Texts of the Readings
Second Sunday of
Easter
April 19, 2009
Acts 4:32-35
I John 5:1-6
John 20:19-31
Fr. Tim Schehr
This
Sunday the apostle Thomas takes his famous misstep in faith. He needs
absolute proof before he will believe his brother apostles have seen the
Lord. It is a disappointing stance from someone who spent so much time with
the Lord. He had even seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead!
But Thomas was always the
straightforward and practical one among the apostles. When Jesus announced
he was returning to Judaea despite its dangers, it was Thomas who proposed
they might as well go with him and die. When Jesus told the apostles they
knew the way he was going, it was Thomas who made the candid observation
they had no idea where he was going so they did not at all know the way.
His practical side kicks in
again in this gospel. But we should not be too critical of him. Thomas does
after all make a remarkable recovery. When Jesus invites him to satisfy all
the criteria he proposed earlier Thomas responds with a candid profession of
faith: My Lord and my God. This is the most explicit declaration of the
Lords divinity by an apostle up to this point in the Fourth Gospel. So we
could think of Thomas as leading the way for us on the journey of faith.
There is still more positive
news in this gospel. Jesus says something that could give us all a boost in
our own journeys of faith. He blesses those who have not seen and have
believed. We could certainly count ourselves in that number! We have not
seen the Lord as Thomas and the others did on the first day of the week. Yet
we do believe. So the Lords blessing here extends to us.
Still another bit of positive
news in the gospel for this Sunday is the way the Lord makes the apostles
into something new. At creation, God the Father breathed into clay to give
life to Adam. Now Jesus breathes on the apostles filling them with the Holy
Spirit, making them more than they had been before. And how will this
newness be best displayed? By extending forgiveness to others. Jesus had
already given them a fine example of such forgiveness in the way he
responded to the doubts of Thomas. He gives them another example when he
invites Peter to undo his threefold denial.
We can see the influence of the
Holy Spirit in the first reading too. The community of believers in
Jerusalem is living proof of what he Holy Spirit can accomplish in the
hearts of humanity. Luke tells us, The community of believers was of one
heart and mind... That is a remarkable statement. Could such a thing be
said of our own communities? It shows how unique and how ideal the church
was in Lukes time. Look at their attitude towards personal property! They
were willing to hand it over for the benefit of the needy. They set personal
interest aside for the advantage of the entire church. In later verses, for
example, we read of a man named Barnabas who sold his field to provide funds
for the community of the believers (Acts 4:36-37). Sadly a later passage in
Acts tarnishes this idea picture. Ananias and Sapphira are far less generous
than Barnabas was (see Acts 5:1-11).
We hear about the influence of
the Holy Spirit in the second reading too. John says the Spirit guides us to
the truth that Jesus has overcome the world. Once we accept this truth we
can never see the world the way we did before. We are in the world but not
of it. That is something Thomas was absolutely certain about too! |