Courage

Homily for April 10, 2016 (3rd Sunday of Easter)
Acts 5:27-31, 40b-41; Psalm 30; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19

Since we’re in the middle of a highly competitive, often controversial, and sometimes disturbing presidential campaign season, it’s not unusual to hear of a candidate “walking back” a statement or two…or three…or four....  The term “walking back” is used when someone says something that they seem to really believe; but when the political winds begin to blow against them they decide to “clarify” what they said or claim that they were misquoted or quoted out of context.

Lord knows, we all make mistakes; and we all have said things that we would like to take back.  But today we celebrate those who, despite their fears, denials or other mistakes don’t just “walk back” but more importantly step forward in courageous witness for the gospel and for the mission that Jesus entrusted to them.

Peter and the other apostles in our first reading were not merely asked but ordered by the Sanhedrin (a council of the religious, social and political elites of Jerusalem) to stop teaching in the name of Jesus.  They refused, asserting, “We must obey God rather than men.”  For some reason, our Lectionary omits Acts 5:40a, which notes that the apostles were first beaten (flogged) before they received the Sanhedrin’s order and were dismissed.  They had also been jailed. That was the dishonor they willingly and even gladly suffered for the sake of Jesus’ name.

How did they, especially Peter, get such courage?  After all, when Jesus was arrested, tortured and crucified they all ran away; and Peter denied that he even knew Jesus!  In our gospel passage,  however, Jesus walked back with Peter and his threefold denial by asking three times “Do you love me?” and three times entrusting Peter with the ministry of feeding and tending his flock.  It was a task that would not be easy:  Peter would have to surrender himself just as his Lord did.  Tradition tells us that he would also face the same fate as Jesus, though he insisted on being crucified upside down since he didn’t think he was worthy to die in exactly the same way.

We recently celebrated the memories of two Christian martyrs from the last century:  Bl. Oscar Romero of San Salvador (+March 24), a great defender of the human rights and dignity of the poor, who was assassinated while he celebrated Mass; and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (+April 4), who was assassinated in Memphis while defending the rights and dignity of sanitation workers. Archbishop Romero and Dr. King put their faith in “the lamb that was slain;” and that faith enabled them to walk into the winds of increasing opposition and persecution even as many of their contemporaries retreated.  They knew fear, but they didn’t allow that fear to overwhelm them.  They didn’t fear death; instead they feared the failure to live as God had called them.

Romero professed that “whoever out of love for God gives oneself to the service of others will live, like the grain of wheat that dies, but only apparently….Only in undoing itself does it produce the harvest.”  King insisted that “No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they'd die for.”  In an age when many “walk back” their beliefs not for the sake of deeper understanding but rather for political expediency, social acceptance or personal gain, may we not fear to step forward in faith, trusting in the one who told Peter:  “Simon…I have prayed that your own faith may not fail, and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32). Jesus turned Peter around; and he can do the same for us. +