Easter 2 Year A – Sunday 12th April
Acts 2. 114a, 22 – 32
1 Peter 1. 3 – 9
John 20. 19 – end
Prayer
Today’s readings provide us with some profound reflections on the nature of the resurrection and the quality of resurrection joy. In Acts we have a part of Peter’s Pentecost sermon to those gathered in Jerusalem. Having refuted the accusation of being drunk by reference to the Old Testament prophecy of Joel, here, he is not pulling his punches but setting out clearly the role that they have played in Jesus’ crucifixion and then asserting the truth of the resurrection of which he and the other disciples are witnesses. Peter’s confidence in itself is evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit and also of resurrection hope and joy. The Galilean fisherman who sometimes got it so beautifully right and sometimes so terribly wrong, the foot in mouth Peter whom we love because he makes it ok for us when we get things wrong or speak out of turn, has become an articulate and fearless public speaker.
And then we have that beautiful passage from the First letter of Peter, which, by the way was almost certainly not written by Peter. The sophisticated Greek is not commensurate with the erstwhile Galilean fisherman and it is thought that is was a letter written from Rome expressing the nature of the Christianity to be found there. It’s also important to say that in that culture it was perfectly acceptable to borrow an identity to give a certain authority to the text. The letters of the New Testament did not have to go through plagiarism tests. But this beautiful passage, part of which is used as one of the canticles at Evening Prayer during the Easter Season is filled with both the joy of the resurrection and the awareness that it does not do away with trials, very possibly a reference to persecution.
But I want to spend most of the time this morning reflecting on our Gospel reading. The disciples are in the upper room, essentially in hiding, fearing that the fate that befell Jesus might also befall them, so Jesus, the resurrected Jesus comes and stands in their midst, proving to them that it is he, showing them his hands and his side. He does not come as one from whom the wounds are taken away. That is not the nature of resurrection. Jesus speaks peace to them and sends them. They are not to spend their time huddled together but are to take Christ’s mission further. He breathes the Holy Spirit upon them to equip them for the task and entrusts to them the task of forgiveness. There is much for us in these first few verses. We are not always very good at expressing our faith to others. In fact I’m not sure that we are even very good at talking to each other about it. When did you last have a conversation with the person sitting next to you this morning about your faith? If I were really mean, or perhaps if I was with my own congregation, I would make you do it now! So Jesus sends them but he doesn’t send them without the Holy Spirit and I think we need to be more confident that we are not simply relying on our own resources. We can be certain that if we take our faith, if we take the message of Jesus’ love and grace and longing to the forgotten places in our community, we shall not be on our own. The Holy Spirit, the presence of Christ will go with us. Give it a try! And then they are entrusted with the task of forgiveness or indeed of withholding forgiveness. In some senses this is a curious statement. To begin with it is not entirely clear whether it is just for the ten disciples in the room at that time or whether it is for the wider Johannine community. One of the key elements in John’s Gospel is that rejection of Jesus is the gravest of sins, so it would seem that they are being given the task of discerning and forgiving sins both in others and in themselves. Of course, it is Christ alone who can forgive sins, so we are given that role through the Holy Spirit. Our confession, that we make corporately, has to encompass that time discerning for ourselves where we have fallen short. As a priest I am always awed by being entrusted with absolution.
But then of course we come on to doubting Thomas. I feel sad that he has been given that title through the ages. It’s ok for the others because they have seen. What he is asking is not that surprising. It is quite a normal human attribute to want proof – just think of the number of times one has to prove one’s identity these days! Or think of the times someone is telling you about something and you say “oh, do show me”. So Jesus once again comes to the disciples through locked doors and this time Thomas is with them and Jesus invites Thomas to put his finger in the nail marks and his hand into his side. But we do not know whether Thomas actually did that. I suspect he didn’t but the sight of Jesus with the marks of crucifixion wrings from him the wonderful “my Lord and my God”. In that phrase he is bringing together the human Jesus who has been his Lord all along and who is standing before him carrying the wounds of crucifixion, but this is at the same time God, because it is not a Lazarus who is brought back to life but who will die. This is Jesus and God. This is about resurrection and about the life eternal of the Trinity. The whole of the Gospel of John is about who Jesus is – we have the signs, we have the “I am” sayings but all of those are brought to culmination in Thomas’s “my Lord and my God”.
And a word about the wounds- We rightly celebrate the resurrection with great joy and it is a means of hope. But you would be justified in saying to me, “why do things just go on in the same way, why is there war, why do people behave badly to each other?” Jesus bears the wounds of crucifixion, they are not taken away in the resurrection because it is an acknowledgment of the woundedness of humanity. Reflecting on whether Thomas touches the wounds or not, reminds us that sometimes we touch the woundedness of others but sometimes we don’t – either it is too raw or perhaps even held tightly and privately. One of the rich privileges of being a parish priest, and I’m sure Prem would say the same, is that one walks with people in their sorrow and in their joys. Sharing in the utter delight of new birth, walking beside the person approaching death. And into those events being able to bring the hope that is the resurrection.
Thank you to Prem for inviting us here this morning and thank you to all of you. I really valued the time before Prem’s arrival when I, together with Barbara and Matt and then James was able to walk with you in that way. And now, it is so lovely to see a community that has grown in self-confidence and in joy with Prem’s faithful loving care. As I go off into the sunset of retirement borrowing the words of the hymn I the Lord of sea and sky when it says: “I will hold your people in my heart”. I shall hold you as well as the people of St Mary’s in my heart. And my prayer for you all is that you may daily be able to say with Thomas “my Lord and my God” , and that you may know the presence of the Holy Spirit emboldening you in all that you do.