Second Sunday of Easter, Year A-2023

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Send Jesus, Send the Disciples

Jesus is God’s Sent One to announce the Good News to the poor. And the Sent One, in turn, does not hesitate to send his disciples.

Jesus tells his disciples that for him to send them is to give them a share in his own mission. For he says to them, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

And no, Jesus does not hesitate to send his disciples. Those who are in a house with doors that have bars for fear of the leaders of the Jews. Though two them, Peter and the disciple dear to Jesus, have early in the morning found his tomb empty. The last even “saw and believed.” Yet now fear and doubt, not trust and peace, take hold of them.

But the Teacher still trusts his weak disciples. That is how he gets others to work with him. And he does not scold them for their lack of courage and faith. But in not hesitating to send them, he asks them, in effect, to go out.

That is to say, he does not want them to stay behind closed doors, paralyzed by fear. He does not want to see them to be at a loss or in the dark. Not knowing what to do, where to go, and to whom to go that will help and lead them. In other words, he wants to draw the best out of these ordinary and weak folks.

To send the disciples is to ask them to go out to be the good news that they experience by faith.

And so, Jesus comes before those who are full of fear. He shows those who saw him die on the cross that he is alive. And in a new way, since barred doors cannot stop him.

He stands, too, in their midst. He should be back in the center, so they may have back their courage, hope, aim, direction. And be in the light again.

And he does send them out. But he does not spell out what they have to do or say. How they are to behave and carry out their mission. He knows they were with him as he went about doing good. So, on the whole, they are to be, out there, what he has been: the Good News to those who are poor and in need of all kinds. The Good News of peace, communion, of true ties that bind, not fake ties that sneak in to wreak havoc.

He also breathes on them the Holy Spirit. This Spirit is the one to spell out for them what to say and do, and where to go and how to act. The Spirit will lead them to all truth. The Spirit will help them to so believe that they grasp the risen Jesus though they do not see him. Through the Spirit, their love can turn inventive in an infinite way like Jesus’ (SV.EN XI:131). Inventive even to the point that they give up their bodies and shed their blood for others.

Needless to say, the question for us who make up the Church, Jesus’ disciples’ community of love, is: Are we the Church that he wants us to be? It could be that we are like the snails that are afraid of what is outside their shells (SV.EN XII:81).

Jesus, our Lord and our God, you send us to be Good News, too, for others. Make us so as we stay true to what you teach us and to the communal life you have shown us.


16 April 2023

Second Sunday of Easter (A)

Acts 2, 42-47; 1 Pt 1, 3-9; Jn 20, 19-31


VERSIÓN ESPAÑOLA

Enviar a Jesús, enviar a los discípulos

Jesús es el Enviado del Padre para anunciar la Buena Noticia a los pobres. Y el Enviado, a su vez, no duda en enviar a sus discípulos.

Al enviar Jesús a sus discípulos, les da a entender que la misión de ellos forma parte de su misión. Pues les dice: «Como el Padre me ha enviado, así también os envío yo».

Y no, no duda Jesús en enviar a los discípulos. A los que se reunen al anochecer en una casa con las puertas cerradas por miedo a los líderes judíos. Aunque dos de ellos, Pedro y el discípulo amado, ya muy de mañana encontraron vacío el sepulcro de Jesús. El último hasta «vio y creyó». Con todo, se adueñan de ellos la duda y el miedo, y no la confianza y la paz.

Pero no duda de sus discípulos frágiles el Maestro. Así es su proceder para que otros obren con él. Y no los reprocha su falta de valor y fe. Pero al no dudar en enviar a esos discípulos, en efecto, los pide que salgan.

Es decir, no los quiere encerrados, paralizados por el miedo y las tinieblas, confundidos, faltando de dirección y orientación. De verdad, busca sacar lo mejor de la gente corriente y frágil.

Enviar a los discípulos es pedirles que salgan para que sean la buena noticia de la que tienen experiencia por la fe. Se presenta, pues, Jesús ante los aterrados. Se les muestra vivo a los que lo vieron morir crucificado. Y vivo de forma nueva, que las puertas cerradas no lo pueden impedir.

Sí, en medio de ellos se pone. Pues ha de estar una vez más en el centro, para que una vez más sean valientes y esperanzados. Para que anden en la luz y también hacia cuál meta se han de encaminar y orientar.

Pero al enviar a los discípulos, Jesús no conreta lo que han de hacer o decir. No se les precisa cómo han de actuar y cumplir su misión. Les basta con saber que él pasaba haciendo el bien. Por lo tanto, han de ser los discípulos, allá afuera, lo que ha sido su Maestro: la Buena Noticia para los pobres, los necesitados de toda clase. La Buena Noticia de paz, comunión, de los lazos verdaderos por los que se atan unos a otros. No de los lazos falsos que se meten a escondidas para sembrar caos.

Exhala también Jesús sobre ellos el Espíritu Santo. Ese Espíritu será el que les concrete qué dirán y harán, y adónde irán y cómo actuarán. Él los guiará a la verdad plena. Los ayudará también para que crean de modo que capten al Resucitado aunque no lo ven. Por la fuerza del Espíritu, el amor de ellos se podrá hacer tan inventivo como el de Jesús (SV.ES XI:65). Inventivo hasta que entreguen su cuerpo y derramen su sangre por los demás.

Está de más decir que se nos pregunta a los que formamos la comunidad de amor de los discípulos de Jesús: ¿Somos la comunidad que quiere él que seamos? Puede ser que seamos cual los caracoles que por miedo apenas salen de sus conchas (SV.ES XI:397).

Jesús, Señor nuestro y Dios nuestro, nos quieres enviar para que seamos la Buena Noticia para los demás. Haz que la seamos por mantenernos fieles a lo que nos enseñas y a la vida común que nos has mostrado.


16 Abril 2023

2º Domingo de Pascua (A)

Hch 2, 42-47; 1 Pd 1, 3-9; Jn 20, 19-31