Pentecost – Year C (May 19th)

Pentecost – Year C (May 19th)
Readings: Acts 2:1-11
Psalm 104: 1, 24, 29-31, 34
Romans 8:8-17
John 14:15-16, 23-26
Next Sunday is the great feast of Pentecost, which ends our Easter celebrations, with the gift of the Holy Spirit. What does this powerful but impalpable force do for us?

Well, in the first reading, which is always read on this day, we hear of the Spirit’s effect on the disciples, who had not very long before been quivering with fear. Now they hear a sound (“as of the coming of a forceful wind”) and see “tongues of fire”, which send them round the world of Greece and Rome, spreading the message about Jesus, for the remainder of Acts of the Apostles (and, indeed, down to the present day). And there is a little vignette of this in what they now do: uttering “in different languages, as the Spirit gave them to speak”. And the Jews assembled in Jerusalem for the feast testify to the extraordinary nature of what is taking place, particularly the range of people whom the message reaches. Find a map of the ancient world, and trace out the “Parthians, Medes and Elamites…”, and see how the list of nations covers everything that was then known. In other words, the whole human race is getting the message; and what is the message? It is, simply, “the great things of God”. And that, for all of us who will be praying next Sunday for the Spirit to come upon us, is our task from Pentecost onwards.

The psalm also speaks of the “Spirit” or “Breath” of God. It is a lovely song, celebrating God’s creative greatness manifested in his creatures, so that “when you take away their breath, they perish, and they return to their dust”. But on the other hand, when “you send out your breath, they are created, and you renew the face of the soil”. And the psalmist prays, “May the glory of the Lord be for ever, may the Lord rejoice in his creatures”. It is a wonderful vision of the God who is unfailingly at work in his creation, through the Spirit for whose coming we pray.

In the second reading, Paul is meditating, poetically rather than with intellectual rigidity, on what God has done for us in Christ. He does this by way of the contrast between “flesh” (humanity as closed to God) and “Spirit” (humanity when open to God). “Those in the ‘flesh’”, he argues, “cannot please God”. But, he tells the Romans, “the Spirit of God is living in you”. And the effect of the Spirit, quite simply is life: it is “the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead…he will give life also to your mortal bodies, through the Spirit who lives in you”. So it is all about Resurrection; and that means that we are not to live “according to the flesh”. Life is a matter of being “children of God”, having “the Spirit of sonship by which we cry ‘Abba, Father’”. That, of course, echoes Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemani; and having the Spirit does not mean that we do not suffer: “the Spirit testifies along with our spirit that we are God’s children. And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God, and heirs along with Christ, provided that we suffer along with him, that we may be glorified along with him”. The gift of the Spirit brings us very close indeed to the mystery of God.

In the gospel for next Sunday. Jesus talking to his baffled disciples for one last time, on the night before his death, there is the same sense of intimacy; “if you love me”, he says, “you will keep my commandments”. And to make it easier, we are to be given a “Paraclete”. And what will this being do? The Paraclete is to “be with you for ever… [and] teach you everything, and remind you of everything I have told you”. And the heart of the message is the love that we have for Jesus and that the Father has for us; and, best of all, that Jesus and the Father “will come and make a permanent presence with us”. This Spirit whose coming we celebrate on Sunday is a wonderful gift of intimacy with the divine.

7th Sunday – Year C (May 12th)

7th Sunday – Year C (May 12th)
Readings: Acts 7:55-60
Psalm 97: 1-2, 6-7, 9
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20
John 17:20-26
We are rushing towards the end of the Easter season now; Pentecost is just a week away, and already the readings look forward to what life is going to be like once we lapse back into “Ordinary Time”.

The first reading contains the stark warning that following Jesus out of Easter and into ordinary time is liable to mean death, as we read of what happened to Stephen. However, it is also the case that death is not the end of the story: for Luke shares with us that Stephen saw “the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God”. This means that all is going to be well, even if Stephen’s utterance brings about his death. And there is a further point, for we also learn about one of the accomplices in the killing of Stephen, “a young man called Saul”. As Stephen dies, crying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” and “do not set this sin against them”, we already know that something else is going on, for young Saul is going to turn into Paul, one of the most daring and energetic preachers about Jesus in the whole of the first century.

