

Seventh Sunday of Easter
[Note regarding the readings: in our Archdiocese, as in most of the world, the Ascension is celebrated on Thursday, not Sunday. Thus, this homily references the readings for the Seventh Sunday of Easter]
When I was 18 years old, I attended an event hosted by a local university, advertised as an ecumenical dialogue between Christianity and Islam. Representing the Christian side was a wonderful Catholic priest who was also a mentor of mine; on the Islamic side was a local Muslim imam. Things started civilly, but soon it became clear that the imam wanted not ecumenical dialogue but Islamic evangelization. He boldly made several arguments of why Islam, not Christianity, was the true faith, and immediately after the event his team handed out free pamphlets and booklets about Islam. The imam made several arguments, but the anti-Christian argument that stood out to me most was this: in the 19th century, German scholars convincingly argued that the real, historical Jesus was simply a holy prophet… only after his death did his followers eventually turn him into a God, distorting the truth like in the game of telephone.
Seeds of doubt were sown that day in my 18 year-old mind, in part because the Catholic speaker refused to engage these arguments head on, wanting instead to maintain the spirit of ecumenism.
I’ll admit I took some of the Muslim booklets home… and doubts about my faith persisted for several years. It took quite a bit of studying – of the Bible, of Christian history, and also of Islam and Islamic history -- until I was convinced that the man Jesus was in fact the Christ we profess as Christians: God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God.
Brothers and sisters, I ask: who is Jesus for you? Or in Jesus’ own words: ‘Who do you say that I am?’
This question was the topic of Pope Leo XIV’s very first homily. I’d argue that this is arguably the most important question we’ll ever encounter in life.
Who was Jesus? Was he God-made-man? Or simply a holy teacher? Or a deluded liar? As Christians we profess that he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
He is the Truth – he is both True God, and true man.
All of our readings today bear witness to this truth.
The reading from Revelation has Jesus identify himself as the Alpha and the Omega. These are the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet. He is the Alpha: he was there before the universe began. ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ He is the Alpha. And he is also the Omega – his death and resurrection ended the old world. His second coming – which we look forward to – will signal the end of time, when he will judge us, and separate the sheep from the goats. And so we pray to our Alpha and Omega: ‘Amen, Come Lord Jesus!’ – some of the last words in the entire Bible.
Our Gospel reading describes how the Father and the Son are one. Texts like these show the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, how Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are 3 divine Persons and one God.
Perhaps most striking is our reading from the Acts of the Apostles, which bears witness to Christ’s divinity.
Why is St Stephen, one of the first 7 deacons, stoned to death – as the very first martyr? He’s killed because of the vision he proclaims of Heaven. He describes Christ sitting at God’s right hand. Jesus has already ascended into Heaven, and there he is at the right hand of the Father. In the ancient world, the right hand of the king was the place of the plenipotentiary, the person who acts with the full authority of the king. It puts Jesus on par with God.
The Jews cover their ears, call Stephen a blasphemer, and then kill him violently. The scene echoes what happened to Jesus himself on the night he was betrayed, when Jesus said ‘you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power…’
The Jews correctly recognized that Jesus was claiming divinity for himself – and they executed him for blasphemy.
These passages outline an important historical truth: that ancient peoples who heard about Jesus tended to one of two extremes: either they worshipped Jesus as Lord, or they thought he was a dangerous blasphemer, a liar.
C.S. Lewis, a famous atheist turned Christian theologian, calls this issue the ‘trilemma’. Not a dilemma, but a trilemma. Who was Jesus? He was one of these ‘L’ words: liar, lunatic, or Lord. Liar, Lunatic, or Lord.
Option 1: he was a devious liar: so if you believe this, you’d want to punish him as a lying blasphemer pretending to be God.
Option 2: he was a lunatic: so you’d lock him up for being insane.
Option 3: is that He is the Lord (Kyrios = the title given for YHWH], God himself. Our best historical evidence doesn’t seem to support Jesus as a liar or lunatic, so by process of elimination, this is the most probable answer: Jesus is Lord.
But people today want a fourth option: most people today think that Jesus was a nice guy, a good moral teacher. He was an insightful guru, like other gurus Buddha or Confucius. Think of the ‘Coexist’ bumper stickers that you see driving around Boston.
But the historical evidence doesn’t support that option. As I learned after my studies, the evidence shows that Jesus himself claimed that he was divine, and that his closest apostles were martyred believing this as well. Numerous texts – both Christian and non-Christians – support this fact.
