Category Archives: Easter

Easter 5C

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for May 19, 2019

First Reading: Acts 11:1-18

God’s love is for everyone, not just a few: This generous message resonates through today’s readings.

Peter Preaching

Peter Preaching (1433). Altarpiece panel by Fra Angelico (1400-1455). Museo di San Marco, Florence, Italy. (Click image to enlarge.)

In our first reading we hear Peter explaining to his fellow Jewish Christians that a vision from God had made clear to him that Christ’s message was not intended just for them but for Gentiles as well. The idea that the gift of the Spirit could be shared with Gentiles through baptism without requiring them first to convert to Judaism must have seemed new and strange to them all, but God’s message to Peter was unambiguous: Go and baptize the Roman centurion Cornelius and his whole family. And so he did.

Psalm: Psalm 148

This is one of the last songs in the Book of Psalms, a concluding trio that rings out thunderous praise for the glory of God. It echoes the message from Acts (and also presages the Song of the Three Young Men in Daniel, Canticle 16) in glorious harmony: All God’s host stands up in joyous chorus, praising God from the heights and heavens. Sun and moon and shining stars praise God. Sea monsters and crawling things, kings and rulers, youngsters and old folks all praise God together, praising and exalting God forever!

Second Reading: Revelation 21:1-6

We read parts of the closing chapters of Revelation in the final weeks of Eastertide. In this apocalyptic vision, Heaven and Earth and all that is old have passed away, and everything is new! Earth and sea, all creation as we knew it, is no more. Reversing the idea that the souls of humans will rise to a lofty Heaven, we see God coming down from Heaven to Earth instead in a New Jerusalem, God coming to earth to live with mortals as Jesus Christ had done. In verses often read during the remembrance of a loved one’s life, we hear that God will wipe away tears and banish mourning, crying and pain; God will quench all thirst with the water of life, and death will be no more!

Gospel: John 13:31-35

“They’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love … Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” The words of this beloved hymn reflect the words of Jesus in Sunday’s Gospel. Jesus and the apostles are together at the last supper. In a tense moment, just after Judas has sneaked out to betray him, Jesus gives his disciples a new commandment in a farewell message: “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Knowing that he is about to die a gruesome death on a cross, Jesus sets out his commandment to live as he would live, loving one another and loving everyone.

Easter 3C

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for May 5, 2019

First Reading: Acts 9:1-6, (7-20)

How do we recognize God in our lives? How do we respond when God calls? Consider Saul in Sunday’s first reading.

The Miraculous Draught of Fishes

The Miraculous Draught of Fishes (1545); oil painting by Jacopo Bassano (1510-1592). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (Click image to enlarge.)

Early Christians had every reason to fear Saul: A frightening figure, a Pharisee angry with the unorthodox new Messianic movement, Saul persecuted the Christians with all his strength. But when Jesus confronted Saul in a blinding vision on the road to Damascus (a narrative much more detailed than anything Paul had written about his own conversion in his letters many years before the Evangelist Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles), everything changed. Acts reports Saul hearing that by persecuting those who follow Jesus, Saul was persecuting Jesus. Saul’s hatred for Christ and Christians melts away with his restored vision. Saul becomes Paul, who will go on to take Christianity to the world with all the zeal that he had previously turned to persecuting Christians.

Psalm: Psalm 30

Perhaps surprisingly (or perhaps not) for a genre that includes so many calls for God’s help in Psalms of petition, the 150 Psalms include only a relative few hymns of thanksgiving. Psalm 30, according to tradition, specifically offers thanks to God for the Psalmist’s recovery from a serious illness. The Psalm seems consonant with the journeys in today’s readings of Paul, who changed from hate for Christians to life in Christ, and Peter, who went bravely out to proclaim Jesus after having denied him three times. The Psalmist, in turn, sings out in faith that sadness and anger are short-lived, but the joy of God’s favor lives forever. “Weeping may spend the night, but joy comes in the morning.”