How can that be? Well, according to the psalm for next Sunday, God is in charge. “The Lord is King”, it sings, “let the earth rejoice”; and in case we thought that we might be living in an unjust world in this ordinary time, it adds, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne, the heavens proclaim his justice”. And we are offered a reminder that God is the God of everybody, not just of us, “All the peoples shall see his glory”; and, very strikingly, “all the gods shall bow down before him…you are greatly exalted over all the gods”!

The second reading is the end of the Book of Revelation, which we have been following since Easter this year. It carries a reminder that the Lord is to come again, and so we must spend our ordinary time waiting for him, and remembering that, as he says, “My reward is with me, to give each one what their deeds deserve”. Much more important, however, is the absolute centrality of Jesus, “I am the Alpha and the Omega (we might say “the A and the Z”), the Beginning and the End”. Then more words to us who struggle with ordinary life, “Congratulations to those who have washed their robes”; and this, we have learnt earlier, has nothing to do with being diligent about doing the laundry; it means sharing in the death of the Lamb. Then Jesus talks directly to each of us, “I have sent my messenger to give you testimony of these things…I am the root and stock of David, the bright Morning Star”. Then we hear the invitation uttered to him in our name, “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come’” and we join in, “The one who hears, let them say ‘Come’”; and Jesus’ response to those struggling with living their discipleship is “Yes – I am coming soon”, met with the reply on behalf of each of us, “Amen: come, Lord Jesus”.

In the gospel reading for next Sunday, we are invited to eavesdrop on the last words of the prayer offered on our behalf by Jesus at the Last Supper to the Father. It goes beyond those frightened disciples, huddled together against the gathering darkness, and comes to us, “I am not asking for these ones alone, but also for those who come to faith in me through what they say”. And the prayer is that disciples will be united, “One, just as you are in me, Father, and I am in you, that they may be one in us, that the world may believe”. And the name of the way we must live our Ordinary Time is love. Count the number of times that it appears in this reading. And then try to live it out this week.

6th Sunday of Easter – Year C (May 5th)

6th Sunday of Easter – Year C (May 5th)
Readings: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
Psalm 67: 2-3, 5-6, 8
Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23
John 14:23-29
How are we to solve our problems? We have been long enough now in the Easter season (and, for that matter, it is long enough since the message of Resurrection was first preached to the world) to know that our faith in God’s power over death does not mean that there are no longer any problems to keep us awake at nights.

In the first reading, we encounter first Christians dealing with a problem that could have torn the church apart in that first century, namely whether, in order to be a follower of Jesus, a male Christian had to be circumcised, as Jesus was, and as (presumably) all his first disciples were. That is perhaps not a major issue for us today, and you might like to contemplate what the major issues are that face the Church today, those on which it might still be ship-wrecked, and how we are to respond at this crucial time. First, of all, clearly, we must not be afraid to have a debate; that first generation of Christians clearly had lively debates, and through them came to discover what the Spirit was saying to them. Saul and Barnabas had been spectacularly successful, but they had taken a line that many in the church regarded as dangerously radical. The solution reached is an interesting one: the church in Jerusalem sends a letter and emissaries, indicating, first that Saul and Barnabas really are Christian (“they have handed over their lives for the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ”), that non-Jewish Christians do not have to be circumcised, but must observe certain minimal food restrictions. Interestingly, the matter does not end there: Paul’s churches clearly did not observe those restrictions, and some would argue that this is an interesting example of the Church failing to realise how radical the gospel is!

The psalm carries a reminder of what we have to do whenever there is a problem, namely go back to God’s gracious generosity: “may [God’s] face shine upon us”, so that “among all the nations [or Gentiles] your salvation may be known”. Notice the number of times the psalm mentions “nations” or “peoples” or “earth”, emphasising that God is the God of every body and every thing, not the private property of this or that religious group. “May God bless us, and may all the ends of the earth revere him”, is a song that we might make our own this week.

