Second Sunday of Easter – Year C (April 11th 2010)

Second Sunday of Easter – Year C (April 11^th) – Reflection by Fr Nick King SJ

Readings: Acts 5:12-16  Psalm 118:2-4, 22-27   Revelation 1:9-13, 1-19  John 20:19-31

Next Sunday is the second Sunday of Easter, and we continue our celebration of the fact that God brings great joy out of no matter what kind of sadness.

The first reading is one of the “Lucan summaries”, where Luke uses his broad brush to paint a picture of what that early post-Easter community of Christians was like. It is certainly eye-catching: “signs and portents through the agency of the apostles, and they were all of one mind and heart”. At the same time, however, there were mixed feelings about them, “none of the rest dared to join them – but the people praised them”.  And, it seems, there were those who came aboard, “trusting the Lord, crowds of men and women. And the sick were cured, even by Peter’s shadow.” There was a huge popular reaction: “the crowd from the cities around Jerusalem came together carrying the sick and those troubled by unclean spirits – who were all cured”. God’s victory is complete, it seems.

The psalm for next Sunday is taken from the hymn that they sang as Jesus rode his donkey down the Mount of Olives, across the Wadi Kedron and into Jerusalem, on Palm Sunday (just two weeks ago!); it was originally a thanksgiving by someone whom the Lord had set free, but Christians inevitably read it in the light of the Resurrection of Jesus, who is “the stone that the builders rejected” which has turned into the “corner-stone”. Therefore everyone is invited to come together and say “God’s love is for ever”, as they acclaim what God has done: “this came from YHWH, marvellous in our eyes”, and (as we must remember, not just in Easter-time, but every day), “this is the Day that YHWH has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it”. And it is of Jesus that we think when we pray, “Blessed is the one who comes in YHWH’s name”.

The second reading for next Sunday, and for another five Sundays after that, will be from the Book of Revelation, the extraordinary vision that was granted to the “elder John” in his exile on the island of Patmos, to reassure his hearers that God will be victorious, no matter how powerful the oppressive powers may seem to be. He shares with us what he saw “on the Lord’s Day”, and it was “One like a Son of Man”, whom the elder instinctively worships, “I fell at his feet like a corpse”, but is told, “Do not be afraid: I am the First and the Last, and the Living One: I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever, and I have the keys of Death and the Underworld”. There are grounds for hope here.

The gospel for the second Sunday of Easter is always the same, the two-part story of Jesus’ appearance first to the rest of the disciples, and then to Thomas. It is a beautiful story, of the timid disciples locked in “for fear of the Judeans”, to whom the risen Lord brings the blessing, “Peace be with you”, and demonstrates that he is indeed the Crucified One (something that we are not to forget, this Easter season). Then they are commissioned, with the highly symbolic “breathing” on them by Jesus, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the authority to forgive sins or withhold forgiveness.

All this however takes on added sharpness because Thomas (whom have previously heard making gloomy and sceptical remarks in this gospel) was not there. His co-disciples can’t resist gloating over him, “We’ve seen the Lord”; and he demands evidence, in the crudest possible terms. And he gets it! Eight days later, that is, the week after Easter Sunday, Jesus once again shows his mastery of locked doors, and is in their midst. This time, however, it is Thomas who is the centre of attention. He is given the chance (we are not told whether or not he accepts) “bring your finger…and thrust it into my side”. Then Thomas goes way beyond the evidence, and declares Jesus, as the gospel arrives at its climax, to be “my Lord and my God”. The invitation to us, this week, is to make the same leap of faith, and so find the joy that God offers in our sadness.