Second Reading: Revelation 5:11-14

In last week’s reading from Revelation, we heard its prophecy that Christ would be “ruler of the kings of the earth,” presumably supplanting the emperors of Rome and beyond. This Sunday, a few chapters further into the book, we enter a scene of triumphant heavenly worship in which all creation participates. All the angels and elders of heaven, all the creatures of heaven and earth, humans and animals from land and sky and sea join in worship and song: Together they sing a majestic hymn, filled with symbolic language, that reveals an unexpected surprise: Jesus’s kingship is not that of a roaring lion or any earthly ruler, but a lamb, a vulnerable creature, symbol of the Passover; a victim who was slaughtered but is now raised and glorified for all.

Gospel: John 21:1-19

Seven of the disciples are back home in Galilee, and perhaps seeking a break from the emotions of Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and mysterious appearances, they get in their boat for a night-time fishing trip. They haven’t had any luck, but suddenly a stranger appears on the shore and suggests that they try casting their net on the other side of the boat, and they haul in a bulging net-load. Suddenly John recognizes Jesus, prompting Peter to jump in the water and run for shore. The delighted crew all join Jesus, who cooks them fish and bread on a charcoal fire and feeds them. Then Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Peter, apparently forgetting how recently he had denied Jesus three times, is offended that Jesus has to ask this repeatedly. But this is in the past now, as Jesus directs Peter, “Feed my lambs. … Feed my sheep.” Then Jesus predicts Peter’s eventual martyrdom, and calls him, as he had done at the beginning of his ministry: “Follow me.”

Easter 2C

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for April 28, 2019

First Reading: Acts 5:27-32

Jesus has died and Christ has risen, but tension continues between Christ-followers and the Temple establishment. We’ll be hearing passages from the Acts of the Apostles as our first readings during Eastertide.

The Incredulity of St Thomas

The Incredulity of St Thomas (1634). Oil painting on oak panel by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669). Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow. (Click image to enlarge.)

In Sunday’s reading we learn that apostles have continued teaching, preaching and healing in Jesus’ way, and all this uproar has the authorities worried that these efforts is going to bring trouble. In the verses before these, we read that they locked Peter and the apostles in jail, but an angel set them free. Now the authorities try persuasion instead, but the apostles, recognizing a higher mission, push back: God has called them to spread the Word, and that mission trumps any human authority.

Psalm: Psalm 118:14-29

If you think parts of this Psalm seem strangely familiar, there’s a reason for that: Overlapping portions of Psalm 118 were also included in the readings for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. Again we sing the central covenant of the Old Testament that Jesus also taught, promising 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. “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Alternate Psalm: Psalm 150

Throughout the year, in Sunday liturgy and daily prayer, we turn to the Psalms almost 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 Psalm, brings the book to a ringing climax as we sing out God’s glory with flutes and harp, strings and praise and plenty of loud, clanging cymbals. We sing out loud as we celebrate the resurrection during Eastertide.

Second Reading: Revelation 1:4-8

Despite the commercial success of the popular “Left Behind” stories and other interpretations of Revelation as scary prophecy for modern times, Revelation was never meant for our modern ears. In its time, the late first century, it was addressed to the Christians of seven cities in Asia Minor, now western Turkey, that faced oppression by Roman power. The letter, written in the apocalyptic genre, a sort of First Century sci-fi and fantasy, used symbolic language and colorful metaphors to reassure these early Christians that the Reign of Christ was still to come and would set them free. Christ is “the ruler of the kings of the earth,” it promises, holding up that glowing hope that Christ would eventually dominate even the Emperor of Rome.

