April 27 | Easter 2, Year C
Acts 5:27-32
Psalm 118:14-29 or Psalm 150
Revelation 1:4-8
John 20:19-31
The resurrection has occurred, and the disciples know that Jesus’ tomb was empty. Yet doubt and fear reign as they sequester themselves in a house behind locked doors. It is there and under the circumstances of their doubt and fear that Jesus appears to them. Jesus speaks peace, appears bodily, breathes out the Spirit, and articulates the mission for God’s people. Although the events of Pentecost resulted in individual and corporate empowerment for kingdom ministry, this episode in the disciples’ hiding place seems to be more of a general unleashing of God’s new order into this world. Jesus also identified this Holy Spirit as the Spirit of God by declaring that it is through the Spirit that they will be able to forgive sins—a role that belongs to God alone.
For most of us the revelation comes before the transformation. Through the Bible, the Church, and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we learn the truth about God. In our baptism the Holy Spirit is “breathed” upon us. Through the Spirit we are convicted of our sin and made aware of our need for repentance and the realignment of our life with God’s will. We come to know the Truth and to increasingly trust God. On the practical level, however, we still live in doubt and fear.
St. Thomas is often categorized as one of us—a doubter, as one who demands proof before he will believe. We can all identify with St. Thomas, since we live in a skeptical culture and find it hard to believe anything out of the ordinary or that we cannot prove empirically. We doubt the hidden motive behind even those actions we can see.
We, like St. Thomas, were not present with the rest of the disciples when Jesus first appeared bodily after the resurrection. Worse yet, we are at the far end of a two-millennium chain of conversations pertaining to the resurrection. As such, again like St. Thomas, we only hear of the experience secondhand. Jesus’ statement that “Because you have seen me, you have believed” could have been directed at all the disciples present in the room—but not to us. His message to us is contained in the second half of the remark: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” The experience of St. Thomas becomes an assurance to us that a tangible encounter with the body of the risen Christ does not convey a special status in the kingdom. Citizenship in the kingdom is predicated on faith and faith alone. The proof is in the believing.
The first thing Jesus said to both the disciples, and then later to St. Thomas, was “Peace be with you.” The ultimate peace is being reconciled to the truth. Jesus has provided us with the peace that will calm our fears and assuage our doubts. Through his peace, we are encouraged to embark on the mission, and through the experience of the mission, we grow in the knowledge of his peace. As the body of Christ, a community infused with the Holy Spirit, manifesting the peace that passes understanding, and pointing sinners toward forgiveness, our charge is to be nothing less than the presence of the risen Jesus Christ in the world.
Look It Up: John 20:13-16
Think About It: The risen Christ is present in the Eucharist, the church, and our neighbor. Can we see him?
The Rev. Dr. Chuck Alley, former rector of St. Matthew’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, teaches anatomy at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical School.
