Share the Reasons for Hope

Homilty for the Sixth Sunday of Easter

As I believe I have mentioned before, although it appears as a letter in the Christian Scriptures, the First Letter of St. Peter is more probably a homily that was delivered by St. Peter at a baptism of people who were converting to Christianity. Any homily lives or dies on one thing: a successful homily must speak to the real needs, issues, problems or tensions that are present in people’s lives. 1 Peter 3:15–18 goes straight to a tangible tension — the call to be bold in faith while living in a world that doesn’t always welcome it.

The heart of today’s readings beats strongest in Peter’s words: “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.” That single line is a mission statement for Christian life. It assumes something crucial: that people actually notice your hope. It assumes that your life looks different enough that someone might ask why.

Peter isn’t talking about winning arguments. He’s talking about living a life that provokes questions — good questions – questions that make people wonder where your peace comes from, why you don’t return insult for insult, why you still choose joy when the world gives you every excuse not to.

Peter writes to Christians who were misunderstood, criticized, confused, and sometimes persecuted. St. Peter is addressing a community in Rome. We know with certainty that there was both a Jewish and a Christian community living in Rome during Peter’s lifetime. It is likely that the Christian community could see that persecutions were coming. There was a despot, Nero, on the emperor’s throne. The very first Gospel written, the Gospel of St. Mark, which was written for the Christians of Rome, mentions suffering more times than the other three Gospels together. They were confused because they thought, as most of the Christians of that time did, that Jesus was going to return to them shortly after his ascension. However, it had been more than thirty or forty years since his Ascension. The generation of the eye witnesses of Jesus’ life were dying as the years progressed. Why wasn’t Jesus coming back to ward off the coming persecutions?

Peter tells them: don’t be afraid, don’t be intimidated. Let Christ be sanctified in your hearts — meaning, let Him be the center, the anchor, and the reference point of their faith. This is not a call to loudness. It’s a call to clarity – not to aggression, but to gentleness and reverence, not to self-defense, but to Christ-defense — the kind that flows from a life shaped by Him.

The other readings for today echo this message. In Acts, Philip brings the Gospel to Samaria, and the city is filled with great joy. That’s what happens when hope takes root. The responsorial psalm calls all the earth to shout joyfully to God — a reminder that faith is not private, not hidden, not timid. And Peter continues by pointing to Christ Himself: the innocent one who suffered for the guilty, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God. Christ’s suffering wasn’t a defeat. It was a gift. Peter says that your suffering, your trials, your challenges — when united to Christ — can become a gift too, a witness, a doorway for others.

In the Gospel passage from the fourteenth chapter of St. John’s Gospel, we encounter another group of people who are confused – the apostles. Jesus has told them that in a little while, they will no longer see him. Jesus says the same thing to them that St. Peter told his community; don’t be afraid. Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Then he offers three promises that still stand true for us. First, we have the promise of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. An advocate is one who stands to defend, just as an attorney (another kind of advocate) speaks for the defendant in a court of law. Second, he tells the apostles that he will always be with them. This certainly is true for us as we know that the Eucharist is the presence of Jesus in our midst when we are gathered together by his love. Finally, he promises that we will also rise from the dead just as he did. These three promises are the reasons for our hope, but it is the final promise of life after death that brings hope to the forefront. The promise of the resurrection instills our lives with hope.

The world doesn’t need louder Christians; there are already plenty of people making a great deal of noise in the world today. The world needs hope-filled Christians, Christians whose lives point out that Jesus is the foundation of our faith, the reason for our hope, and the source of our charity – the three great evangelical virtues. Consequently, our task is to live in a way that others will question us about why we have such hope, why we find our peace in Christ. When they ask, St. Peter tells us: “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.”