Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us listened to the words of the Lord from the Sacred Scriptures in which we are all reminded of our responsibilities and missions in life as Christians to be the ones to proclaim the truth of Our Lord’s Resurrection, His truth and salvation for all the people. Each and every one of us as Christians must always remember our calling and mission, to proclaim the Risen Lord in all opportunities and in every moments that the Lord Himself had presented to us. We are reminded of the light and hope, the renewal and reconciliation that Our Lord’s Passion, His suffering and death, and then His glorious Resurrection from the dead had brought us, which we celebrate joyfully throughout this time and season of Easter.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles of the moment when the Apostles were arrested while they were performing their ministry, their work and preaching at the Temple of God in Jerusalem. It was done by the Temple officials and authorities who opposed the works of the Lord and His disciples, refusing to believe and listen to Him and His truth. Those were the same ones who persecuted the Lord and handed Him over to the Romans to be condemned to death and crucified. They also tried to spread misinformations regarding the Resurrection of the Lord by saying that His disciples had gone to steal His Body from the tomb, in the desperate effort trying to silence the truth of the Lord’s Resurrection. We also heard the Sadducees, those influential members of the Jewish community who did not believe in spiritual matters and resurrection of the dead, tried hard to go against the truth about the Lord’s Resurrection.

However with the guidance and strength given to them by the Lord through the Holy Spirit, the disciples of the Lord refused to be silent or to be intimidated to keep quiet about what they themselves had experienced and witnessed. They still went forth and proclaimed boldly to the people about the Risen Lord, not fearing the persecutions, hardships and oppressions that they had to endure in the midst of their ministry and missions, and they went forth courageously, revealing the truth of God to everyone, and even when they were imprisoned for their activities as we have heard from the Acts of the Apostles, they remained faithful and trusting in God, and God was with them, delivering them out of their troubles, miraculously bringing them out of the prison, and they continued to preach about the Lord yet again before the people.

Through what we have heard in our first reading today, we are all shown what it truly means for us to be faithful to God, to be committed to His cause and to embrace everything which He has entrusted to us, all the truth and all the revelations that He has passed to us through His Church. Like what the Apostles and the other disciples of the Lord had experienced, often it might mean that we may also have to face trials and difficulties amidst living our lives faithfully as Christians. We cannot be idle or ignorant of our calling as those whom God had called and chosen, and we should continue to stand up for our faith and to live our lives worthily as best as we are able to do so. We should continue to devote our time, effort and attention to follow the Lord and His will, as the disciples had done.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the continuation of the passage from the Gospel of St. John detailing for us the conversation between the Lord Jesus and one Nicodemus, a Pharisee who believed in the Lord Jesus, His teachings and the truth that He has brought into this world. Nicodemus came secretly at night to avoid being seen with the Lord as it would have created an uproar and trouble with the rest of the Pharisees, many of whom had rejected the Lord and refused to listen or believe in His teachings. But Nicodemus believed in Jesus and wanted to know more about what He had been teaching and revealing to the people of God, and hence, this was when the Lord revealed God’s great plan, sending His own Son to this world, in Jesus Himself, to save everyone.

Through those famous words, ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him may not be lost, but may have eternal life.’, the Lord wanted us all to know that God’s love for each and every one of us is so great and has always endured despite our rebelliousness and unwillingness to adhere to His path, as He continued to give us time and opportunities, again and again, so that we may find our path back towards Him, and be reconciled with Him. And then, as the Lord continued with, ‘God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world. Instead, through Him the world is to be saved.’, He wanted everyone to know that through the coming of His Son into our midst, the salvation of the whole world was nigh, and He would do it all through His ultimate and most loving sacrifice on the Cross.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we are all reminded through the passage from the Gospel about what the Lord had done for us through His Son, Our Risen Lord and Saviour, and from the earlier first reading taken from the Acts of the Apostles, we are therefore reminded and called that as Christians, as the Lord’s own disciples and followers, each and every one of us should do well to proclaim His truth, His love, His Resurrection and everything that God has done for us, for the sake of our salvation and liberation from the tyranny of sin and death. We are the ones who have been entrusted with these respective missions and vocations in life, proclaiming His Good News by our own lives, which should indeed be full of righteousness and virtues, as we do what the Lord had commanded us to do.

Let us all be not afraid to stand up for our faith in the Risen Lord, brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us all proclaim the truth of God faithfully at all times, by living our every way of lives with faith, in our every actions, words and deeds throughout all circumstances and in every places and occasions. May the Risen Lord continue to guide us and be with us always in our every struggles, commitments and efforts throughout each and every moments of our lives. Amen.