The second reading continues the wonderful vision of the City of God, which lives on “a high mountain”, but “comes down out of heaven, from God, having the glory of God”. Then we hear a description of this city, and it sounds very substantial, with twelve gates, three on each side. Interestingly (and how radical is this?) there is no Temple, “for the Lord God Almighty is its Temple – and the Lamb”; and for the same reason it has no need of sun or moon to illuminate it. That is the vision that should enable us to face all the problems that beset the Church.

The gospel, uttered at Jesus’ Last Supper to those who are about to lose him, offers a related solution to all the Church’s problems. The answer is to maintain the relationship with Jesus (“if anyone loves me, they will keep my word”), and with the Father (“my Father will love them, and we shall come to them, and make our dwelling by them”). And the heart of that relationship is the being whom we call “the Paraclete”, sent by the Father in Jesus’ name, who will “teach you everything, and remind you of everything that I have said to you”. Finally, Jesus comforts us “I am leaving you peace…don’t let your hearts be disturbed or fearful”. That is how we are to cope with all the problems of the Church, with faith in the Spirit of the Risen Lord, whose coming we shall celebrate in a couple of weeks.

5th Sunday of Easter – Year C (April 28th)

5th Sunday of Easter – Year C (April 28th)
Readings: Acts 14:21b-27
Psalm 145:8-13b
Revelation 21:1-5a
John 13:31-35
Easter means that things look completely different. Easter does not mean that a magic wand is waved over our pains, so that they no longer hurt. Look at the readings for next Sunday. In the first reading, Paul is still feeling his way; but already the note is struck of the restless travelling that was to mark the remainder of his life after his dramatic encounter with Jesus; he is travelling now around the hinterland of Asia Minor, exhorting disciples, and stressing to them that “it is through many tribulations that we have to enter the Kingdom of Heaven”. Since Paul and Barnabas are travelling, and cannot remain with the churches they have founded, they “appoint elders in each church, praying and fasting and offering them to the Lord in whom they have placed their trust”. The work is going to be difficult and dangerous; but the tone is upbeat, as they “gather the church and told them what great things the Lord had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles”. That is what Easter means.

The psalm for next Sunday, of course, knows nothing of Easter, but everything about God’s goodness: “the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and long on steadfast love”. The poet envisages a symphony of praise to God from all creation, “all your works praise you, O Lord and your loved ones bless you”. The central insight is the kingship of God, which in the second half of our brief excerpt is mentioned no less than seven times in various ways (count them).

The second reading, on the face of it, is altogether more cheerful, the lovely vision of “a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth have gone away, and the sea is no more”. In addition, there is the glorious vision of “the holy city, new Jerusalem…made ready, like a bride adorned for her husband”. Then the author offers a very daring notion, signalled by the cry of “Look!”. It is the idea of “God’s tent with human beings; and God shall pitch his tent with them, and they shall be his peoples”. When we are most afflicted, we shall do well to remember this lovely idea, and the beautiful maternal gesture that “he shall wipe every tear away from their eye – and Death shall be no more”. We rejoice in the image, but note solemnly that it means that, despite Christ’s Easter, Death still dominates our existence. But it will not rule for ever, for “The One Sitting on the Throne said, ‘Look! I shall make everything new’.” That is what gives us the courage to go on.

Now look at the gospel reading. It is not an Easter story; it is taken from the discourse that John’s gospel places on Jesus’ lips at the Last Supper. Immediately before the reading starts, Judas has gone out to perform his work of betrayal, and the evangelist tersely comments “And it was night”. Amazingly, though, this is not the excuse for Jesus to repine at his lot. Listen to what he says: “Now the Son of Man is glorified – and God is glorified in him”. So human treachery and sinfulness does not mean that God’s project is broken. For one thing, Jesus is still with his disciples, “My children, I am with you for a little while”. For another thing, we are given a new way of living. “I am giving you a new commandment, to love each other. As I have loved you, so you are to love each other”. And when do you know that people really love? When it hurts: and discipleship will hurt; there will be pain, but because Easter has happened, the pain is not the end of the story. “This is how people will know that you are my disciples – if you have love among yourselves”. That is the answer to all our difficulties, this week.

