They say that when an emu sees an enemy and cannot escape, it buries its head in the sand. I do not know if emus actually do this, but certainly, we humans sometimes do the same—faced with the reality of sin and the evil around us and within us, instead of seeking the Lord who alone can deliver us, we bury our heads in the sand and begin to say that evil and sin do not exist, or worse, we start living a life where we do not care whether evil exists or not, and thus we ignore its effects on us. It's no wonder the world has become what it is today.
In today's first reading, Peter is trying to open the eyes of the Jewish people, and ours, about sin: 'The God of our ancestors glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied in the presence of Pilate... You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you and killed the author of life.' Peter did not mince words, but opened the people's eyes to their sin; however, he continued; 'But God raised him from the dead, and of this, we are witnesses.' So Jesus triumphed over evil and sin. He continues to tell them how God, in his infinite wisdom, cannot allow evil to triumph, rather he is capable of writing straight on our crooked lines: 'thus God fulfilled what he had foretold through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer.'
But now for them and for us, sinners that we are, what is the solution? We believe in Jesus and repent of our sins: 'Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out.' The only solution to the negative reality of sin and evil is Jesus and true Faith in him who rose from the dead because only he can deliver us from our sin. The only way we can make this victory of Jesus our own is true and genuine repentance: repentance means that we admit that sin does more damage to us than any other bad thing, we admit that we are sinners, and above all we believe that only Jesus can and wants to deliver us from it and therefore we go to him, we seek him; 'if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.'
John in the second reading warns us: 'whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.' We cannot build our lives on Jesus if we do not know his Word. In this precious time of Easter, the Word of God shows us how we can also meet the risen Jesus today: yes today you and I can have the experience of the apostles who met him as we heard in the Gospel.
Jesus appears to the Apostles and shows them the marks of crucifixion, but these are no longer signs of suffering but of his victory over evil and sin, by the power of the love of God. He shows them that what happened was not some harsh fate but the plan of the Father for the salvation of the world. '"Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,'. Now it was their turn for the Mission: 'repentance for the forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.' The instrument by which God would use them were they: 'You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised.' As the best help the Lord will give them the Holy Spirit who will work in them and in the Church established by him until the end of time. Let us ask ourselves: do I sincerely admit that I am a sinner? How much do I believe that only Jesus can deliver me from my sin? Do I accept that my mission is to spread the good news of Jesus' resurrection in my world, or am I a Christian with tied hands?
We ask you, Lord, to open our minds and hearts to understand the scripture that all speaks about you, and in you, we find that power that can overcome the evil within us so that through us and in us, your victory over sin and death may continue. Amen.