Fifth Sunday of Easter

The Easter stories are all about people who finally get the message.  They are stories of people who let go of old ways, and are reformed by the risen Lord.  We meet such a person today, Barnabas, the disciple who pleads with the other disciples to let go of their old perceptions of Saul and accept him as a brother in Christ.

Barnabas knew first-hand what it meant to let go.  When he became a follower of Jesus, he let go of his priestly state (he had been a Levite); he let go of his name (which had been Joseph); he even sold his farm and laid the proceeds at the apostles’ feet.  Barnabas let go of old ways and was reformed by the risen Lord.

We heard the story from the Acts of the Apostles today about how reluctant the disciples were to accept St. Paul as a brother in Christ because they were afraid of him.  Even though they themselves had been transformed by the risen Christ, the disciples found it hard to believe that the same could happen to Saul, their former enemy and persecutor.

That’s when Barnabas stepped in.  The name Barnabas, by the way, means “son of encouragement.”  Barnabas tells the disciples not to be afraid.  He encourages them to accept the fact that just as they had been transformed by the risen Lord, so had Paul.  After Barnabas preached that day, the early church was never the same.  Now it had its best preacher, St. Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles.

The Easter story of Barnabas is like all the stories we hear at this time of the year.  They are stories of Easter people, who still found it hard to give up their old ways of believing and acting.  The risen Lord asked Mary Magdalene why she was still crying for a former Jesus she once knew and loved.  After the resurrection, it was business as usual for Peter.  He was still going out to fish.  The two disciples were going back to their humdrum old ways, to their old town of Emmaus.  And Thomas was never going to change.  He said, “You know me; I only believe what I see.”  He still clung to his old habit of mistrusting his friends.

But in all these stories a messenger of encouragement comes along: a Barnabas, an angel at the empty tomb, a stranger on the road, the risen Lord himself.  Someone comes along and reminds the disciples that something new and wonderful has happened.  The resurrection is about letting go of old ways and believing in the power of God to make all things new.

You and I still have a lot of pruning to do.  Even though we’re Easter people, we still cling to old prejudices about our church and society; about how it’s impossible to clean up our environment and save our planet; about how the only way to have peace is to overpower our enemies with force; about how we can never give up our addiction to alcohol and drugs.

Yet, it’s true that we are Easter people, but we still cling to old dead branches and habits.  But when we receive the Body and Blood of Christ today let us remember that the risen Lord is the true Vine.  We believe in the power of Jesus Christ to make all things new.  Alleluia.

Paul A. Magnano

Pastor