4th Sunday of Easter – Year C (April 21st)

4th Sunday of Easter – Year C (April 21st)
Readings: Acts 13:14, 43-52,
Psalm 100:2-3, 5
Revelation 7:9, 14b-17
John 10:27-30
It may be the Easter season, and Resurrection may be in the air, but that does not mean that it is going to be easy to follow Jesus. For, make no mistake about it, there is going to be trouble. In the first reading, we see Paul, newly turned to preaching about Jesus with just the same enthusiasm that he had previously applied to assailing those pesky disciples of Jesus. He gives two sermons in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch. The first one (omitted in our reading) is quite a success, for “they were persuading them to remain in God’s grace”; but by the following week, Paul’s enemies have arranged a hostile reception for him, although “the whole city” was so excited that they had turned up to “hear God’s word”. The reaction of Paul’s opponents has an unexpected effect, however: “The Gentiles were delighted, and glorified God’s word…and the word of the Lord spread through the whole region”. Paul and Barnabas are expelled from the city in disgrace, but “the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit”.

The psalm for next Sunday shares some of this joy, and perhaps serves to explain why Jews and Christians can follow the Lord whatever happens: “Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth, serve the Lord with gladness, go into his presence with rejoicing”. It asserts that God is in charge, and “we are his people, the flock that he shepherds”. You can always rely on God, however difficult things may appear to be.

The same notion is present in the second reading. We see a great and multi-national (you might say “catholic”) crowd, “whom no one was able to count”. They are gathered “before the Throne, and before the Lamb” (in the presence, that is to say, of God and of Jesus). And their attire is making a statement: “white stoles, and palm-branches in their hands”. The statement is translated, when the angelic messenger tells us who they are: “Those who have emerged from the great tribulation and have washed their stoles and whitened them in the blood of the Lamb”. Make no mistake here: we are talking of death, and the brutal martyrdom that Rome (and all evil powers since then) visited on those whom they oppressed. So it is not easy, but there will be victory, and those who make it through to the end will “worship God day and night in his Temple; and the One Sitting on the Throne will pitch his tent over them”. God will not abandon his disciples, no matter how tough things may get. Why is this? “For the Lamb will shepherd them, and guide them by streams of living waters, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes”.

So our confidence in being able to face the rigours of discipleship comes from the fact that we see God as “shepherd”. This theme is already deep in the Old Testament: it is there in Sunday’s psalm, and the beautiful 23rd psalm to which the last line of the second reading alludes. And it is there in the gospel for next Sunday, a continuation of Jesus’ teaching about himself as the “good Shepherd”. He says of his relationship to his suffering and doubtless puzzled disciples that “my sheep hear my voice; and I know them, and they follow me” (and we recall that “follow” is one of the great New Testament images for discipleship). Not only that, however; the Shepherd has something in store for us: “I am giving them eternal life; and they shall not be destroyed for ever; and no one is going to plunder them out of my power”. How can Jesus say this? Because the God whom he calls “Father” is in charge: “What my Father has given me is greater than everything; and no one has the ability to plunder out of the Father’s hand”. This is followed by an astonishing statement of identity between God and Jesus, the Throne and the Shepherd (who is also, of course, the Slaughtered Lamb): “I and the Father are One”. We shall do well to ponder this sentence in the coming week.

