Lectionary citations
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Psalm 16
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31
Additional reflection on all readings
Sermon Seeds
Worship and Preaching resources for Immigrant Rights Sunday are available at Immigrant Rights Sunday
Focus Scripture:
John 20:19-31
Weekly Theme:
Body Language
Reflection:
by Kathryn Matthews Huey
That same night, after Mary Magdalene claimed to have seen the risen Jesus and to have talked with him, the frightened disciples were holed up in a room behind locked doors. No one could get in – not even the crowd of religious leaders or their supporters who, afraid of the people and the way the crowds loved Jesus, had executed that troublesome prophet and teacher, and might want to come after them, too. Not only were the disciples bereft at the death of Jesus and perhaps at their own failure to stand with him to the end, but now this woman was making the most incredible claim that would undo, would overturn their turmoil, their sense of failure and inadequacy, their loss of hope. All might be made right after all; all might be healed. Could it actually be so?
Gathered in fear and confusion, they locked the doors, and waited. And suddenly there he was, in their midst. What were his first words? "Peace be with you." No fear. No scolding. No turmoil. No doubt. Only peace. Those words Christians say to one another during our worship services, perhaps without thinking: "Peace be with you." And then – since, in the Gospel of John, this is Pentecost – Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to the disciples. It was their commissioning to go out and be peace and love and justice for the world. Just as God sent Jesus, so Jesus sent them into the world that God loves so well. O. Wesley Allen hears in this breath the echo of Genesis and "God's breathing life into creatures at the beginning of the world (Gen. 2:7). Easter tell us that we are recreated through Christ's resurrection...a current (continual) experience of new life in Christ available to all" (New Proclamation 2008).
Jesus then talked about that thing that is more difficult to talk about in the church than sex or money: forgiveness. Eugene Peterson's translation of Jesus' words provide a very different way of seeing the gift of forgiveness and grace: "If you forgive someone's sins, they're gone for good. If you don't forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?" (The Message). For O. Wesley Allen, this text tells us that "We cannot keep the Spirit to ourselves. We are gifted with it for the sake of others. God gives the church the spiritual gift of resurrection life so that the church will bring it to bear on the world." It sounds as if a personal, private faith is not what Jesus intends for us, but instead he wants a Spirit-filled church to be his gift to the world.
Once again this week we hear about "the vision thing": the importance of "seeing" in John's Gospel. Recall that Mary Magdalene came to the tomb last Sunday and saw that the stone had been removed; that Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb and saw the linen wrappings lying there; they went in and "saw and believed." Mary Magdalene saw two angels in white, and then she saw Jesus standing there (but didn't recognize him), and he asked her, "Whom are you looking for?" When he said her name, she said, "Teacher!" – she went and told the disciples, "I have seen the Lord."
Now, in the evening of the same day, the disciples see Jesus, in his body, wounds and all. But Thomas, who arrives afterward and misses everything, very reasonably says he won't believe until he sees for himself the mark of the nails on Jesus' hands (he sounds almost modern, doesn't he?); he even wants to put his own finger in the mark of the nails and to feel the reality of the resurrection for himself. Barbara Brown Taylor describes Thomas as "a brave and literal-minded maverick who could be counted on to do the right thing, but only after he had convinced himself that it was the right thing" (Home by Another Way).
We church folks have been rather judgmental of "Doubting Thomas." After all, the disciples have all seen Jesus and the marks on his hands and side. But once Thomas "sees" and even touches the wounds of Jesus, he believes, too. Arland Hultgren writes, "What he says, in effect, is that he has encountered the presence of God in the risen Jesus" (The Lectionary Commentary). The story of Thomas, for the writer of the Gospel of John, speaks to all those in later generations (including us, today) who didn't witness with their own eyes the things the Gospel describes, and yet have come to trust the testimony as true. Again, as Eugene Peterson translates it: "Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing" (The Message). Hultgren calls Jesus' words a "beatitude" that "puts all Christians of all times and places on the same level before God as the original disciples" (The Lectionary Commentary).
Indeed, for centuries, these stories have been passed down from generation to generation, coming alive for each one in its own time. We have them in Scripture, "the message," Barbara Brown Taylor calls it, that "our ancestors rolled up and put in a bottle for us, because they wanted us to experience the person of Jesus – if not in the flesh, then in the word...We are free to believe them or not, but one thing this morning's story tells us is that seeing is not superior to hearing" (Home by Another Way). And so, ironically, after all this talk in the Gospel of John about seeing and believing, our generation is asked to "hear and believe."
