Witnessing Easter
God shows no partiality
Acts 10:33
In the first reading we heard Peter proclaim, “Now, I get it. God shows no partiality! Everyone and anyone who fears God and does what is right is accepted by God. I cannot continue neglecting and rejecting those whom God accepts. I must seek and attend to everyone because God loves everyone.” Peter had thought the Good News of God in Jesus Christ was only for his fellow Jews because Jesus was a Jew. Dreams and lived experience brought about Peter’s change of heart. He now understood the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus, had been expanded God’s covenant to include all people.
This shift for Peter, the disciples, and the early church began when Cornelius, a Roman solider, dreamt that an angel of God directed him to summon Peter. Around the same time the apostle Peter had a dream. He dreamt that foods Jews were forbidden to eat were offered to him. When, in the dream, Peter refused to eat those foods a voice from heaven scolded him, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane!” When Peter woke from this dream, a messenger from Cornelius was at his door. The messenger came to invite Peter to the home of Cornelius. Peter, embolden by his dream, broke Jewish laws and went to Cornelius’ home. Cornelius was a high ranking gentile solider in the army occupying Israel. In spite this, Cornelius was well regarded by Jews. Cornelius was familiar Jewish customs, so he had heard about the God of Israel. In preparation for Peter’s visit, Cornelius gathered members of his military cohort, relatives, friends, and servants to listen to Peter. Peter was moved by the warm welcome he received from “those people” and inspired by the number of people Cornelius had gathered. Peter described his experiences with Jesus. He told them about the healings, how Jesus raised people from the dead, and that Jesus taught and ate meals with people of good and questionable reputations. Peter taught the group about God’scovenant and explained that Jesus’ death and resurrection were a fulfillment of God’spromises. The God Israel, they had heard about, sent Jesus. I wonder if Peter’s descriptions and instruction included how he denied Jesus and that Jesus, despite his denials, urged him to continue to seek and serve “lost sheep.” The people gathered are touched, moved and inspired by of Peter’s lived experiences of Jesus they converted. Cornelius, the soldiers, his relatives, friends and slaves were baptized and joined the community of believers. Peter went to the home of Cornelius because he paid attention to what God communicated to him in his dream. Peter moved Cornelius and all those gathered to join the faith community by sharing his lived experiencing of Jesus. Peter proclaim the Good News to people he had previously discounted, despised and feared. Peter lived experience inspired those who heard it to believe.
Peter was a witness. You and I are witnesses. All of us, not just clergy, are witnesses. We are present day the disciples and apostles of Jesus. At our baptism you and I were commissioned to share the Good News of God in Jesus.
Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ? Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
If we were baptized as children, our parents and godparents responded for us. At the Easter Vigil and the Feasts of Pentecost and All Saints, we recite our baptismal vows. Back then and now our response to each of these questions is, yes. We will, with God's help, witness to the Good News of Jesus in thought, word and deed. You and I are the hearts and hands God relies on to generate experiences of Divine mercy and love.
Today, the news most often shared and heard is bad. The internet, TV, print media, and radio news stories are dominated by horrible and horrifying events: terrorist attacks and threats; mass shootings; armed conflicts not just in Ukraine, Gaza and Israel, and Haiti but in more than 50 other places in the world; natural disaster (earth quakes, fires, and floods) compound the disasters we cause by population; there is a prevalence of addiction to drugs; a rise in depression; and increase in the rates of suicide. The world needs good news. We need good news. God, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, provides us with Good News. News that will not and cannot be heard unless we share it.
Whether you attended church throughout Holy Week, engaged in spiritual disciplines during Lent, or only worship at Christmas and Easter, you are a witness. God, who shows no partiality, loves you unconditionally. The Spirit of God is alive and active in and around you. This is the case whether we acknowledge the power of God or ignore what God is doing in and around us. The collaborative work of researchers and pharmaceutical companies across the world not only invented a COVD vaccine but produced supplies of the vaccine to make that COVID less deadly. This happened with God’s help. The bridge collapse in Baltimore was awful but would have been kill many more people if it had occurred during rush hour. This happened with God’s help. After months of dismissing and disciplining people who protested the violence in Gaza and Israel, people are beginning to realize responding to aggression with aggression, violence with violence are not effective ways to bring lasting peace and safety to the land we call holy. God is at work. We, the present generation of disciples and apostles, must not abandon our calling. We must witness to what God is doing in our lives, communities, and the world. When we see something must say something. We have a duty, to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help us God.
Allow me to give an example of witness. (I’ve changed names to protect the privacy of the people I am describing.) The brother of a high school friend, John, witnessed to his experience of God. John and his fiancée asked me to officiate their wedding. He shared his witness during the first premarriage counseling session. John and I had not seen one another since June’s funeral. June was his only sibling and my friend. June died in a car accident at age 19. John asked me why I became a priest. I explained that I was devastating by his sister’s death. I was angry that God allowed her to die. I became depressed and contemplated suicide. My parents and the chaplain at my college rallied around me. They and others cared for me. They attended to me throughout my grief. With time, the care and concern of others allowed me to understand that though the forms of love changed, God’s love is eternal. With this understanding came the realization, the conviction, that I could not keep this information to myself. I had to share it. I had to witness to the love of God. John responded to my story with own his story. God had literally saved his life. He told me June’s death destroyed his family. Within months of the funeral their beloved grandmother, who had lived with them, died in her sleep. Within a few years of her death, his parents separated. After that, his father was diagnosed with cancer and died. A few years after that, without warning, his mother had a heart attack and died. John dealt with these losses by driving into his work. He took on more and more clients and grew his business as an electrician. When he was not working, he used alcohol and drugs to escape, to forget, to feel better. This went on for years until an accident at work. John was electrocuted at work. His fiancée continued the story. She said, John had died, was revived and in a coma for weeks. When John emerged from his coma he had changed. John resumed talking, when I came, I also came to a conclusion. “God had spared my life, so I needed to stop destroying the life God gave me.” John was quiet for a time. He reached out, grasped the hand of his fiancée, and whispered, “June is with God. God was with me. And God is with us. I lost my family, but now with God’s help I have a family.” John took out his wallet to show me a photograph of their 2-year-old.
John is, I am, and you are witnesses. The Holy Spirit is active moving in and through our triumphs and tragedies. When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death God is with us. In the presence of our enemies, God anoints our head with oil. We are loved by God. Everyone who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to God.
Share this good news.