3rd Sunday of Easter – Year C (April 14th)

3rd Sunday of Easter – Year C (April 14th)
Readings: Acts 5:27-32, 40-41
Psalm 30: 2, 4-6, 11-13
Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-19
We are well into Easter now, and it may even have lost something of its freshness; so what we have to do now is to recall the confidence that God’s Resurrection power can engender in us, regardless of what life may throw at us. That confidence is visible in the first reading for next Sunday. Not very long ago, Peter was cravenly denying to the High Priest’s slave-girl that he had ever heard of Jesus. Now he is facing down the High Priest himself; and when the eminent prelate reminds him that he has been given explicit instructions “not to teach in this name” (the name of Jesus, that is), and that so far from obeying this instruction from lawful religious authority, they have “filled Jerusalem with the teaching, and want to bring Jesus’ blood” on the religious authorities. Peter is not remotely fazed by this assault, and says, “We must obey God, rather than human beings” and insists on the reality of the Resurrection, which is, of course, the real reason for their confidence. Not only that; he repeats the accusation that “you people murdered him, hanging him on a tree”, and asserts that Jesus is “Pioneer and Saviour”, and that God is in charge here, so that “we are witnesses of these events, we and the Holy Spirit which God has given to those who obey him”.

The psalm for next Sunday shows the same unshakeable confidence in God. It is the song of someone who has clearly been very close to death, “You brought me up from Sheol”, so it is an entirely appropriate song for the Easter season; and indeed, the poet invites his hearers to sing, “Sing a song to the Lord, his beloved, give praise to God’s holy name”, and concludes, triumphantly, “Lord, my God, I shall praise you for ever”.

The second reading, all the way through the Sundays of Easter this year, is from Revelation. At this stage, our seer is witness to the liturgy that is going on in heaven. The function of this liturgy (like that of all good liturgy) is to give the persecuted the confidence to continue living the life to which they are called. It is a wonderful vision, for God’s allies are there in numbers, “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands upon thousands”, which comes to rather a lot. And they are singing a massive chorus to the Slain Lamb, who is to receive “power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing”. And these heavenly beings are joined by “every created thing” in the entire universe, who sing to God and to the Lamb, while the “four living creatures sang ‘Amen’, and the elders fell down in worship”. This picture should keep us going all through Monday.

The gospel may ring some bells with those of us who don’t always find it easy to believe in the Resurrection. Peter takes some seven of the disciples fishing, returning to their old ways, just as though Easter had never happened. Naturally, nothing works until Jesus appears on the shore, in the early dawn, and (once more) tells them how to catch fish. Then things happen thick and fast: the fish come in such numbers that the nets can hardly be drawn in; the beloved disciple is the first to recognise Jesus (“It is the Lord!”, he shouts excitedly). Then Peter behaves with characteristic impetuosity, leaping into the water (putting his clothes on for the purpose), even though they were quite near the shore. Then they have breakfast, courtesy of Jesus. After that Jesus and Peter have a conversation, possibly a slightly uncomfortable one on Peter’s part, since the three-fold question, “Do you love me?” serves as a reminder of his three-fold cowardice and infidelity. Then Simon is given a job to do, “Feed my lambs”, and a prediction of the death that he will die “You will stretch out your hands and someone else will tie you up, and take you where you don’t want to go”. Then come the fateful last words of the reading, addressed not just to Simon Peter, but to all of us down the ages who wish to serve the Lord, the invitation to discipleship: “Follow me”. And what, this week, will be your response? Has Easter given you the confidence to accept the invitation?

2nd Sunday of Easter – Year C (April 7th)

2nd Sunday of Easter – Year C (April 7th)
Readings: Acts 5:12-16
Psalm 118:2-4, 22-27a
Revelation 1:9-13, 17-19
John 19-31
We are into the Easter season now, and it is important for us to examine how we are to respond to the Resurrection, the mystery that lies at the heart of our faith. In the readings for next Sunday, we find a variety of possible responses.

In the first reading, from Acts, which we shall follow on Sundays throughout the Easter season, we have one of the “summaries” in which Luke specialises, painting a picture with a broad brush: this is how it was in the early Church. So we read that God, through the apostles, brought about “many signs and portents among the people”, that outsiders were scared to join them, but that “the people held them in high esteem”, and at the same time “believers in the Lord grew in number, crowds of men and women”, and healings and exorcisms went on apace.