And yet, an ever greater irony is that our eyes, in every generation, do see, in ways both marvelous and wonderful, the risen Jesus alive in this world. If it's true that we are indeed recreated through Christ's resurrection, as O. Wesley Allen claims, then our beautiful, majestic, joyous Easter services in churches around the world are only an effort to give expression to the lived reality of encountering the presence of God in the risen Jesus not just one morning but every morning of our lives, in every experience of death leading to new life, every experience of healing and grace, forgiveness and new hope. Relationships repaired and renewed, churches brought back from the brink of closing to new and vibrant ministry, health restored after suffering and illness, delight in life after long grief...the experience of resurrection and new life, in moments and ways both large and small, all point to the One who gives us life and promises life eternal, the One who raised Jesus up on the third day.
In many dramatic ways in the life of the church, we see resurrection and experience new life, see and hear and touch the Risen Jesus, the Body of Christ alive and in love with this beautiful world. We see, and we believe. Resurrection isn't something that happened a long time ago, something that we simply commemorate each Easter. In our day-to-day lives as the church in ministry, we put our hands on the wounds of this broken world, but we also witness to the hope that sustains us in knowing that we are going to rise again, that everything is going to be all right in the end.
William Sloane Coffin, a great prophet of the United Church of Christ who died several years ago, fittingly, during Holy Week, once said: "As I see it, the primary religious task these days is to try to think straight...You can't think straight with a heart full of fear, for fear seeks safety, not truth. If your heart's a stone, you can't have decent thoughts – either about personal relations or about international ones. A heart full of love, on the other hand, has a limbering effect on the mind."
Those disciples cowered in fear behind locked doors when good news was waiting for them outside. Good news came to them anyway, even in their fear, and made their minds "limber." They were seeking safety, and the truth came instead. Is it fear that makes us hide from the suffering of the world? Perhaps that's a mystery of the heart, so easily turned to stone, so easily turned away from the pain of others. Coffin once warned that we run the risk of washing our hands, like Pilate, because power is hard-hearted. And yet, he said, we belong to one another, according to the vision of the religious community, the saving vision, the ancient prophetic vision of human unity, all of God's children on this earth. As Allen said, we can't keep the gift to ourselves: the Spirit was given to us because we are connected to, and responsible for, one another.
When Jesus commissions the disciples (and us), he gives them a "mission." We hear much talk in the church today (and even in business and other settings) about "mission" and "mission statements." Perhaps it's only human to seek clarity about what one is "about." What is the mission of your church? What is the mission of the wider church? Parker Palmer has provided a measure of clarity for us on this point, writing that "the mission of the church is not to enlarge its membership, not to bring outsiders to accept its terms, but simply to love the world in every possible way – to love the world as God did and does" (In the Company of Strangers). How would that description match the mission statements of many of our churches? How have churches hurt people by having a misguided sense of mission? According to Gail R. O'Day, "The faith community's mission, therefore, is not to be the arbiter of right and wrong, but to bear unceasing witness to the love of God in Jesus" (John, The New Interpreter's Bible). What do you think would happen if churches clarified their sense of mission? Do you think most of them see themselves as "arbiters of right and wrong"? What does it mean to "believe" in Jesus? If we see Jesus as the focus of the text, his care for Thomas and all who will follow Thomas, does that change the "feel" of the text for you?
Sometimes it feels like there's a gap in the prophetic witness of our time. Where is this generation's William Sloane Coffin or Martin Luther King or Mother Teresa or Oscar Romero? And yet, in today's passage from the Gospel of John, the words of Jesus, "Receive the Holy Spirit," reassure us that God has given us, each one of us in every age, the Holy Spirit, and has commissioned us, empowered us to be, like Coffin and King, Romero and Mother Teresa, a holy and brilliant flame, each in our own way, breathing love and peace and justice in the midst of fear and pain and hopelessness. To William Sloane Coffin, spirituality meant "living the ordinary life extraordinarily well," like Mother Teresa's encouragement not to strive to do great things, but instead to do small things with great love.
Whenever we're afraid and hiding out, all locked up, God comes to us in the midst of our fear and says, "Peace be with you." Whatever doubts churn in our minds, whatever sins trouble our consciences, whatever pain and worry bind us up, whatever walls we have put up or doors we have locked securely, God comes to us and says, "Peace be with you." Whatever hunger and need we feel deep in our souls, God calls us to the table, feeds us well, and sends us out into the world to be justice and peace, salt and light, hope for the world. We can do it, if we keep our eyes open, our minds limber, and our hearts soft and willing to love. As God sent Jesus, God sends us, this day.
Additional commentary on Psalm 16 and all readings:
Sometimes the lectionary readings seem to fit together like puzzle pieces that form a beautiful picture, and this Sunday is one of those times. We have entered a new time, the time of Easter (this is not the First Sunday "after" Easter, but the Second Sunday "of" Easter). We have been in the desert and the wilderness, in the place of dry bones, spending time in introspective, penitential reflection. We have journeyed to Jerusalem, witnessed healings and controversies, stood with the crowd, and waited in the garden, struggling with sleep. Then there was the cross, with death and confusion and despair. But that was not all: there was the unexpected – resurrection, new life, death conquered and hope reborn. Were we not listening, or watching? Did we not notice that the dry bones took on flesh and walked and breathed again? Did we not notice that Lazarus came forth from the tomb, and lived? Did we not hear, and trust, the promises?
