Jesus ensured that we see God as God

May 7, 2006 -- Fourth Sunday of Easter

By Bishop Robert Morneau

	Bishop Robert Morneau
	Questions for reflection: 1. What do you understand by the term resurrection? 2. When do "resurrections" happen in your life? 3. What does it mean to be an Easter person?

Back in 1972, H. A. Williams, a former Dean of Trinity College, Cambridge, wrote True Resurrection (New York, Continuum - reprinted in 2000). In this stimulating work, Williams looks at the mystery of the Resurrection in terms of the body, the mind, goodness, suffering, and death. Several passages from this text illumine our readings on the fourth Sunday of Easter.

"When we begin to recognize the power of resurrection in the ordinary gritty routine of our daily lives, then we shall see for ourselves that all that separates and injures and destroys is being overcome by what unities and heals and creates" (12-13).

In the Acts of the Apostles, St. Peter tells of the power of the Resurrection that occurred when a person who was crippled was healed in the name of Jesus. Throughout the world, Christians who are dedicated to the Gospel are bringing healing, unity and creativity into the lives of so many. Think of all our hospital personnel, all those who are working for the common good, all those who make music and art and poetry. Resurrection is all around us. And, yes, there is also separation, injury, and destruction. The battle is on. What the mystery of the Resurrection claims is that good deeds, like the one done to the cripple, will in the end win out.

"The background of resurrection is always impossibility. And with impossibility staring us in the face, the prelude of resurrection is invariably doubt, confusion, strife, and the cynical smile which is our defense against them. Resurrection is always defiance of the absurd" (57).

In the first letter of John we are confronted with the "impossible." One day we shall be like God. Indeed, one day we shall see God as God is. Is this possible? We who are small, tiny creatures walking this insignificant planet for forty, sixty, eighty years - we shall one day be like God and see God in great clarity? This good news is overwhelming. For some, this claim is doubtful, confusing, even absurd. Yet, because of the Resurrection, Jesus has made it possible for this to happen. True resurrection is filled with power and wisdom.

"But resurrection as a present miracle does not deliver us from the unevenness and turmoil and fragmentariness of being human. The miracle is to be found precisely within the ordinary and daily routine of our lives. Resurrection occurs to us as we are, and its coming is generally quiet and unobtrusive and we may hardly be aware of its creative power. It is often only later that we realize that in some way or other we have been raised to newness of life, and so have heard the voice of the Eternal Word" (10).

Jesus, the Eternal Word, speaks every hour of every day. He is the Good Shepherd looking out for our well-being. More, Jesus laid down His life for us so that we come to experience the extravagance of God's love. So it is that resurrection is an "ordinary" experience. Wherever there is new life, greater light, and deeper love, resurrection is happening. It means that we are hearing and responding to the voice of the Good Shepherd speaking today.

One last word from H. A. Williams: "The coming to be is the creative mystery of all life. And resurrection is precisely coming to be. It is a calling of the non-existent into being. It is the giving of life to what has no life" (160). Nothing more need be said.

(Bp. Morneau is the auxiliary bishop of the Green Bay Diocese and pastor of Resurrection Parish in Allouez.)