The psalm may serve as a reminder that Resurrection also implies crucifixion; for it is the hymn they sang when Jesus made his fateful entry into Jerusalem, on the back of a donkey. The first few verses have the refrain “for [God]’s love is forever”, but then we leap ahead, to the line “the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”, and we cannot help reading this as a reference to what happened to Jesus. God is in charge, however, and so we sing, “this is the day that the Lord made – let us rejoice in it and be glad”. But we also sing “Hosanna” (“Save us, please!”), meaning that we realise that our joy cannot be naïve, before reverting to the joyous acclamation of Christ’s coming, “Blessed is the one who comes in the Lord’s name…the Lord is God; he has given us light”.

In the second reading, we start the reading from the Book of Revelation that will accompany our journey through the Easter season. We meet “John” the visionary who dictates this remarkable text. Like the psalmist, he is well acquainted with trouble, for he describes himself to his hearers as “your brother and partner in suffering and in kingdom, and in enduring in Jesus”. He is an exile, we learn, on the island of Patmos, and he is reporting the vision he had on “the Lord’s day”, presumably Sunday. The vision is hard to pin down: it is “like the sound of a trumpet”, and “seven golden lampstands”, within which he beholds “one like a Son of Man”, at which he prostrates himself, but is told “Do not be afraid – I am the First and the Last, and the Living One, and I was a corpse, and look! I am living for ever, and I hold the keys of Death and of Hell”. Notice how death is a part of Resurrection, even in this vision, which John is then instructed to write down.

The gospel reading is always the same on the second Sunday of Easter, and like the other readings for the day, it recognises that things are not as simple as we might wish. The story is told in two parts. In the first part, Jesus appears, through locked doors, to the disciples, wishes them “Peace”, and proves his identity by showing them “his hands and his side”, at which “the disciples rejoiced, having seen the Lord”. The “Peace” greeting is repeated, followed by a sending, and a “breathing on” them, which is described as “receive the Holy Spirit”, along with an instruction about forgiving and holding onto sins. In the second Part, we discover that Thomas, who is more of a character in this fourth gospel than in the others, was not present for Part I, so the other disciples gloat, and Thomas is driven to a brutally crude demand for evidence “unless I see in his hand the mark of the nails, and thrust my finger into the mark of the mails and thrust my hand into his side, no way am I going to believe”. Eight days later, he gets his wish; we are not told whether he actually inserts his hand or finger. Instead, he goes way beyond the evidence and breathlessly proclaims (and it is the climax of John’s Gospel), “My Lord and my God”. What is your reaction to the Resurrection, this week?

2nd Sunday of Easter – Year C (April 7th)

2nd Sunday of Easter – Year C (April 7th)
Readings: Acts 5:12-16
Psalm 118:2-4, 22-27a
Revelation 1:9-13, 17-19
John 19-31
We are into the Easter season now, and it is important for us to examine how we are to respond to the Resurrection, the mystery that lies at the heart of our faith. In the readings for next Sunday, we find a variety of possible responses.

In the first reading, from Acts, which we shall follow on Sundays throughout the Easter season, we have one of the “summaries” in which Luke specialises, painting a picture with a broad brush: this is how it was in the early Church. So we read that God, through the apostles, brought about “many signs and portents among the people”, that outsiders were scared to join them, but that “the people held them in high esteem”, and at the same time “believers in the Lord grew in number, crowds of men and women”, and healings and exorcisms went on apace.

The psalm may serve as a reminder that Resurrection also implies crucifixion; for it is the hymn they sang when Jesus made his fateful entry into Jerusalem, on the back of a donkey. The first few verses have the refrain “for [God]‘s love is forever”, but then we leap ahead, to the line “the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”, and we cannot help reading this as a reference to what happened to Jesus. God is in charge, however, and so we sing, “this is the day that the Lord made – let us rejoice in it and be glad”. But we also sing “Hosanna” (“Save us, please!”), meaning that we realise that our joy cannot be naïve, before reverting to the joyous acclamation of Christ’s coming, “Blessed is the one who comes in the Lord’s name…the Lord is God; he has given us light”.

