A couple years ago I was flipping through the channels in my residence hall room at Central Michigan University, and I saw the TV broadcast of the local Methodist church's Sunday service for the Sunday after Easter Sunday. As it happened, someone I knew from student government was preaching there as part of his preparation to become a pastor.
The topic of the sernon was "Jesus Is Risen - Now What?" Appropriate for the Sunday after Easter Sunday - or as we Catholics (and perhaps Methodists and others) call it, the Second Sunday of Easter.
The miracle has taken place - Christians believe that Christ arose to show that He was the son of God, and that what he taught about life is, indeed, true.
But what was to happen after that?
Here's part of today's Gospel reading in the Catholic Mass (from John 20):
On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.”
My Methodist friend's sermon that day was based on a reading similar to this. (Kind of neat to see the close link between Catholicism and Methodism in that regard, although I don't know how closely the Methodist readings for a given week match up with the Catholic readings for that week.)
In particular, his sermon focused on the words "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." This is when Jesus gave the apostles their mission.
Earlier in John's gospel (13:34-35, to be exact), we see this:
I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
Hm. Love one another.
Certainly a far cry from what many people (many Christians and many non-Christians) believe about Christianity. This is a very important instruction - one which Christ himself called "a new commandment." It is something all of us Christians - and those of you who are not Christians - would do very well to believe.
There are a lot of stereotypes people have about others - 'Americans are stupid,' 'Brits don't brush their teeth,' 'Blondes are stupid,' etc. But those stereotypes especially come into play when it comes to people's religion (or lack thereof): 'Catholics just blindly follow whatever is spoon-fed to them without question,' 'Muslims are terrorists,' 'Atheists have no morals,' 'Mormons have many wives,' and on and on and on.
Of course, events don't always help to stop these stereoptypes. See: September 11. See also: Phelps, Fred. But that is no excuse for anyone to judge entire groups of people by what a few people do.
So, to my fellow Christians: Consider the words of Jesus in the 'new commandment' he gave us. Let us all love one another as He loved us. That is our calling - let us not merely accept it, but rather, embrace it!
To those who are not Christian: Rest assured that true Christianity is not about what some people may say it is. Christianity is supposed to be about love. Christianity is supposed to be about helping others.
To all of you: Good evening! Thank you for coming in tonight!