crush them. Jesus himself just told them a
member of their little family is going to sell him out. And now,
Jesus reveals that Peter – the Rock! – is going to deny even
knowing Christ. And what's Jesus' advice? “Do not let your hearts
be troubled”! If there were ever a time for the disciples to let
their hearts be troubled, it's
now! They're plucked
chickens about to be thrown to the gators. The feeding frenzy of
Roman justice and Jewish revenge they're facing is going to be
brutal. And all Jesus can say is: “You have faith in God; have
faith also in me.”
Had
I been there with the disciples, listening to Jesus' words with my
own ears, I would've been tempted to blurt out: “How is faith alone
gonna protect us from our enemies?!” And I imagine Jesus would've
said something like, “When did I promise you that having faith in
me would keep you safe from the world?” Hearing this, my mind would
rewind back over the three years of sermons and lectures, looking for
a loophole. Alas! No such promise – I'd have to confess – was
ever made. In fact, Jesus promised that believing in him would make
us enemies of the world, targets for the Enemy's deviltry. So why
then does Jesus attempt to calm his disciples by exhorting them to
greater faith if faith isn't going to protect them from the world?
Simply put: faith in
Christ isn't about protection from hurt, loss, the world, or evil;
it's about receiving that which is necessary for growing in holiness.
From God Himself we receive the desire and ability to trust Him, the
desire and ability to live our lives rooted in the reality of His
promises. Faith doesn't make the bad things go away. Faith makes it
possible for us to live with the bad things and come out the other
side holier for having done so.
So,
how does living with the bad things in
faith make us holier?
First, we have to understand holiness as “being set apart for a
purpose.” The BVM is holy b/c is she was set apart to be the Mother
of God. An altar is holy b/c it is set apart for the celebration of
the Eucharist. A Bible is holy b/c it is set apart as a means of
delivering the Word of God. We are made holy at baptism – set apart
from the world in order to serve as living, breathing witnesses to
the Good News. Next, we have to understand that the things of this
world – the powers, the principalities, the temptations, sin and
death – are ever-present, all-consuming, and always ready to make
us slaves again. We must live among these things to live in the
world, but we do not have to be subject to them. Remember: we
are set apart. We
belong to Christ. Then, lastly, knowing that we belong to Christ, and
that we have a mission to bear witness to his Good News, we
live among yet set apart
from the things of this world. Not above nor beyond. (That's a
temptation to pride and arrogance). But among yet set apart. When we
live as Christ teaches us to live – with faith, hope, love, mercy –
we grow in holiness; we grow more and more Among Yet Set Apart. And
this growth settles our troubled hearts.
You
see, as priests, prophets, and kings in Christ we have no reason to
be troubled. There is – literally – nothing in or on this world
that can trouble us b/c we know that our lives belong to him. Of
course – we get sick. We die. We suffer. We lose our jobs, our
family members. We have strange accidents that sometimes cripple us.
All the horrible things that can happen to non-believers can and do
happen to us. Faith in Christ is not a magical amulet that prevents
these things from happening. Faith in Christ is a fortitude, a
bulwark that allows us to see the holy work of God, His plan for us,
and to understand our everyday joys and miseries as opportunities to
be Christ for others. We turn to the corporal and spiritual works of
mercy. We turn to our Blessed Mother and beg her intercession. We
turn to Christ in the Holy Sacrament. We turn to one another in the
Church so that the face of Christ might be closer and clearer. We do
not entertain despair, revenge, anger, injustice, nor do we hold
ourselves above the ordinary mourning of those left behind. When our
hearts are troubled – and they will be – we turn to the only
source of consolation that can truly bring us life. We turn to
Christ.
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