[C.S. Lewis quote, removed from spoken homily for brevity:
To quote Lewis’ masterpiece Mere Christianity:
"I am trying to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to”]
Why would so many early Christians – including Stephen, Paul, and nearly all of the 12 apostles – have gone to their deaths professing Christ as Lord – a shocking thing for monotheistic Jews to do – if they didn’t really believe it? What did any of them stand to gain from lying about Jesus? All their preaching got them was persecution and martyrdom.
And why have so many non-Christians—of various empires and religions—persecuted Christians through history? Our faith has more martyrs than any other – why?
It is because the world knows that, if it were to accept Jesus as Lord, then everything must change.
Indeed, at this point in my homily, maybe some of you are wondering: ok, deacon, this has been an interesting intellectual exercise, to confirm our faith in Jesus as Lord.
But so what? How does this doctrine change my life? How does this matter once I leave the church doors in half an hour?
The answer: it changes everything.
Jesus is not just the Truth, he is the Way and the Life.
Not a Way, not a Life – not one way among many equal ways, like that Coexist bumper sticker, but THE Way. To quote St Peter from Acts: “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” He is the gate through which all must enter, whether explicitly or implicitly.
If we take seriously our belief in Jesus as God, then everything should be oriented to that truth.
Jesus becomes our number 1 priority; everything in our life should be subservient to Christ our God. He doesn’t just get 1 hour on Sunday – but the whole week.
So for us Christians who are married: Our number one job as husbands and wives should be helping our spouse grow in their relationship to Christ, to become a saint.
For us Christians who are parents: Our number one job as parents should be helping our children grow in their relationship to Christ, to become saints – to sit with Christ, now Ascended at God’s right hand.
For Christians who are single: your job is to become a saint, which requires chastity and following God’s will for your life.
Professing Christ as Lord means we accept his words as the very words of God: including His promise to be with his Church and to give the keys to Peter. So we are obligated to respect the Church’s teachings, even the ones that go against the tide: whether that’s on immigration and human rights or on sexual morality.
Professing Christ as Lord means my relationship with him is the most important relationship in my life: and like any relationship I need to devote the time: whether that’s prayer or spiritual reading or podcasts or the Sacraments. It means trying to break free from the addictions and sins that hold me back from a healthy relationship with him. It means going to Confession regularly.
It’s hard. Jesus never promised it would be easy.
Early Christians like St Stephen were martyred for their exclusive faith in Christ. It’s unlikely we’ll suffer death, but likely we will suffer some sacrifice.
A theologian at Boston College named Peter Kreeft suggests we all ask this question:
‘If you were put on trial for the crime of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?’
Is our faith in Christ transforming our everyday life in a way that is apparent? The closer we are to Christ, the more sacrifices we will make: Just as the closer we are to his cross and his crown of thorns, the more likely that the splinters and thorns will make us bleed a little bit.
What sacrifices are required in our lives? Maybe it’s forgoing the promotion that would make you too busy to go to Mass every week. Maybe it’s deferring on the competitive sports team for your child that always travels on Sundays.
If Christ is Lord, then this is the best Good News in the world, and something we should be trying to share with others. Yes, even with pamphlets.
As an 18 year old, I experienced firsthand how powerful pamphlets can be—they nearly made me a Muslim. Indeed, I know a Benedictine abbot who actually became Muslim after picking up their pamphlets – it took him years to come back to Catholicism. I know of a young woman who picked up a pamphlet in college entitled ‘Ten Reasons the Catholic Church Is Wrong’ – she read it, left the Church, and never came back.
And so recently we’ve put out pamphlets of our own in the front of our parish, that you can take and give to others. We also have books on the side entrance of the church.
Many of us speak loudly and boldly about our favorite politician or sports team – let’s do the same about Jesus, because He alone is God. In June, many people – even young people – will proudly fly particular flags, boldly supporting a particular viewpoint. Surely our Archdiocesan Eucharistic Procession for the June feast of Corpus Christi should draw more people than any secular marches.
Indeed, if Christ is Lord, then the Eucharist is the greatest thing on Earth… something that we should desire fervently for ourselves and everyone around us. This should be the absolute highlight of our week. Because actually, it’s not a thing, but a person: Christ’s own self.
So later in this Mass we see the priest elevate the Host, it’s like St Stephen’s glimpse into Heaven, seeing the Ascended Lord. Then we can receive Jesus, to become enthroned not only the right hand of the Father, but in each of our hearts.
So let us proclaim:
We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.
Amen, Come Lord Jesus!