Homily originally presented April 15, 2018

Thank God for witnesses?

A great victory was achieved 73 years ago, in the year 1945, when the Allied troops that included my Dad and many of your Dad’s, made their way to Berlin, Germany defeating the Nazi army, ending the European battle of World War II.

It was then that the Allied forces were able ...

to free all the people that had been held captive in German concentration camps and to see the real horror that had been going on in those places for many years.

Actual film footage was taken of: the Gas Chambers where some 6 Million Jews and Christians were murdered, and the Furnaces where their bodies were burned.

Many who saw or survived that horror wrote down their experiences so that today we have extensive written & photographic evidence of the evils that went on there.

Surprisingly, there are people today (and a growing number each year) who deny that the Holocaust even took place! (Holocaust is the total obliteration of things)

My Dad, my Uncles and millions of  other soldiers and victims were eyewitnesses to the unforgettable horrors of the German Concentration Camps, but now a mere 73 years later, people are doubting and even denying that all that even took place. 

Thank goodness that many eyewitnesses wrote down what they saw ...

so that future generations would always know the truth ...

of what happened under the madman ... Adolph Hitler.

Now, if people are ready to doubt & even deny an event that took place just 73 years,

it’s easy to see why people might have trouble believing an event that took place 2000 years ago … namely the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

There’s a saying that surely applies to us humans; it’s: “How quickly we forget!”

Over and over in Scripture we see how quickly God’s Chosen People forget ...

the love and the care ... God has given to them.

After experiencing the mighty hand of God in being set free from slavery in Egypt,

they wonder if God will now provide them with food and water to live!

After God parts the Red Sea so they can escape certain death by Pharaoh’s Army,

          they go and fashion a golden calf to worship ... in place of ... Almighty God!

How quickly we forget!

All I can say is thank goodness for the eyewitnesses who wrote down their experiences so that the following generations would know the truth. 

In our Scripture Readings today, we hear twice from the Evangelist Luke,

• our First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles, which Luke authored
• and then a passage from the last chapter (24) of Luke’s Gospel.

In both places, we hear the word witnesses.

First, Luke records the Apostles seeing Jesus standing before them ...

in His Resurrected Body eating a piece of baked fish.

And Jesus says to them, “You are witnesses of these things.” 

And then, Luke records Peter saying to the Jews,

“The Author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead;

of this we are witnesses.”

Jesus knows us and how quickly we would forget all that He did for us … namely giving His life in atonement for our sins ... something we should never forget!

The Apostle John emphasized this in our Second Reading today saying, “(Jesus) is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.”

So Jesus made sure that we would never forget this truth ...

by allowing His Apostles to be eyewitnesses of his victory over death.

They saw Him, touched Him, spoke with Him and ate with Him ...

after He was raised from the dead!

You and I weren’t there 2000 years ago ... but the Apostles were.

So, our faith in the Resurrection ...

doesn’t come from our own eyewitness experience of the Risen Lord.

No, our faith in the Resurrection comes from our faith in the Apostles!

They were the eyewitnesses and they handed on to us what they saw, the Risen Lord.

Being an eyewitness of the Risen Jesus was the first part of being an Apostle. 

The second part was actually being sent by Jesus to witness to the Resurrection.

The word “Apostle” comes from Greek “Apostolos” which actually means, “to send.” So, who did Jesus choose to send out to spread the Good News?  

While Scripture says that the Risen Jesus appeared to many, such as the women at the tomb and 500 others ... He did not send them all out to preach.

No, it was only the Eleven men in the Upper Room.

and Paul, who Jesus appeared to on His way to Damascus 3 years later ...

 that Jesus sent out to preach the Good news of His Resurrection.

Only these were eye-witnesses of the Risen Jesus and sent out by the Risen Jesus!

So, given that definition of Apostle, can we call ourselves Apostles of Jesus Christ? No!

That title applies only to those who were: (1) eyewitnesses of the Risen Christ,

and (2) were sent by the Risen Christ to preach the Good News of His Resurrection.

So, what does that make all of us ...

who continue to spread the Good News of His Resurrection?

It makes us Disciples of Jesus Christ!

Disciple come from the Latin word “discipulus” which means “to learn”.

Disciples are those who embrace and assist in spreading the teachings of another.

So, we Christians embrace and assist in spreading the teachings of Christ.

We, the Disciples of Christ today, don’t proclaim the Resurrection …

we proclaim the Gospels!

We were not eyewitnesses of the Risen Jesus, so we testify to the experience of the Apostles, who were eyewitnesses to the Risen Lord.

That’s why Apostolic Succession is so important to us.

The Church is built on the tradition that the Apostles handed onto us.

And it’s our responsibility is to pass that tradition on to others.

And one of the greatest traditions that we could ever practice and pass on ...

is the celebration of Holy Mass.

Apostle Paul emphasizes this in his First Letter to the Corinthians writing,

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup,

you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.”

Notice that Paul didn’t say … you proclaim the Resurrection of the Lord.

No, Paul says ...              you proclaim the Death of the Lord!

You see, it was the Apostles who proclaimed the Resurrection.

What we proclaim is belief in ... the tradition of the Apostles. 

For example, in our First Reading from Acts today, when the Apostle Peter ...

gave eyewitness testimony that “God raised (Jesus) from the dead,”

did he then tell the people to go proclaim the Resurrection?

No. He simply said, “Repent and be converted that your sins may be wiped away.”

Those who did so became “Disciples” of Jesus Christ.

We believe the witness of the Apostles that is written in the Bible ...

And when we learn and share that truth ...

we are being Disciples of Jesus Christ!

Just as our faith in the victory of the Allied forces over the power of the Nazi army

   is based on the accounts that we have from the eye-witnesses who were there.

Our faith in the victory of Jesus Christ over the power of death

   is based on the accounts that we have from the eye-witnesses who were there …

the Apostles.

Let’s give thanks for the many Resurrection appearances ...

that are recorded in Scripture by those who were eyewitnesses!

They are the basis of our faith in the power and the love of God.  

The Holy Bible, compiled and preserved by the Catholic Church,

helps us practice and hand on our faith in the Risen Lord.

Let’s be good Disciples of Jesus, especially by faithfully attending Holy Mass,

where each time we get “to proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes in glory.

In this way we fulfill our important role of building up God’s Church on Earth

by learning,  living and handing on the faith ...

as Disciples of Jesus Christ.