2nd Sunday of Easter – B
April 7, 2024 5pm
Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton
The Risen Christ
What does the risen Christ say to us? And how are we to respond?
In today’s gospel, Saint John tells us that the risen Christ appears twice to the disciples when they were gathered together. The passage has several messages.
“Peace be with you”
Notice the first thing that Jesus says is: “Peace be with you.”
The passage tells us that the disciples were afraid. I will come back to that in a minute.
My guess is that many of them were also feeling guilty. They had pretty much abandoned Jesus in his suffering and dying.
So, Jesus addresses their fear and guilt and wants them to be at peace. Think about that.
He does not even mention what they had done. There is no recrimination, no judgment, no condemnation.
Jesus simply takes them where they are and re-starts the relationship. He wants them and us to be to be at peace within ourselves and with him, and this peace is foundational for what follows.
Fear of the Jews
We see this as we now go back now to the disciples’ fear.
Saint John tells us that “the doors were locked…for fear of the Jews.” We have to carefully understand a couple things here.
First, there was tension between the Jewish people in general and this breakaway group following Jesus. So, John mentions the fear that the disciples had in this context.
Also, and here is a key point, the “peace” that Jesus wants for the disciples is not just an inner thing. Instead, it is to affect every dimension of their lives, including their relationship with all Jews.
The result is that we cannot use the tension with the Jews or the fear of the Jews that we hear about in John’s Gospel as a basis for anti-Semitism. In fact, we cannot use it to justify prejudice toward persons of any other religious tradition.
We are to accept the peace that Jesus offers us. And we are to live out of that peace in all of our relationships.
Forgive
And then, with that peace, the Risen Christ commissions the disciples to be ministers of forgiveness.
Notice the wording he uses. “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
Interesting wording! Jesus doesn’t say in the second part “whose sins you don’t forgive are not forgiven,” but he says “whose sins you retain are retained.”
When we “retain” the sins or offenses of another, we make them hold onto their sins or offenses and we ourselves are still holding on. This is burdensome for others and for us.
It freezes the other person and doesn’t set them free to grow and move on. And it freezes us and keeps us from moving out of feelings of hurt and vengeance.
So, Jesus doesn’t intend the retaining of sins to be an alternative to forgiving. Instead, he sees this as the unfortunate result of not forgiving.
“My Lord and my God”
The last thing in this passage that I want to note is Thomas.
Thomas struggles with believing in the risen Christ. He wants to see and even touch the wounds in Jesus’ hands and feet.
Jesus offers this opportunity but interestingly, Saint John doesn’t say that Thomas ever touches Jesus. He simply says that Thomas, through this encounter with Jesus, immediately comes to believe.
And Thomas utters the most profound and personal act of faith in all of Scripture: “My Lord and my God!” Thomas has come to faith through this encounter.
So, it is the encounter with the person of Jesus, the Risen Christ – that’s what counts! Today, we encounter Jesus by reading the gospels and making them a central part of our prayer life.
And, of course, we encounter Jesus every time we receive Communion. In fact, I suggest that right after we receive Communion, as we are consuming the host, we silently pray the magnificent words of Thomas: “My Lord and my God.”
This may bring us to the same passionate faith that Thomas has. And it may help to open us to the peace that the Risen Christ wants for us.
