Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, April 7, 2013.
“Doubting Thomas”
Jesus has died, Christ has risen, and tension continues between the Christ-followers and the Temple establishment. The apostles are carrying on for Jesus, teaching, preaching and healing, and all the excitement has the authorities worried. All this uproar is going to bring trouble. They locked Peter and the apostles in jail, but an angel set them free. Now they try to persuade, but the apostles have a higher mission. God has called them to spread the Word, and that mission trumps any human authority.
Psalm: Psalm 118:14-29
Do some of these words sound familiar? Today we hear again some of the same verses as we sang in Easter Sunday’s psalm. Again we promise to practice justice in our lives, to serve God, our neighbor, the poor and the stranger, seeking through righteousness to enter the glory of God. Then in today’s verses we go on to address God directly, giving thanks for God’s abundant love, our lives and our salvation.
Alternate Psalm: Psalm 150
Throughout the year, in Sunday liturgy and daily prayer, we turn to the Psalms every time we gather to worship. Some Psalms cry out in lamentation; some ask God’s blessing. Psalms beg forgiveness and express hope; a few even call down God’s wrath. The most joyful Psalms sing God’s praise. Psalm 150, the last in the book, rings out God’s glory with flutes and harp, strings and praise and plenty of loud, clanging cymbals. Sing out loud as we celebrate the resurrection today.
Second Reading: Revelation 1:4-8
Despite the popular “Left Behind” stories, Revelation, a sort of First Century sci-fi and fantasy, wasn’t really written for our modern ears. In its time it was addressed to the Christians of seven cities in what is now Turkey – churches oppressed by Roman power – reassuring them in symbolic language that the Reign of Christ will come and set them free. Christ is “the ruler of the kings of the earth,” it promises, and knowing readers understood that Christ would eventually dominate even the Emperor of Rome.
Gospel: John 20:19-31
Thomas got a reputation as a doubter because he had to see Jesus before he could accept that Christ was risen. But let’s not be too quick to judge Thomas. Remember the Easter Gospel of Luke, when none of the apostles believed the women who came running back from the empty tomb to tell them that Christ was alive. Today’s message is not about doubt but fear: Don’t stay locked up indoors. With the power of the Holy Spirit, spread the word of Jesus in the world!