Easter 2, April 23 2017
Acts 2:42-47; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31
Brookdale
Last week we celebrated Easter, the Resurrection of Christ from the dead. It’s a glorious celebration of hope, of the triumph of light over darkness and of life over death. Now this week’s readings invite us to think about what difference the Resurrection makes in our lives. The Resurrection isn’t just a cool thing that happened to Jesus a long time ago. It’s not just something we are supposed to believe so we can go to heaven. What does the Resurrection mean for us? How do we encounter the risen Christ? What actual effect does the resurrection have on our lives?
Today’s gospel passage includes two encounters in answer to those questions. Last week we heard how Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene when she was looking for Jesus. This week we meet the disciples, who are not looking for Jesus. They are hiding out in a locked room, because they are afraid. The Romans crucified Jesus as a troublemaker and the disciples are afraid that they will be crucified for being his followers. (“The Jews” refers to the Judean authorities who hated Jesus and would turn his disciples in to the Romans.)
So the disciples are hiding out because they are afraid. When Jesus appears in their midst, in spite of the locked door, he does three things. First, he wishes them peace. “Peace be with you” is a standard middle eastern greeting in both Hebrew and Arabic. But here Jesus is also telling them to feel peace, not fear. If God can raise Jesus from the dead, and God is on their side, who should they be afraid of? Proof of God’s saving power is standing right in front of them.
Second, Jesus breathes into the disciples his own spirit. God gave life to Adam by breathing his spirit into him, and Jesus gives his new risen life to his disciples. He will not always be bodily present, but his spirit will remain in them, and he sends them to continue his work. Their faces will be his face to the world, and their hands will be his hands.
Third, he tells them that they have the power to forgive sins. He has forgiven them for deserting him and now they must bring God’s forgiveness to all people and reconcile people with each other. Today is called Divine Mercy Sunday, in part because we are called on to be the merciful face of Christ to others, but also to celebrate God’s forgiveness toward us and our call to forgive others.
So Jesus shares three things with his disciples: He lives, so they do not need to be afraid. They have received his life and are called on to be Christ to others. And they are to forgive.
So that was Jesus and his disciples then. But what about us now? We weren’t there. The second story in today’s Gospel passage makes it clear that Jesus’ message to his disciples applies also to us. It is about a meeting between Jesus and the disciple we call doubting Thomas. Thomas is actually the voice of common sense. When Jesus decides to return to Judea after Lazarus dies, Thomas is pretty sure they will all be killed, and he says so. Then at the Last Supper, when Jesus says he is going ahead to prepare a place for them with his father, Thomas is the one who speaks up and admits he doesn’t know what Jesus is talking about. In today’s Gospel passage, when the disciples tell Thomas that Jesus is back from the dead, he is skeptical, because he didn’t see Jesus himself, and people don’t rise from the dead.
I like Thomas’s common-sense attitude, and I kind of think Jesus does too. But here’s the thing: there is no way we can all encounter Christ in the flesh. We missed his appearance to his disciples that Easter evening. To become disciples, we have to believe the people who have encountered the risen Jesus. Thomas catches a break; Jesus appears to him personally a week later. He has appeared to a few people since then, but most of us don’t get to see the risen Jesus. We encounter Christ only in the scriptures and in people who are filled with his spirit—people like Mary Lou Bailey-Smith. But the message to us is the same as the message to the disciples. Jesus lives. He gives us his peace and his spirit. We are called to be Christ in the world, and to reconcile the people we meet with God. Thomas accepted that message and went on to found a church in India. We are indeed blessed if, without having seen Jesus, we can believe that message and take it to heart.