Easter 2 (full size gallery)
Today’s readings call us to faith in the risen Christ. In Acts, Peter attests to the resurrection of Jesus Christ as an act of God, an act that forms the basis for Christian community. 1 Peter envisions faith in and love for Christ as a sign of our salvation. In the gospel, Jesus does not leave Thomas behind, but rewards his persistence with faith.
In the Easter season, following an ancient tradition, a reading from the Acts of the Apostles is used as the first reading.The book of the Acts recounts the early growth of the Church. One of the major features of Acts is Luke’s use of speeches by the principal figures, providing reflection on and analysis of events. Today’s reading is taken from the first of these discourses, in which Peter addresses the crowd on the Day of Pentecost.
Throughout the Easter season, the second reading is taken from 1 Peter, written to the Christians of Asia Minor who were facing persecution for their faith. The bulk of 1 Peter is not like a letter in form or style, but more like a sermon given at a baptism. Some have even suggested that it is the text for the Easter baptismal liturgy.
Today’s reading is a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s opening to believers a rebirth and new life through the resurrection of Jesus. This life is lived in the hope of an inheritance kept in heaven (v. 4). The Christian is guarded now even in trial, sustained by the faith of those who have not seen.
Peter says in his letter to the Christians in Asia Minor that through God’s resurrection of Jesus from the dead, God has given us new birth into a living hope, even when we are suffering for our faith.The life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and God’s peace, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, all work together to give us living hope in God, a hope in God’s eternal presence with us, that will at last be complete at the end of time. "
In the Gospel, the first appearance of the risen Lord to the disciples stresses Jesus’ fulfillment of the promises that he made in the long farewell address at the Last Supper in chapters 14-17.
Thomas will not accept the Easter proclamation on the word of others but wishes to experience the risen Christ directly. Yet he can still penetrate the meaning behind the marvel and make a full affirmation of Christian faith. He consummates the sequence of titles given to Jesus by giving him the ultimate title, God.
David Lose on Thomas for April 19 in the time of the Pandemic:
“I know that we tend to think of Thomas in terms of his doubting, but what if that doubt were part of a larger insistence on dealing with reality, on getting things back to normal, on moving forward now that the worst has happened? I mean, why isn’t Thomas in the upper room when Jesus makes his first appearance? Maybe it’s because, unlike the other disciples who are hiding behind locked doors, Thomas has already accepted what has happened, has moved on, and is now out and about rebuilding his life from the fractured pieces that were left to him after the horrific events of Good Friday. We know he prefers things that are clear and concrete; he’s the one who challenges Jesus’ lofty words about going on ahead of them, saying bluntly, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (Jn 14:5). And we know he has courage – he is, after all, the one who urges the disciples to go to Jerusalem with Jesus even if it spells their deaths (Jn. 11:16). Which is why I wonder if maybe Thomas had already moved on by that first Easter evening, or at least was attempting to, attempting to put things back in order and get back to normal.
“I think it’s also why it’s so hard for Thomas to accept the testimony of his friends: “We have seen the Lord.” Keep in mind that Thomas had seen his Lord recently also – on Friday – nailed to a cross in agony and isolation. The joyful confession of the other disciples probably seemed like oh-so-much wishful thinking to this hardboiled realist. Which is why, when he does see his Lord, I think his noticeable change in tune is less about simply coming to faith and more about realizing that, after the resurrection, reality itself had changed and there would be no normal to go back to.
“I mean, how do you even talk about “normal” when someone has been raised from the dead? What can possibly be the same? Your work, your sense of meaning, your relationships, your purpose, your view of past, present, and future – all of it is changed irrevocably by God’s act of resurrection in the garden. In fact, St. John’s choice of a burial garden for the initial Easter encounter testifies, I think, to John’s belief that there is more going on here than simply the resurrection of Jesus but that we are witnessing the re-creation of human existence itself.
“So when Thomas confesses “My Lord and my God,” he is abandoning all his conceptions of “normal” and opening himself to a very different reality than he could have previously imagined because creation isn’t static but is still happening. Similarly, when Jesus affirms but also stretches his testimony – “Do you believe because you’ve seen…” – and then blesses later believers – “blessed are those who believe and have not seen” – Jesus is simultaneously challenging and inviting and blessing all of us to recognize that, in light of the resurrection, the future is always open.
“Rather than focus on “how soon ‘till we can get back to normal?” – the question, I’ll confess, that is easy for me to get stuck on – perhaps the question should be “what will we be free to do, try, and be in this ‘new normal’?” What will we carry forward with us from the “interim” steps we took with regard to worshiping, connecting, teaching, serving and more? What part of our old patterns seem suddenly no just non-essential but perhaps not even that helpful in light of our reinvigorated sense of mission? Will we possibly care, for instance, nearly as much about “getting communion right” – per the incredibly unhelpful, liturgically absolutist, and culturally tone-deaf documents my denomination has been putting out – as we will be concerned about how communion fits into a much broader pattern of nurturing our people in faith so they, in turn, can tend our larger communities with both physical and spiritual needs? We will possibly be so preoccupied with style of worship over its substance? Will we turn outward and recognize the painful but essential levelling effect of the coronavirus to make us realize that we are all – as individuals, congregations, communities, countries, and humanity – inextricably bound to each other and dependent on one another? The future is still open. God is still at work creating, re-creating, and sustaining us to do things we could not have imagined previously.
“Thomas, I believe, died when he saw the Risen Lord. Died to his old beliefs, died to his sense of reality, died to his deepest convictions about himself and the world. Which is why I wonder whether his exclamation, “My Lord and my God” was as much an agonized and bewildered cry as it was joyful, let alone exultant confession. And our shift to the “new normal” that will likely not be normal for long may be similarly painful. But Jesus is there amid the necessary changes and faithful adaptations, calling us forward, blessing us to believe though we do not see, and promising to be with us and for us forever. So blessings on your attempts to lead, on what you are learning about congregational life and ministry, on the words you will share, and on your own journey not simply from disbelief to faith, but from one reality (back to normal) to a new one (there is no normal). The work you are doing and the words you will share this week are vital, faithful, and important. Thank you. Even more, thank God for you.”