I’M  ALL SHOOK UP

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 2^nd Monday after Easter is, “I’m All Shook Up.”

GETTING THE BIBLE

I'd like to say a few words about understanding the Bible a bit more.  One of the steps in getting and grasping the Bible is when it shakes us up.

There might be a fresh insight in a section of the Bible that gets us to  scratch our head and say, “I don’t get it.”

It’s when the words we hear and the words we read seem confusing.

We find out that donkeys and snakes don’t talk – and the sun doesn’t stop moving – and we say, “Uh oh.” It’s then we say, “Well, if this ain’t true, then how do I know what’s true.”

TODAY’S READINGS

In today’s readings we hear about people all shook up.

In fact at the end of today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles – it says the place where they were, shook. Was that an actual earthquake or was that poetry or metaphor?

That’s what the Holy Spirit does. The word for Spirit in Hebrew is RUAH – meaning breath, air, wind.

The word of God should challenge us. Often it begins with confusion – and then when we get the word – when the wind intervenes – we shake in our being – then comes the challenge – and then the call – to be bold with the Word of God.

And then comes upset from others.

That’s what we’re hearing in these Post Easter texts.

In today’s gospel we hear about Nichodemus – who comes to Jesus in the night – because he’s scared – and he’s confused.

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

Many of the gospels after Easter are from the gospel of John – we have throughout the year – Matthew, Mark and Luke – and then comes the Evangelist of the different color: John.

His characters often have to get shook up – to begin to get Jesus.

Birth is birth – not rebirth. Water is water – not living water. Wind is wind – not the Holy Spirit.  Blindness is with our physical eyes – not spiritual blindness. Lame has to do with our feet and legs – not lame in the spirit. Light is light – not spiritual enlightenment. Bread is bread – not the living bread – Jesus. Wine – is his blood – big jarfulls of the blood of Jesus.

CONCLUSION

To begin to get Jesus – we have to get confused – shook up – first. Then we can move from the literal, the visible, to the imaginative, the spiritual, the invisible.

Perhaps that’s why Nicodemus is the model for people who pray in the night – who come to Jesus in the dark – who experience Jesus – the Light of the World.