The joy and assurance of Psalm 16 are viewed by Peter in his Pentecost sermon through the lens of this hope reborn, this new life, this resurrection of Jesus Christ: God raising Jesus and showing God's astonishing power even over death. Though the meaning of the text, for the people of Israel, centered on David, Peter hears the promise of triumph over death in reference to the Messiah, to Jesus Christ, and he claims to be himself a witness to that truth. Death could not hold Jesus Christ, and we too are heirs to the promise of life in its fullness, for physical death is not the only issue here: "that which anchors our hope," Walter Brueggemann writes, "is confidence that the God who became vulnerable in Jesus Christ and who also demonstrated unique power over those things which threaten all human health and happiness – that this same God is actively at work in human life today, on both individual and society levels. Because of the Easter story, all of life is fundamentally transformed" (Texts for Preaching Year A).
This assurance of God's presence and power in our lives produces joy, and that joy is our heritage, passed down through the many generations of faithful people who continue to tell the story. We hear the joy not only of the psalmist but also of Peter in his Spirit-filled sermon at Pentecost, excerpted here in the Acts reading, and we hear it in the First Letter of Peter, which describes the inheritance of "new life" and "living hope" through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The "aliens" or "exiles" who heard this reading, like us, did not see Jesus Christ or even the apostles in the flesh, in their lifetime. But they heard and believed and trusted the good news. This reading, then, also fits well with the reading from the Gospel of John, with the familiar story of Thomas, who doubted what he had not seen with his own eyes.
The first part of John's passage is his own Pentecost, and Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit into his followers, sending them out into the world on a mission, the mission that is also our heritage of joy. The Holy Spirit, and God's mission, and the assurance of God's power and presence with us always: such a heritage of joy! The "sin" of which Jesus speaks is the failure to believe. The new little community, the church, is the new family or community that is created to support us in our trials and our temptations, and Jesus gives the people the power to heal and forgive one another's weakness and doubt. (The trials themselves, according to First Peter, refine our faith like gold.)
Then, the story of Thomas reminds us that faith is not a matter of believing the unbelievable, but seeing what is truly real and trusting in the goodness of God. Thomas would fit in well with our post-Enlightenment skepticism and need to see empirical evidence for all claims of truth. His doubt is very ancient, yet modern, too. The early Christians who heard John's Gospel were already struggling after the deaths of the apostles and the eyewitnesses to the resurrection, and this Gospel passage reassures them that they are blessed if they "have not seen but have come to believe." The Stillspeaking God tells us stories that are both ancient and new, and doubts that are human in every age are eased by God's unceasing love and care.
Who are the aliens and exiles who hear and trust the good news that you preach and embody, that your congregation strives to embody? In what ways do they teach you about faith, and how does God still speak today, through them, to you? Do you think of the forgiveness of sin as being a power and responsibility of the church's leadership, or of the whole community? If so, how does it work? How do the members of your congregation nurture one another's faith? Does Thomas represent one stage of our journey of faith, or does he represent a place where we can get stuck? Have you ever thought of this passage being not about Thomas but about Jesus' care for Thomas, meeting him at the level of his deepest need? How well does your congregation hear its call to be the church, rather than just to "come to church" on Sunday? Does it know itself as called, and sent? Do you feel the presence of the Spirit in your midst? In what ways and at what moments? When has your church seen itself as inheriting "a goodly heritage," with "boundary lines" falling in "pleasant places"? The people of ancient Israel thought a lot about the land and their security. How do we see our security, and what are our greatest needs as a people? Do you and your congregation believe, and trust, that death cannot hold us? How do the resurrection of Jesus, the tradition we have been given and shall pass on ourselves, and the mission of God all come together for us, here, in the early days of Easter time?
For Further Reflection
Bruce Epperly, 21st century
When author Madeleine L'Engle was asked, "Do you believe in God without any doubts?" she replied, "I believe in God with all my doubts."
Robert Browning, 19th century
I show you doubt, to prove that faith exists.
Stuart Chase, 20th century
For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible.
Kahlil Gibran, 20th century
Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.
Paul Gauguin, 19th century
I shut my eyes in order to see.
Paul Tillich, 20th century
Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is one element of faith.
Focus Questions
1. What makes us, as followers of Jesus, "hide out" today?
2. What would you have done, in Thomas' place?
3. Do you think that "seeing is better than hearing" for the life of faith?
4. Why do you think a woman was entrusted with the news of the Resurrection, if the men struggled to believe her?
5. Where do you see the risen Jesus alive, today?
Lectionary texts
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them:
"You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know — this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. For David says concerning him,
'I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken;
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
moreover, my flesh will live in hope.
