Easter II

The Reverend Martha Frances

Year B, Second Sunday of Easter

19 April 2009

Texts:  John 20: 19-31 

Other readings:  Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 133; 1 John 1:1-2:2 

      Last week I was up after the 10:00 news & heard David Letterman say, "Now that Easter is over. . . ."  Immediately, I was struck by how countercultural we Christians who follow a liturgical calendar are.  Monday morning retailers were busy putting Easter dresses, baskets, plastic & chocolate eggs on sale for Easter was past.  We know that Easter has just begun & is the 2^nd longest season in the church year, even longer than Lent.  For 50 days, from last Sunday until Pentecost on May 31 is Easter  time, or the Easter season.  After all, Jesus' resurrection makes us Christian, & though we recognize Jesus as fully human, we also celebrate his breaking out of the bonds of human life & death because he is also divine.  This stupendous gift of God cannot be contained in one Sunday or one week but is celebrated for 7 weeks because Jesus' resurrection makes all the difference.  The alleluias we buried for the 6 weeks of Lent abound during Easter season, so we lift up our voices again & again to say "Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!"

      Today our Gospel reading takes us to Easter evening, "that day," the evangelist John tells us, "the first day of the week."  Let's join the disciples huddled in the upper room, wondering what on earth will happen to us now.  Several of us went to the tomb but found it empty.  Mary Magdalene says she encountered the gardener at Gethsemane, but when he called her by name, her eyes were opened to see Jesus standing beside her.  She returns to the other disciples exclaiming, "I have seen the Lord!"  What do we think about these happenings?  What to do about them?

      As we ponder, Jesus appears in our midst.  He says "Peace be with you," an interesting contrast to angels who begin their conversation with "Don't be afraid."  Jesus offers peace to us.  He offers his hands & his side to assure us he has actually been crucified & now comes to us in bodily form.  Yet, wait a minute; the door is locked!  How did he get in here?

      We'd thought all was back to normal.  Now Jesus proclaims that he's sending us out into the world equipped with the Holy Spirit.  Jesus breathes on us; we disciples are "inspired" by the power of the Holy Spirit.  We're reminded of the creation story at the beginning of time when God breathed the breath of life into humans, the Spirit which had hovered over the deep which was infused into creation by God's very own breath?  Jesus now inspires us with such breath, with the power of the new or second creation.  Someday, people will say this moment is Pentecost.

      Jesus is pretty specific about what gift the Spirit empowers us to share with others:  the gift of forgiveness.  We're to go out & offer the new covenant of reconciliation, as the collect for this Sunday states:  God, give us the power to show forth in our lives what we profess by our faith.  Jesus calls us to share the gift of forgiveness with others.  When we don't do that, what happens?  Jesus says it right here:  the sins which we retain—those we're unwilling to ask God's forgiveness for—will continue to haunt us.  Remember, he taught us to pray "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." 

      Some of us are plagued with unforgiveness this morning.  I would wager we've all lived with the sin of unforgiveness from time to time in our lives.  Right here, in Jesus' first appearance to his disciples, he tells us to ask & receive forgiveness.  Perhaps it's such transforming action Jesus has been preparing us for. What are the sins that you are holding onto, which you don't believe can ever be forgiven?  Who are we to hold on to sins for which Jesus so freely offers forgiveness? Why is this forgiveness of sins so important right from the get-go?  Jesus is sending us, his disciples, out to the world to live a resurrected life.  How can we be effective proclaimers of the Gospel if we're weighed down by the sin of unforgiveness? 

      We usually confess our sins to God before we come to the table for communion.  Today, I urge you to offer up those sins to God & take seriously the absolution I will pronounce in God's name so that you will be equipped to be sent out as an agent of reconciliation to the world in Christ's name.  Immediately after the confession & absolution, we offer communion, the body & blood of Christ, the sacred meal through which we are equipped to be Christ's disciples.

      What did the original disciples do after this incredible encounter with Jesus?  They discussed it among themselves enough that Thomas found out what he'd missed by not being in the upper room that Easter night.  The church has labeled good ole Thomas "the Doubter" because of today's gospel story.  Why is it Thomas's doubting we remember rather than his earlier courageous suggestion that they accompany Jesus to Jerusalem & to his almost certain death?  Thomas' negative reputation as slow to accept the risen Jesus until the evidence is overwhelming.  Where was Thomas that 1^st night that Jesus appeared?  It may be he was the only disciple courageous enough to face the risks of being Jesus' disciple while the others cowered behind locked doors.

      At any rate, a week later, Thomas is with the other disciples—what are they still doing holed up on the upper room anyway?—when Jesus appears again.  Does Jesus belittle Thomas' doubting?  No, Jesus provides Thomas with what he needs in order to believe: he offers Thomas his hands & side to examine.  Jesus meets Thomas' conditions.  And when Thomas gets it, he utters an affirmation as strong as Peter had at Caesarea Philippi:  "My Lord & my God!"  He recognizes this Jesus whom he had known in the flesh is none other than the God whom they worship.

      Thomas is a testimony to all of us whose coming to faith has been more gradual.  If even one of Jesus' first disciples felt he had to have proof of Jesus' resurrection, then should I feel any less a Christian because Jesus worked on me gradually?  Jesus even responds to my concern lo these many centuries later:  "Blessed are those who have not seen & yet have come to believe."  Jesus assures us that we don't have to have known him in the flesh in order to recognize him as our Lord and God.  Once again, Jesus provides us with what we need: disciples throughout the intervening centuries are likewise given what we need to express our faith in this Jesus as Christ & then to live our lives as Easter people, transformed and re-created.  Our translation recognizes our growing in faith as a process:  "Blessed are those who have not seen & yet have come to believe."  Coming to faith is a process. 

      I've heard it said that faith & doubt cannot reside together.  Thomas is the patron saint of those whose journey of faith is stimulated & carried forth on doubt.  Thomas was honest enough to admit that he needed proof.  For Thomas, doubt stimulated him to pursue answers.  So what if we, like Thomas, want proof?  What if faith does not come easily for us?  It seems that Jesus is assuring us that we'll receive what we need for faith if we're just willing to be open.  That doesn't mean that we're to be hypocrites.  It simply means that, as we live faithfully, we are given faith.  During this Easter season, may we be faithful in discovering what Jesus has for each of us to do to profess our faith by showing it forth in our lives.