Dear friends,
Each week as I prepare this post I pray for you. I ask God to abundantly provide all that you need to navigate this time. I ask God to give you peace.
Here is the worship service for this second Sunday of Easter.
John 20:19-31
19When 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, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
24But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25So 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.”
26A 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.” 27Then 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.” 28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But 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.
Beloved of God, grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Easter has come and it feels like we’re still waiting for resurrection, still waiting for hope and healing, still waiting for joy, waiting for freedom from this pervasive, collective grief and fear.
We can relate to the disciples in our gospel reading for today. They’re afraid. They’ve witnessed, firsthand, the incomprehensible death of their teacher and friend. They’re hiding behind locked doors for fear of what might happen next, of what might happen to them in this world where love is met with hate and the light of the world is extinguished so easily. What will this mean for them? How will they go on? What will they do? How will they live? How will they die?
It’s Easter—evening on that first Easter day—but they don’t know it. Mary has shared with them her experience at the empty tomb. I have seen the Lord, she declared. But they haven’t seen him for themselves. Two of them ran to the tomb and, like Mary, found it empty. But they didn’t understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. They didn’t understand. Period.
So, even though it’s Easter, even though Jesus has risen from the dead, conquering death and sin and sorrow…they are waiting. They’re scared. They’re sad.
Until they, too, see their Lord.
They know it’s Jesus when he shows them his wounds.
This is not some glorified ghost of the one they knew and loved. This is their beloved Jesus—put to death, but alive; wounded, but whole; bearing the marks of the cross, bearing the mark of divine, I’ll-do-whatever-it-takes love for this broken world.
This Jesus—who loved them to the end—appears among them and loves them still, loves them beyond what they thought was the end. In the midst of their pain, he gives them peace and purpose and power.
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.”
Jesus doesn’t tell them to not be afraid. He just steps into that locked room—into their locked hearts—and gives them peace. Not once. Not twice. But three times. Peace.
Perfect peace. Undeniable peace. Wounded-but-still-loving peace. Wrestling-for-a-blessing peace. Smack-dab-in-the-midst-of-fear peace. That’s what Jesus brings. That’s what the risen Christ gives us, gives you.
And not only peace, but purpose and power. As he has been sent to embody God’s love for the world, now Jesus sends his disciples. The work he began, they will continue—healing, forgiving, speaking truth to power, trusting God, working for reconciliation, feeding, freeing, loving in word and in deed.
These fearful ones—huddled together in a locked room—have work to do, people to love as Jesus has loved them. How will they do this work to which they’ve been called? How will they live as Easter people?
Jesus breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
In the beginning, God breathes life into the dust of the ground to create human beings. Now, God breathes the Holy Spirit into God’s creation to create sent ones.
In the waters of baptism, we, too, have received the Holy Spirit. We’ve been given power and purpose that not even fear and grief can diminish or deny. As we wait for healing of our world, healing of the ones we love, healing in our own lives—we trust that Jesus is here. He’s giving us peace, and purpose, and power. His breath animates ours. Today, may that Holy Spirit be stirred up in you, live and dance and dream in you. The life of the risen Christ—life no death can destroy—is ours. His work is ours. The peace of Christ propels us to life—healing, forgiving, feeding, freeing life for the sake of the world.
Jesus is with you. God hasn’t let go of you. Breathe.