Octave of Easter, Thursday, 4-4-24, Year B
Readings: 1st Reading: Acts 3:11-26; Psalm: 8:2ab,5-9; Gospel: Lk 24:35-48
Theme: Blessed Are Those Who Have Not Seen
“Show me the money!” is a famous saying from the 1996 movie “Jerry Maguire” starring Tom Cruise, Renee Zellweger, and Cuba Gooding Jr. In the movie,
Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) starts his own sports agency firm after being fired from a prestigious firm for having a conscience. Only one person, Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.) decided to stay with him as his client. Rod was not sure if Jerry could get him a better contract with his pro team and was constantly doubting his ability to do so. Finally, at one point, Rod says to Jerry in a loud voice, “Show Me The Money!”
Rod was not completely convinced of Jerry’s abilities as a sports agent to do what he said he would do for him in securing a new contract. Rod had to have proof that Jerry was who he said he was and that his abilities would finally pay off.
In many ways, the apostles and the people, after Jesus’s crucifixion, were unsure of Jesus’s words that He would be raised in three days, much like Rod Tidwell was of Jerry Maguire’s ability to come through for him with a new contract. Rod needed proof that Jerry would come through and that proof was in the money of a new contract. For the apostles and the people, they needed proof of Jesus’s resurrection by seeing Him alive afterward.
What the Jewish Christians of the apostle’s time did not understand was that Jesus continued to work His miracles after His resurrection through those who believed in Him, not by seeing but by faith.
For example, it appeared to the people that Peter and John had cured the crippled man at the gate when it was actually Jesus Himself, through the man’s faith, that healed him. Peter and John were just the conduit by which Jesus worked His healing. Peter showed them the money by explaining that if they have faith like the crippled man, they too could be healed of their sin by Jesus.
The apostles, hiding out in the upper room after Jesus’s death on the cross, were unsure of what was going to happen to them. It took Jesus’ coming to them and showing them His own flesh and blood, breath, and wounds to assure them. They needed that proof to bolster their faith in Him and to prepare themselves for the coming of the Holy Spirit and their mission.
Many of us today want to be shown the money and have proof that our salvation is actually secured for us by Christ’s death on the cross and His resurrection. We sometimes want to say, “God, Show Me The Money!” And, for some of us, we have been shown the money in many mystical encounters with our Lord. But, for the rest of us, we simply must have faith that Jesus will show us the money when He comes again in His glory, for He said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” (Jn 20:29)
For Rod Tidwell, Jerry finally did show him the money in an 11.2 million dollar contract that secured him for the rest of his life. But the true meaning of the movie was in Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellweger) who never lost faith in Jerry as her boyfriend and eventual husband through all the ups and downs their relationship brought. In the end, Jerry finally confesses his true love for Dorothy and says to her, “You complete me” to which she replies, “You had me at hello.”
May we be to Jesus as Dorothy was to Jerry in her unwavering faith in the one whom she loved.
Saint James Catholic Church 