Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year A
Readings: Acts 6:1-7; Psalm 32(33):1-2, 4-5, 18-19; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12
7 May 2023
We’re all familiar with today’s gospel from John. It’s an old favourite at funerals. Jesus says to his disciples and he says to the grieving family: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way.”
LISTEN: https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-7523
There is every reason for the grieving family to have troubled hearts. They have lost their loved one. The sense of loss is deep, abiding, and probably permanent. But at such a moment, faith carries some consolation: that the deceased and the grieving loved ones are to be reunited ultimately; that this is not the last word; and that Jesus provides a link between the living and the dead.
Usually the deceased is not acclaimed, even by their most loved supporters, to be a living saint. Comparisons are odious. The loved ones know that the deceased is not quite like those who have been canonised and espoused as the models of the Christian life. Thus, the added consolation that there are many dwelling places in the Father’s house. The hope is that the deceased is reunited with those family members and other close associates who have gone before.
The idea of being in Heaven with no private places available to choose one’s friends and associates is not all that appealing. There is the consolation that the deceased has gone to a better place, that the deceased is still in touch with the grieving relatives and friends, and that one day, all will be together again at home in each other’s company and at home with their saviour and Lord.
Most grievers are then honest enough to identify with Thomas who asks, “but how can we know the way?” And they are trusting enough to follow Phillip’s plea: “show us the Father, that will be enough for us”. They leave the church assured as anyone can be that the deceased in life eternal will enjoy some share in the Lord’s banquet.
On Friday, a couple of thousand turned out for the funeral of Fr Bob Maguire. Archbishop Mark Coleridge delivered the homily, declaring that Bob influenced him on his path to priesthood as much as anyone else had done. The archbishop said Fr Bob “was about action, not just words. He rolled up his sleeves and got stuff done … he had mud on his boots. He didn’t judge or condemn. He opened his door to all. He had an unrivalled and uncontrived sense of humour.” Coleridge said, “Now put that profile together, and you have the kind of religion that has a chance in this country. Put the opposite profile together, and you have the kind of religion that has no chance whatsoever.”[1]
In today’s first reading we hear about the first Christians who saw the need to roll up their sleeves, occupying their time on routine chores like distributing food to the widows in the community. As in any community, there were differences and divisions. The Hellenists, who were in the minority, thought the Hebrews were short-changing their families in the distribution of the community food. So the disciples invited the whole community to choose seven members who could attend to an equitable food distribution. The whole community which was dominated by Hebrews chose seven Hellenists to take on the task. Having been chosen by the community, the seven were then commissioned by the disciples. On the face of it, Luke suggests there was a clear demarcation between prayer and ministry of the word to be performed by the twelve disciples on one hand and food distribution and serving at table by the seven elected and appointed ones on the other. But Luke then goes on immediately to describe the mission of Stephen, one of the seven, who dedicated himself to proclamation of the word. Like Bob Maguire, these seven prayed and performed the ministry of the word by attending to the most practical needs of those in their midst. From the beginning, it was not a case of either-or but both-and, attending to the material and the spiritual, the earthly and the divine.
We experienced this mix at yesterday’s coronation of King Charles – a splendid liturgy littered with tensions and ambiguities. Despite or because of the splendid pageantry and nuanced wordsmithing, there was still much about the ceremony that jarred with those of us Australians who are republicans or who simply favour a stricter separation of Church and state. But there were uplifting prayers embodying the spirit of the gospels. For example, when presented with the sword, Charles was told: “With this sword do justice, stop the growth of iniquity, protect …. all people of goodwill, help and defend widows and orphans, restore the things that are gone to decay, maintain the things that are restored, punish and reform what is amiss, and confirm what is in good order”.[2]
The Archbishop of Canterbury, when introducing the King’s oath. said that Charles “will seek to foster an environment in which people of all faiths and beliefs may live freely”. But there was no getting away from the actual words of his oath:
“I Charles do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God profess, testify, and declare that I am a faithful Protestant, and that I will, according to the true intent of the enactments which secure the Protestant succession to the Throne, uphold and maintain the said enactments to the best of my powers according to law.”
Whether at a funeral or a coronation, we hold in tension the material and the spiritual, the human and divine. Whether celebrating the Cobber-wealth of Bob Maguire or the Commonwealth of Charles and Camilla, we give thanks that in the midst of the complexity and contradictions of our lives, Jesus is indeed the way, the truth and the life.
Fr Frank Brennan SJ is the Rector of Newman College, Melbourne, and the former CEO of Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA).
[1] See https://www.theage.com.au/national/farewell-cobber-father-bob-given-lavish-send-off-20230505-p5d5tk.html
[2] See https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2023-04/23-24132%20Coronation%20Liturgy%20Commentary.pdf
