Becoming a New Creation

“With great power the apostles bore witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great favor was accorded them all.”

Acts 4:33

Pope St. John Paul II proclaimed in the year 2000 that the Second Sunday of Easter would be known as “Divine Mercy Sunday,” highlighting the profound mercy with which God looks upon us and the deep love in which He holds us. This great mercy can be seen in the lives of the Apostles and their encounters with the Lord. Peter, the right hand man of Jesus, vowed to stay with Him, fled and denied of ever even knowing Him. Judas, one of the Twelve, betrayed Him for 30 pieces of silver. The other Apostles fled when the guards arrested Jesus. Only John remained with Mary at the foot of the Cross. Yet, despite all this, the Lord returns to them, not to scold but to say, “Peace be with you.”

Instead of finding new disciples who might prove to be more faithful, after His Resurrection, Jesus went right to the ones whom He called, the very ones who abandoned Him in His hour of need. Why? Jesus does not express regret in choosing those men. He knew them — their faults, weaknesses, and strengths — and yet He still called them. Jesus did not call them because they had a special skill set or were particularly holy, but because He knew He would work great things through them and other might come to faith through them. Before the Resurrection, the Apostles were scared and weak and did not fully have faith in Jesus, but after the Resurrection and upon the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, they bore witness to Jesus like never before, unafraid of chains or persecution. With great power, they bore witness.

When Jesus appeared to the Apostles in the upper room, they were scared an afraid of what the Jewish leaders may do to them. Knowing this, Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you.” And to further affirm them in their “chosenness,” Jesus breathed on them and invoked the Holy Spirit to come upon them, extending to them His mercy and commanding them to do the same towards others. This breathing ought to remind us of the very beginning when man was created. We are told God breathed into the nostrils of man the very breath of life, His very own life, and so “the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). Jesus breathed on the Apostles, making them a new creation in Him, in His death and Resurrection, and sent them in the same way the Father sent Him. The Apostles have been created as “another Christ,” whom Jesus have sent into the world to do as He has done. In our baptism we have been made a new creation, and have been given a similar mission: to bear witness to Christ and to be Christ to others.

This mission is not an easy one, but one that we do not carry out alone. Jesus says to us, “Peace be with you” and He breathes on us, putting our minds at ease, calming our anxious hearts, making us know of His presence so that we might have the strength to keep on going. Brothers and sisters, having been made a new creation, will we, like the Apostles, bear witness to Christ with great power in our daily lives? And like the Apostles, we need not be perfect or have super powers because as long as we remain open to God, He will equip us with all that we need — His peace, His mercy, His breath, His very own life. What else would we need?

Click below to watch this week’s reflection.