Second Sunday of Easter – Pastor Ellen Mills

I am offering you two ways to receive this.  In print, you will need to read the scriptures for yourself, and then the prayer and reflection that follow in this post.  If you click on the audio link below (below), you can hear all of it, including the scriptures.

Second Sunday of Easter

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Let us pray,

Almighty and eternal God, the strength of those who believe and the hope of those who doubt, may we, who have not seen, have faith in you and receive the fullness of Christ’s blessing, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Acts 2:14a, 22-32

Psalm 16

1 Peter 1:3-9

John 20:19-31

     It is the Sunday after Easter, and we have the story of “doubting Thomas.”  I don’t know if you realize that every year on the Sunday after Easter, we have this story.  But despite its great familiarity, I felt a bit different when I read it this week.  Perhaps even a bit more sympathetic and curious.  I have long stood up for Thomas because he seemed to have had a reasonable request.  He just wanted the same opportunity the others had had. He hadn’t been there the first time Jesus had appeared, and so he had lost out.  And it is Thomas who is the one to declare, “My Lord and my God.”

     But my experience of this story during this week was a bit different than in prior years.  I have had experiences in my life when something major has shifted my life and what I thought would be my future.  But I don’t think I had experienced an event that was having that effect on so many people in so many places.  What does a novel coronavirus have in common with the resurrection of Jesus?  Something new and unexpected has happened.  We are slowly trying to figure out what it means, and will mean to us.  We are not the only ones affected.  It is hard to get information and truly understand something so new. And it is possible that much of what we thought was “normal” and going to continue is now up in the air.  We just don’t know.  And so, I felt some sympathy for these disciples, huddled behind their locked doors.  Their world seemed to have come to an end.  Despite Jesus having warned them several times that he would be put to death in Jerusalem, they were unprepared.  Since Jesus had been handed over by the religious authorities, and put to death by the Roman authorities, they certainly must have wondered what was in store for them.  They have huddled together and locked the doors. Jesus had tried to tell them that he would be “raised from the dead” but as with anything that has never before happened – how was this to be understood? 

     Mary Magdalene had come and told them that the risen Jesus had appeared to her and called her by name.  But I’m not sure they really heard her.  They huddled, frightened, frozen by not knowing what to do.  And in the midst of this, in the room with locked doors, Jesus appears among them.  And what he says is significant.  “Peace be with you.”  He doesn’t give them information, although I am sure they would have loved some.  He doesn’t tell them how to live life after the resurrection.  That they will have to find out as they live it.  He offers them peace, the shalom that means wholeness and well-being, not just the absence of strife.  He wishes them well.  He wants them whole.  Jesus appears, but does that mean that life will go “back to normal?”  Yes, he has appeared before them.  And he is no longer dead.  But what is he?  Risen?  Yes.  Resurrected? Yes.  With a body? Yes.  But the marks of the crucifixion are still there, visible in his resurrected body, reminding them of the reality of his crucifixion. And his body does not seem like ours; he has appeared in a locked room. 

     No, it does not appear that their life with Jesus will go back to “normal.”  Not only does Jesus reassure them, and welcome Thomas’ desire to touch him, he focuses them towards a new future.  They have had one kind of life, following him from place to place as he taught and healed.  Now it is their turn.  Jesus is sending them out, giving them the mission that God had given him.  He empowers them with the Holy Spirit, and tells them that to live in community forgiveness will be essential.  It sounds pretty rational, but I don’t hear any details.  It’s a bit like the parent bird kicking the young out of the nest.  Phase 1 is done.  Off you go.  Do as I did for you.  You are ready, even if you don’t think you are.  You’ll figure it out as you go.

     Just how easy is it to accept or even understand something that has suddenly rearranged your life?  And if it is something that has not happened or you have not experienced before, it will not be familiar.  But it can be lived into with hope and with courage.  No wonder Jesus offered them “peace.”  It is not explicitly stated in this passage, but it is implicit, and it is stated elsewhere: we do not go alone.  Jesus goes with us.   And Jesus has experience with a new future.  So, take heart.  Step out into the unknown of today and tomorrow, and carry out the mission of Jesus. And go in peace.  Amen.

The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord’s face shine upon you with grace and mercy.

The Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace.

Amen.