In the second reading, we start the reading from the Book of Revelation that will accompany our journey through the Easter season. We meet “John” the visionary who dictates this remarkable text. Like the psalmist, he is well acquainted with trouble, for he describes himself to his hearers as “your brother and partner in suffering and in kingdom, and in enduring in Jesus”. He is an exile, we learn, on the island of Patmos, and he is reporting the vision he had on “the Lord’s day”, presumably Sunday. The vision is hard to pin down: it is “like the sound of a trumpet”, and “seven golden lampstands”, within which he beholds “one like a Son of Man”, at which he prostrates himself, but is told “Do not be afraid – I am the First and the Last, and the Living One, and I was a corpse, and look! I am living for ever, and I hold the keys of Death and of Hell”. Notice how death is a part of Resurrection, even in this vision, which John is then instructed to write down.

The gospel reading is always the same on the second Sunday of Easter, and like the other readings for the day, it recognises that things are not as simple as we might wish. The story is told in two parts. In the first part, Jesus appears, through locked doors, to the disciples, wishes them “Peace”, and proves his identity by showing them “his hands and his side”, at which “the disciples rejoiced, having seen the Lord”. The “Peace” greeting is repeated, followed by a sending, and a “breathing on” them, which is described as “receive the Holy Spirit”, along with an instruction about forgiving and holding onto sins. In the second Part, we discover that Thomas, who is more of a character in this fourth gospel than in the others, was not present for Part I, so the other disciples gloat, and Thomas is driven to a brutally crude demand for evidence “unless I see in his hand the mark of the nails, and thrust my finger into the mark of the mails and thrust my hand into his side, no way am I going to believe”. Eight days later, he gets his wish; we are not told whether he actually inserts his hand or finger. Instead, he goes way beyond the evidence and breathlessly proclaims (and it is the climax of John’s Gospel), “My Lord and my God”. What is your reaction to the Resurrection, this week?

Easter Sunday – Year C (March 31st)

Easter Sunday – Year C (March 31st)
Gospels: Luke 24:1-12
John 20:1-9
Next Saturday night and Sunday morning, as we come to the climax of our Lenten journey, we have a wonderful set of readings. If you are at the Midnight Mass, you will hear the great sweep of the lectionary through the history of our salvation, and the story of God’s people; but space prohibits us from considering all this rich tapestry of the word of God, so what I should like to do this week is to look at the gospel readings for the day. At Midnight Mass, you will hear the account from Luke’s gospel; during the day, it will be version from John’s gospel.

Luke’s gospel is set in brightness, and so it is that the narrative starts “on Day One of the Sabbaths, in the deep dawn”, as the women come to the tomb, “carrying the spices that they have bought”. This means, of course, that they did not believe in Resurrection, for you can’t anoint a body that is no longer there. Bravely, they go into the tomb, to perform their task, but fail to find a body; instead, “Look! Two men stood over them, in lightning-white clothes”. We do not need to be told that these are angels, but just in case we did, we watch the women “becoming fearful, and bending their faces to the ground”. They are then gently rebuked, because they were “seeking the living along with the dead”. Then comes the Easter proclamation, that which makes Christianity what it is: “he is not here – no, he is risen”. Then they are reminded of Jesus’ own words that he “had to be handed over into the hands of human sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise”.

The women remember the words, and go rushing off to “the Eleven” (because Judas is no longer of the Twelve), and report what has happened. In the fate of women down the ages, “these words of theirs seemed nonsensical, and they did not believe the women”. Except for one: Peter, whom we last saw denying that he had ever heard of Jesus, goes running to the tomb, sees the evidence, and “went home, astonished at what had happened”. Does he believe it? Luke does not say.

John’s narrative of that Sunday morning also happens “on Day One of the Sabbaths”, but it is “in the morning, while it was still dark”. Mary Magdalen (don’t ask where the men are just now) goes to the tomb, and “sees the stone taken away from the tomb”. Now it is her turn to run, “to Simon Peter, and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved”, and to them she reports the situation, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him”. Now some more running takes place, and Simon Peter and the other disciple get to the tomb, but not in that order; they see the grave-cloths lying, and the “sweat-cloth”, which had been on his head, but not lying with the grave-cloths, but rolled up apart in one place”. The point of this, of course, is that we are not here talking about grave-robbers, or even the disciples, stealing Jesus’ body: the robes on the body would not have been left in that way if the corpse had been stolen. Finally, and on behalf of us all, after Peter has been graciously permitted to enter first, “the other disciple, the one who had arrived first, went into the tomb. And he saw. And he believed.” And the evangelist adds a characteristic comment: “for they had not yet grasped the Scripture, that it was necessary for him to rise from the dead”.

