Jesus — the unexpected Messiah

Fifth Sunday in Easter, May 22, 2011
Fr. Anthony Brankin
Gospel: John 14:1-12 “I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me.”

Homily summary: Why did they put Jesus on the Cross? It was because Jesus equated Himself with the Father. Jesus is a divine Person. There are three persons, and they share the same being. Jesus claimed to be God, but to do that would be the worst blasphemy for the Jews. If Jesus was God, He was therefore  the Messiah.

The twin apostolates of prayer and the education of young women are pursued by the Visitation Sisters of Georgetown. Are you searching for God’s calling? Consider a life with the Washington, DC.

Some might accuse Jesus of being crazy. But no one in three years accused Him of that. Was He a liar? Was He like a snake oil salesman? Was He looking for arms or riches? If so, He would have told his executioners, “Take Me down.” Therefore He was actually Who He said He was. He would suffer, die, and rise for us all because of love. He came to save us not from Rome or Assyria, but from hell.

The Jews wanted a political leader, one who would usher in a regime change, not a life change. But with Christianity, the world did change, lives changed. People began to build hospitals, schools, orphanages, universities. People began to believe that certain things were wrong. It was wrong to kill people in the arena. It was forbidden to take interest on a loan. How much easier it would be to raise a family not to have to pay a mortgage.

We”re waiting for a million paradises to open up. This is why we have superheroes today, like Spiderman and Superman, and video games. Superheroes are about a culture that doesn”t exist.

We also have an obsession about politics. All politicians have said, “vote for me, life will be better.” Politicians are not the messiahs we thought. Jesus is the true messiah. So many people expect politicians to kick rear ends. But these are those who really don”t believe in heaven and Jesus. They have given us a false messiah. We believe that Jesus will take us to heaven, and only Jesus will make a difference in the life of the world.