Homily for the 3rd Week of Easter Year B

I remember many years ago when I was working with electronics, that Sony had invented a flat screen TV. Everyone I was with was all excited how great this was. I was looking at them with the attitude, “OK it is an interesting idea, but why the big deal?” One of those who heard me gave me a good response. “Have you ever seen Dick Tracy?”
“Yes,” I said.
“You’ve seen his wristwatch?”
“Yes?” I said, still not having a clue where this was going.
“That is possible to make now.”
“Ahhh, I understand, it is a big deal.”

We can feel the same thing in today’s gospel. The Apostles are afraid that they may be seeing a ghost when they see Jesus. We can look at that and say, “Ok, I understand that Jesus resurrected from the dead, but so what if He comes back as a ghost?”

The reality is that this is a big deal and it goes to the heart of who we are as Catholics.

Let me touch on a seemingly tangent reality. You may have heard Christian radio, and you will hear people say that you should go to a bible-based Church. “Do not go to one that is not bible-based,” they will say.  That by the way is a code-word that says do not go to the Catholic Church. That is because many of those so called bible-based churches reject the Catholic notion of Scripture and tradition. Yet, without following tradition you cannot fully understand today’s gospel.

First, understand that any particular gospel story is in the bible for a reason. Remember the last line in the gospel of John explains that Jesus did so many things that there would not be enough books in the world to contain all that he did. So we read just a miniscule amount of his life and works. Therefore, the question why something is in the bible is important.

Second, This passage is in the bible answering a question that we deal with even today. What does resurrection from the dead really mean? Is it bodily resurrection or just a resurrection of Jesus’ ideas. The answer here is that Jesus resurrected from the dead in body and soul. This is why the ghost question is so important. If Jesus was a ghost he would have been a disembodied spirit. Now apparently such things do exist, technically an angel is a spirit without a body as is a demon. Jesus says as well that God is spirit. However, you and I are body and spirit.

Jesus’ bodily resurrection is important because if Jesus’ body did not resurrect, than neither would ours. However, Jesus resurrected body and spirit, or soul if you will.

What is key here brings us to something very important to us. When we get to heaven will we have bodies and what about Auntie mary who went to God two years ago, will we see here in body and spirit?

Yes, this passage answers that question.
Why, is this important?

St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica tells us. In his treatise on happiness, he explains that as humans because we are body and spirit, we cannot be happy unless we are happy in body and spirit. This is why the resurrection of the dead is so important. We need our bodies and our souls to experience true happiness, we cannot do it without one or the other.

Now let’s look at this in light of our vocation. It is Paul that reminds in the second reading that we have a vocation to be loving, but we cannot have a vocation if we do not understand the goal of it. Remember, our goal is not really our own salvation alone, it is the salvation of as many people in our lives as possible. We do that through love. When we live in faith and love, we live a radically different form of life than if we don’t live in faith and love.

John Reminds us that we are conquerors through our faith. How do we conquer, but living a vision of reality that is different than the world which understands none of this, and accepts none of this. You and I by understanding who we are, ensouled beings that have been redeemed by our savior and have a vocation to love. Live at a level of understanding that the world does not understand, even when we are talking about some doctorate at Harvard, if he does not get this, he is missing a piece in what it means to be human. We have that piece and God calls us to act on it not only in the hopes of our own resurrection and eternal life, but of those around us who live and move with a less than full understanding of the human.

To do this all we have to do is live with the vision instilled in us here, that we have been called to eternal life body and soul through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and so has everyone around us.