Gospel-Homily for Third Sunday of Easter (2025)

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A Puff of Smoke.

There is one thing we have in common with every living creature: none of us knows what it is like to die. In the Old Testament in the book of Ecclesiastes, someone interviewed a rich, dead guy and asked him what it was like to die. He described the experience in one word. That is amazing that you can take such a personal, mysterious, and life-changing event and summarize it to one word. He said death was like “vapor.” Then he went on a long rant. He said, “What good is it to work your whole life building a house, a bank account, a career, working on skills, reading books, gaining knowledge, only for it all to go up in smoke.” Needless to say, the dead man was not very happy because death robbed him of everything he had.

So when Jesus rose from the dead, some expected Him to also go on a rant and be angry at the Jewish nation, which had Him condemned, and at the Roman Empire for executing Him, and at his disciples for abandoning Him. But he didn’t. The Gospels describe Jesus after His resurrection as a man on vacation. Early in the morning on the first day, Mary found him tweaking around the garden, that night He then went over for dinner with his disciples, went fishing with the crew and caught 153 very large fish (not including the ones already cooking on the grille), had breakfast on the beach with his best friends. Then he dishes out nice gifts, giving Peter a handsome promotion as the first Pope. Why is Jesus in such high spirits? His death was not a puff of smoke; death did not rob anything from him. It did not take away His Father.

I had the privilege of knowing a very successful businessman who made a lot of money. When he retired, he accepted the invitation to charitable dinners, galas, and fundraisers. Once there, he would hear their story, take out his checkbook, and give a large donation. One of his relatives complained, “If you keep giving at this rate, you will not have anything left.” He replied, “As an old wealthy man, I now have one goal in life: to die a poor man.” I get it, he did not want death to be “vapor.”

When Christ rose from the dead, some of us thought that Jesus would tell us what it was like to die. Instead, He taught us how to live.