Gospel: John 20:19-31

In John’s version of the resurrection, when Mary Magdalene alone saw the risen Christ, she ran back to tell the other disciples. It appears that they did not react immediately with celebration, though, but – as Sunday’s Gospel begins – they gathered and locked all the doors, apparently fearful that the Jewish leaders who had worked with Pilate to condemn Jesus were trying to find them. But then Jesus appears in the locked room with them, shows them his wounds and offers them peace and breathes the power of the Holy Spirit into them, and their fear turns into joy. Thomas, who wasn’t with the apostles that night, was doubtful, insisting on proof before he would believe. But Thomas, too, turns from doubt to belief when he sees Jesus.

Easter Sunday C

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for April 21, 2019

First Reading: Acts 10:34-43

Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia! On Easter Sunday, we remember and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. All of the readings for the principal Easter service remind us of resurrection and life.

The Risen Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene

The Risen Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene (1638). Oil painting on panel by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669). Buckingham Palace collection. (Click image to enlarge.)

These verses from the Acts of the Apostles, the evangelist Luke’s account of the life of the early church, may be used as either the first or second reading. In this passage we see Peter teaching in the household of the centurion Cornelius, a Roman army officer. Peter tells this gentile family about the Christian way: Jesus was crucified, but then raised from the dead, and now God’s saving grace is given through Jesus to all the nations, Jew and Gentile alike. Jesus is Lord of all!

Alternate First Reading: Isaiah 65:17-25

In the closing pages of Isaiah’s great book of prophecy, the people have returned home to Jerusalem from their long exile in Babylon. Much work remains to be done to restore the demolished city and its temple, but this is a time for celebration. God promises through the prophet to make Jerusalem a virtual heaven on earth, where everyone will enjoy abundance and happiness, peace and joy; even the wolf and the lamb shall feed peacefully together! As Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday, we too imagine a new kingdom where all will be physically and spiritually fed.

Psalm: Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

Christians have long imagined the “stone the builders rejected” in this Psalm as an image of Jesus, but this song of victory goes deeper still: It exults in God’s never-ending love that saves us and promises everlasting life. Note well, however, that to enter the kingdom of heaven, we are expected to be righteous, and that means practicing justice in our lives, not only for our neighbor but the poor and the stranger, too. Having done this, then we may rejoice, singing, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Second Reading: I Corinthians 15:19-26

In his pastoral words to the early Christians of Corinth, Paul tried to explain what Christ’s resurrection means to us, the people of the church. Recalling Adam’s fall and the ancient covenantal commandment to offer the first fruits of the harvest to God, Paul declares that as all died with Adam, all are made alive again in Christ, the first fruits of our salvation. Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection changes everything for all, as the resurrection promises the arrival of God’s kingdom on earth and of eternal life.

Gospel: John 20:1-18

All four Gospels tell of Christ’s resurrection, of course, but each presents a different viewpoint, offering us a textured, multi-dimensional account when we consider them all. Here in John’s narrative we follow Mary Magdalene, recognizing her in these tender verses as the only one who stayed behind at the empty tomb after the others had left. John portrays her as the first person to meet and speak with the risen Christ, and the one sent to proclaim the good news of his resurrection to the others. As in many other Gospel accounts of the risen Christ encountering his friends in unexpected ways, Mary did not recognize Jesus at first. But when he calls her name, you can feel the joy in her delighted response, “Rabbouni!”

Alternate Gospel: Luke 24:1-12

Eyewitness accounts of any great account often differ on the details, and the Gospels’ resurrection narratives are certainly no exception.​ ​​Only Luke, for example, tells us that the women​ who had come with Jesus from Galilee were the first to learn that Jesus was risen; and he even tells us the names of three of them: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. When they ran back to tell the men this wonderful news, though, the men thought they were only telling “an idle tale,” until Peter ran to the empty tomb to see for himself.

