A few weeks ago a friend of mine from St. Elizabeth's Parish celebrated his 90th birthday. His family invited me to the celebration, but they cautioned me to arrive on time because it was to be a surprise party. Sure enough when Lou entered the restaurant, and saw his family and friends, the look of surprise and delight on his face was priceless.
We love to surprise other people. Sometimes we do it simply by remembering a name or a birthday. For special occasions, such as Mothers Day, we do it by finding a unique gift that will take Mom by surprise. And, of course, there will always be surprise parties to mark milestone birthdays and anniversaries.
The liturgy for this Sixth Sunday in the Easter season is chock full of surprises. And that really should come as no surprise to us, because the day of Jesus' Resurrection and the days following it brought one surprise after another to the disciples: the empty tomb, the message of the angels, Jesus coming through locked doors, Jesus vanishing after breaking bread at the dinner table, Jesus roasting fish on the lakeshore at dawn. So what surprises are there left?
Well, the disciples who accompanied Simon Peter from Joppa to the house of the centurion Cornelius got the surprise of their lives. They must have thought that Peter was leading them on a fool's errand, going to the home of a Gentile, a member of the very army that crucified the Master. Then Peter not only entered the forbidden premises, but brushed off the gesture of homage that Cornelius offered with the words, "Get up. I myself am also a human being." But it was what happened next that blew the disciples' minds. "While Peter was still speaking these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the word." It was Pentecost all over again, but this time for the benefit of these Gentile nobodies. St. Luke says quite frankly, "The circumcised believers who accompanied Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit should have been poured out on the Gentiles, also."
The first surprise offered us on this Easter Sunday is that there are no nobodies in God's eyes. We are all worthy of his love, even of his special attention and his most precious gifts. Often when I or another priest approaches someone with the request to be a Special Minister of Holy Communion or to serve on the Parish Pastoral Council or to speak to the Youth Group or Confirmation Class, the response we get is, "Oh, you don't really want me. What would I have to say?" or "I am honored that you ask, but I am not worthy, not holy enough."
SURPRISE! You are not a nobody. You are important. God wants YOU. There are no outsiders, no nobodies here. "Oh, I am just a kid, what would God want with me?" SURPRISE! God has a special love for children. "Oh, I can't be holy. I am always distracted when I pray." SURPRISE! Some of the greatest saints, including St. Therese, the Little Flower, found themselves in the same predicament. But God made them extraordinarily holy.
But let's move on to some more surprises. Jesus, having surprised his disciples at the beginning of the Last Supper by washing their feet, having astounded them with the declaration that the bread they were sharing was his body and the wine his blood, had more surprises up his sleeve. "I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father." Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, a friend who shares everything he has heard from the Father as casually as friends chat with one another? Astounding but true.
SURPRISE #2: Jesus considers us his friends - not his slaves, not his students, not his children, but his friends. Yes, even though I am only a second grader, even though I am not perfect, even though I occasionally mess things up, even though I get distracted in my prayers and even skip my daily prayers now and then, even though I am old and crotchety, even though I am not popular, even though I am not rich or famous, even though.... SURPRISE! Jesus still wants you to be his friend. "I have chosen you, I have appointed you," Jesus tells the mind-blown apostles at table with him. And he says the same thing to you and to me.
Now we come to the biggest surprise of all.
SURPRISE #3: Religion is about joy. Yes, you heard me correctly. Or more precisely you heard Jesus correctly. "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete." Despite all the rumors, religion is not about rules, about commandments, about shall's and shall not's, about conformity, about guilt, about bowing to popes and kissing bishops' rings, about appearances, about any of that. In the end, religion is about joy.
SURPRISE! God wants you to be happy. Jesus wants to share his joy with you.
SURPRISE! Some of the happiest, most joyous people you will ever meet, some of the people that you would really want for friends, are genuinely religious people. That is to say, that have listened to what St. John has to say today about God's love for us. They have allowed themselves to be surprised over and over again by the way God shows them his care and affection. And they are filled with a deep-seated joy that radiates out from them.
We celebrate our joy in a ritual involving bread and wine that holds few surprises. But it unites us, mothers and fathers and children, First Communicants and newly-Confirmed, old and young together. And together we salute our Blessed Mother Mary as we crown her statue at the conclusion of this Mass.