Salvation by way of Friendship: Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Easter

3^rd Sunday of Easter, A                                                                                               April 23, 2023
Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette

Last week, we reflected on the role of love, especially in the form of offering and receiving forgiveness, in the establishment of a truly evangelistic Christian community. But there’s a problem with a generic call to “be a community.” How do you actually do it? My challenge to reflect on how much you actually value the faith and forgiveness of others in the community is a decent start. But, left at the level of vague reflection, it’s hard to go anywhere further. So this Sunday’s readings give us a slightly more tangible touchstone… if we’re looking for it.

Notice the numbers in these readings. Two disciples. The Eleven. Notice the pronouns: Us, we, they… even the word “you” is plural most of the time. Community is not a by-product of Jesus’ resurrection – as if a bunch of individuals decide to be close to each other because they agree that Jesus rose form the dead. Instead, community is the very context in which the resurrection is revealed.

It is the conversation between the two disciples that first sets the stage for Jesus to begin his revelation: “What are you discussing?” This exchange between friends has opened their hearts. Stepping into this conversation, Jesus is able to foster that desire and, ultimately, to satisfy it with his breaking open of the scriptures.

Then again, after Jesus reveals himself in the breaking of the bread, it is in turning to each other that they realize “were not our hurts burning within us?” Self-reflection is necessary and powerful, and some of us are better at introspection than others, but who hasn’t had the experience of saying something to friend and only realizing that you thought or felt a certain way as you explained it to someone else? How many of us have experienced something and immediately thought “I need to tell so-and-so?” I’ve heard people say that an event doesn’t seem real until they share it with another person.

Then consider what happens next. They just walked seven miles, arriving at Emmaus when it was nearly evening. They invite Jesus in and is he revealed to them. After supper, when it was already getting dark, then they decide to walk the seven miles back to Jerusalem. Would you make that trip alone? Maybe. But would having a good friend to walk it with you make you more likely to go? Almost certainly.

Then consider what they find when they arrive. The eleven – men who’ve spent three years almost constantly together – are “gathered together.” They too have exciting news that the Lord has appeared to Simon. Interestingly, it doesn’t say “Simon told them he saw Jesus.” It is all of the Eleven who speak for Simon, which is a funny thing to say because that number 11 already includes Simon in it. Simon’s experience is treated like it already belongs to the whole group.

We see this intimacy at work in the Acts of the Apostles, which takes place about 6 weeks after this moment in the Gospel. Simon “Peter stood up with the Eleven” to proclaim the Gospel to all of Jerusalem. When he speaks of being a witness to the resurrection, he does not refer only to his experience, but says “we are all witnesses.” The bond between him and the others is an essential part of his credibility. Even the way he addresses the crowd uses the plural and affectionate term “my brothers.” This is not merely an argument of facts, but an expression of relationship rooted in a shared truth. Peter’s letter in the second reading continues that: “Your faith and hope are in God… if you invoke as Father…” both use the plural form of the word “you.” If we are invoking the same father, does that not mean we are brothers?

But again, we’re veering back into this kind of general exhortation to be a community. So it is the challenge this week to see more closely that that community is made up of particular relationships… of interconnecting circles of specific friendships. The work of moving from merely being in the same Church building to becoming an authentic, evangelistic community – and again, I cannot stress enough that our eternal salvation requires us to be evangelizers – the journey from associated individuals to loving community goes by way of friendship.

What, then, is friendship? Alice von Hildebrand once called friendship the “remnant of paradise” in a beautiful essay on the topic. Indeed, Jesus himself made friendship the very condition of our salvation, telling us that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. What many miss is the challenge implicit in that: if we are not friends of Jesus, then we do not benefit from him laying down his life. True friendship is not only a remnant and foretaste of heaven, it is a requirement for our salvation to be friends of Jesus. And he tells us on Holy Thursday just how to be his friend: to do what he commands. What command is that? Love one another.

This, then, is the path to salvation: love that generates friendships, friendships that form authentic community, community that bears witness to the Gospel. What does that mean for you and for me? Be a friend. Not just a neighbor, not just a business partner, not just a sharer of pews, but a friend, a friend like Cleopas and the other disciples, like Peter and the Eleven. A friend who doesn’t just share your hobby of fishing and hunting who likes the same shows on Netflix. These things may well be a seed of friendship, but what makes a friend is ultimately the choice to invest in what is good for one another – to spend the time in person, offer the help, and pay the attention required for mere niceness to become actual love, willing the good of the other. And there is nothing better a friend can do than to get their friend to heaven.

The road to Emmaus has many obvious lessons: study scripture, go to Mass, tell other people about Jesus. But don’t forget this one: you must walk the road of discipleship, of salvation with someone else. Last week I asked you if this community mattered to you. This week I ask you, do you have friends in this community? People you pray with, discuss faith with, share burdens with? Would you like to?

Then, show up and be a friend. Yes, it’s awkward. Yes, we’re all busy. Yes, there is almost always something more fun to do than whatever we can offer here. But when your faith is at the bottom, will Netflix have a listening ear for you? When the culture tries to convince your kids and grandkids that it’s okay to reject God and mutilate their own bodies, who will fight for them with you? Your boss? Your kid’s coaches? Your hunting buddies? Will they still love you when you can no longer work, no longer play, no longer hunt? Because a real friend, a fellow disciple will. Even better, they’ll fight for your salvation knowing that, just as they now share in your cross, they will one day share in your victory – and what could be better than that?