But there is more; for what has happened to Mary Magdalen? She does not reappear in next Sunday’s gospel, but may I ask you to go to John 20:10, and read down to verse 18, the heart-rending account of Mary’s encounter with her Risen Lord. It does not appear as a Sunday reading, and we must always remember that Mary Magdalen was the “apostle to the apostles” with regard to Jesus’ Resurrection.

Easter Sunday – Year C (March 31st)

Easter Sunday – Year C (March 31st)
Gospels: Luke 24:1-12
John 20:1-9
Next Saturday night and Sunday morning, as we come to the climax of our Lenten journey, we have a wonderful set of readings. If you are at the Midnight Mass, you will hear the great sweep of the lectionary through the history of our salvation, and the story of God’s people; but space prohibits us from considering all this rich tapestry of the word of God, so what I should like to do this week is to look at the gospel readings for the day. At Midnight Mass, you will hear the account from Luke’s gospel; during the day, it will be version from John’s gospel.

Luke’s gospel is set in brightness, and so it is that the narrative starts “on Day One of the Sabbaths, in the deep dawn”, as the women come to the tomb, “carrying the spices that they have bought”. This means, of course, that they did not believe in Resurrection, for you can’t anoint a body that is no longer there. Bravely, they go into the tomb, to perform their task, but fail to find a body; instead, “Look! Two men stood over them, in lightning-white clothes”. We do not need to be told that these are angels, but just in case we did, we watch the women “becoming fearful, and bending their faces to the ground”. They are then gently rebuked, because they were “seeking the living along with the dead”. Then comes the Easter proclamation, that which makes Christianity what it is: “he is not here – no, he is risen”. Then they are reminded of Jesus’ own words that he “had to be handed over into the hands of human sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise”.

The women remember the words, and go rushing off to “the Eleven” (because Judas is no longer of the Twelve), and report what has happened. In the fate of women down the ages, “these words of theirs seemed nonsensical, and they did not believe the women”. Except for one: Peter, whom we last saw denying that he had ever heard of Jesus, goes running to the tomb, sees the evidence, and “went home, astonished at what had happened”. Does he believe it? Luke does not say.

John’s narrative of that Sunday morning also happens “on Day One of the Sabbaths”, but it is “in the morning, while it was still dark”. Mary Magdalen (don’t ask where the men are just now) goes to the tomb, and “sees the stone taken away from the tomb”. Now it is her turn to run, “to Simon Peter, and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved”, and to them she reports the situation, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him”. Now some more running takes place, and Simon Peter and the other disciple get to the tomb, but not in that order; they see the grave-cloths lying, and the “sweat-cloth”, which had been on his head, but not lying with the grave-cloths, but rolled up apart in one place”. The point of this, of course, is that we are not here talking about grave-robbers, or even the disciples, stealing Jesus’ body: the robes on the body would not have been left in that way if the corpse had been stolen. Finally, and on behalf of us all, after Peter has been graciously permitted to enter first, “the other disciple, the one who had arrived first, went into the tomb. And he saw. And he believed.” And the evangelist adds a characteristic comment: “for they had not yet grasped the Scripture, that it was necessary for him to rise from the dead”.

But there is more; for what has happened to Mary Magdalen? She does not reappear in next Sunday’s gospel, but may I ask you to go to John 20:10, and read down to verse 18, the heart-rending account of Mary’s encounter with her Risen Lord. It does not appear as a Sunday reading, and we must always remember that Mary Magdalen was the “apostle to the apostles” with regard to Jesus’ Resurrection.

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