We are
celebrating the third Sunday of Easter, in today’s second reading St. John says
that Jesus is the expiation for our sins and those of the whole world. First of
all, what does that word expiation
mean? The word refers to a sacrifice to atone or make up for sin. This might
seem like a highly theological term, but we do this all the time. We just don’t
call it atonement. For example, a husband or wife or a child is sorry for
snapping at members of the family. He or she makes up for it with a little gift
or a special meal or perhaps doing some chores that are not on part of his or
her normal responsibilities. These are minor things, but they are acts of expiation,
acts of making up. The book of
Leviticus presents a major act of atonement. Moses’ brother Aaron is told to bring a goat into the
sanctuary and place his hands over it, calling upon it the sins of the people. The
goat is then sent into the wilderness[1]. The goat represents their sins. He is
sacrificed by being brought out into the wilderness. The sacrifice is meant to
make up for sins[2].
This is also
a prophecy of Jesus’ gift of Himself to the Father for us. Jesus is also
brought outside the temple area to die. He is the sacrificial victim who takes
all sin upon himself. His
sacrifice makes us "at one" with God.
Many times we
will say, “Give your sins to the Lord. Let Jesus have them.” St.
John is telling us that Jesus wants them.
He knows that we ourselves cannot make up or atone for the horrible
actions of sin, but He knows that He can and will. Nor does He want us
suffering the guilt of our sins. So we give our sins to Him and are made one
with God by Him.
In today’s gospel,
St. Luke presents Jesus appearing in the Upper Room and opening the minds of
the disciples to understand the Scripture that Christ would suffer, die and
rise again so that repentance for the forgiveness of sins might be preached to
the whole world. This is Easter. Sin no longer will have a hold on us. Christ,
the Victor over death is also the Victor over sin. The world needs to hear this
from His disciples, from us. This brings us back to the second reading, Jesus
is the expiation not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world. We
are given the mandate to proclaim the good news that if we are united to Jesus,
His sacrifice will unite each of us and all of us to God.
Some people
think that the Lord saved them, but not other people. They think that people of a certain class, with a certain
disease, or who have committed this or that sin are excluded from the Lord’s
salvation. So they categorize whole groups of people as damned, or, at least,
as evil. This is not the way
of Christ. If we dare to look closely within ourselves, we would probably
find some form of prejudice in
each of us. We have to fight against whatever prejudices we might have. No group is better or worse than any
other group. Jesus is our expiation for our sins and for those of the whole
world.
Today’s
readings warn us not to be so arrogant as to think that we have done something
that can’t be forgiven. Nor should we be so arrogant to think that others
cannot be forgiven. God’s mercy is available for all. Jesus gives. He forgives. And He calls us to follow
Him! ▪
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