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One experience corruption.
You have made known to me the ways of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.'
"Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying,
'He was not abandoned to Hades,
nor did his flesh experience corruption.'
This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses."
Psalm 16
Protect me, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
I say to God, "You are my God;
I have no good apart from you."
As for the holy ones in the land,
they are the noble,
in whom is all my delight.
Those who choose another god
multiply their sorrows;
their drink-offerings of blood
I will not pour out
or take their names upon my lips.
God is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The boundary lines have fallen for me
in pleasant places;
I have a goodly heritage.
I bless God who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep God always before me;
because God is at my right hand,
I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad,
and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.
For you do not give me up to Sheol,
or let your faithful one see the Pit.
You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
1 Peter 1:3-9
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith — being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire — may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
John 20:19-31
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."
A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
Liturgical notes on the Readings
In ecumenical liturgical practice, there are normally three readings and one psalm at each Sunday service, in this order:
First Reading: Hebrew Scripture
Response: Psalm (or Canticle) from the Bible
Second Reading: Epistle (or Acts or Revelation)
Third Reading: Gospel
The first two lessons are normally read by laypeople, the Gospel by a Minister of the Word or a layperson. In Roman Catholic, Anglican and liturgical Protestant churches, it is uncommon for an ordained minister to read all of the lessons.
The psalm is not a reading but a congregational response following the lesson from Hebrew Scripture: it is normally sung with a refrain or recited by the congregation as poetry. Occasionally, a canticle is appointed in place of a psalm; it is sung or recited in the same way. The New Century Hymnal provides a complete liturgical psalter with refrains and music.
A hymn may be sung as an introduction to the proclamation of the Gospel.
During Ordinary Time (seasons after Epiphany and Pentecost) two alternative sets of OT readings with responsorial psalms are provided. The first option is a semi-continuous reading through a book of Hebrew Scripture; the second is thematically related to the other readings.
Notes on the Lectionary and Liturgical Colors
Advent and Christmas
The Violet color for Advent is traditionally connected with royalty and penitence. Blue is symbolic of expectation and hope, not only for the birth of Christ, but also for Christ's return at the end of history. Rose on the third Sunday of Advent, which was Gaudete (Joy), provided a little relief from the somberness of Advent in earlier times. Some Advent wreath sets include a rose candle. White first appears on Christmas Eve and may be continued through the Sunday after Christmas, Epiphany, and the Sunday after Epiphany (celebrated by many as the Baptism of Christ) to show that all of these events are related in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. White is also used for Easter and Sundays following. (Some traditions use Gold or both for Christmas and Easter.)
Lent and Easter
Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent. Violet throughout Lent is in wide use, but some churches have begun instead to use browns, beiges, and grays (burlaps and unbleached fabrics, for example) to reflect the mood of penitence.
There are many variations in the use of vestments and color during Holy Week. Some common practices: Red, the color of martyrs, for Palm/Passion Sunday up to Maundy Thursday, when White is used for Holy Communion; stripping of all chancel paraments at the conclusion of the Maundy Thursday service, with no adornment until the appearance of White and/or Gold at Easter Vigil or Easter Sunday; the use of Black, Red or no color for Good Friday; the use of Scarlet during Holy Week instead of the "fire" Red of Pentecost.
Pentecost
Red is sometimes used in the Church year as a reminder of martyrdom, but in the case of the day of Pentecost, it is traditionally thought to represent the tongues of fire. This burst of color is followed by the long season of Ordinary Time during which the color Green is displayed and worn to symbolize life, growth, and the church in mission. (Where Trinity Sunday is observed, White is often used.)
Ordinary Time
Outside the large seasons of Advent-Christmas and Lent-Easter (which concludes with Pentecost), Sundays are numbered, or "ordered," as Sundays in Ordinary Time (as in 11th, 12th, or 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time). Ordinary Time begins with the Sundays following the Epiphany. In this calendar, they are also listed a Sundays after the Epiphany. The variable date of Easter results in years in which all the Ordinary Time readings are not used. This may cause a gap in numbering Ordinary Time when it resumes after Pentecost and Trinity Sunday. This calendar lists these as Sundays in Ordinary Time (even though they may still be counted as Sundays after Pentecost). The color Green is displayed during Sundays of Ordinary Time to symbolize life and growth and the church in mission.
Lectionary Readings following Trinity Sunday
The Revised Common Lectionary offers two options for Old Testament and Psalm readings on the Sundays in Ordinary Time following Trinity Sunday. The first (semi-continuous) option follows a series of Old Testament readings for several weeks. The second (paired) option (following OR) relates the Old Testament and Psalm readings to New Testament themes. It is suggested that a congregation choose one option and follow it.