Easter 7B

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for May 13, 2018

Election of St. Matthias

Tirage nomination de saint Matthias (Election of St. Matthias by drawing lots), 12th century painting in the parish church of the vallée de l’Aisne, France. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Acts 1:15-17, 21-26

Three days after Ascension Thursday and one week before Pentecost Sunday, our readings for the last Sunday after Easter mark a pause in time, a moment when the world is about to turn. Our first reading from Acts finds the apostles gathering just after Jesus has been taken into heaven, lifted up into a cloud. Next Sunday we will hear of the Holy Spirit coming down like wind and fire, inspiring the apostles to take the Gospel into the world. But first, asking God’s guidance, they cast lots and choose Matthias to take the place in their numbers left by the departure of Judas, the traitor who betrayed Jesus.

Psalm 1

The first of all the Psalms begins the book with a promise: Happiness awaits those who walk in the way of God. The 150 Psalms, the ancient hymns of the Jerusalem temple, sing an emotional range from joy to fear to anger to sadness to thanksgiving, but the joy of following God provides a recurring bass line. Psalm 1 also celebrates delight in the law, the Torah, understood not as mere regulation but God’s holy teaching: God showing us how to live in love of God and neighbor.

Second Reading: 1 John 5:9-13

Our Eastertide voyage through the first Letter of John concludes today with part of its last chapter. This letter written in the spirit of John’s Gospel by later members of the Johannine community. Its consistent, uplifting theme reassures us again in these verses that we gain eternal life through God’s love given us in Jesus: “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

Gospel: John 17:6-19

In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus spends the night before his crucifixion praying in the Garden of Gethsemane while the apostles wait and try not to fall asleep. John’s Gospel is different: Here we hear Jesus after the last supper, talking to his disciples and praying for them, preparing them to move ahead after he has gone . Having protected and guarded the apostles – losing only Judas from the flock – Jesus now asks God to protect them as Jesus sends them out into the world, as God had sent Jesus out into the world.

Easter 6B

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for May 6, 2018

Jesus giving the Farewell Discourse to his Apostles

Detail of Jesus giving the Farewell Discourse to his Apostles after the Last Supper (1308-1311); Maestà, tempera on wood altarpiece by Duccio di Buoninsegna (1255-1319). Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Acts 10:44-48

Sunday’s readings build on the theme that we heard last Sunday: God’s love pours out on all the world, and we are called to love each other as God loves us. Our first reading marks a key turning point in Acts: The joyful reaction of a Gentile crowd to Peter’s teaching reveals to the apostles that the Holy Spirit comes to everyone, not only Jewish Christians but Gentiles too. Everyone. Peter asks, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” The answer is clear: Baptism is for all. As we heard in last week’s reading about the Ethiopian eunuch, “Here is water. What is to prevent it?”

Psalm: Psalm 98

This triumphant hymn of faith in God’s power is consistent with the theme that we hear throughout today’s readings: God’s victory shows divine mercy and faithfulness for Israel, but it is not a victory for Israel alone. God will judge not only Israel but all the people of the earth with mercy and equity. In a resounding symphony of thanksgiving, not only the people but even the sea, the lands, the rivers and hills ring out their joy, singing to the Lord a new song.

Second Reading: 1 John 5:1-6

Our second reading and Gospel continue seamlessly where last Sunday’s readings left off, expanding on the same theme. We are commanded to love one another as Jesus loves us. Now we learn in the First Letter of John that the way to love God – to become a child of God – is by obeying God’s commandments, a direction that follows the Jewish tradition of love for God’s law and teaching. In words that echo the triumphant sentiment of today’s Psalm, we hear that our faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God brings God’s victory into the world.

Gospel: John 15:9-17

Mark, Matthew and Luke all tell us that Jesus taught – in the spirit of the essential Jewish prayer, the Shema – that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart and soul and strength and mind. Then Jesus connects the dots: It follows, then, that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. In John’s Gospel Jesus expands on this theme. Just as God has loved Jesus, so Jesus loves us. Therefore, he commands, “Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Through our faith we go out and bear fruit that will last, like the branches of the vine in last week’s Gospel.

Easter 5B

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for April 29, 2018

The Baptism of the Eunuch

The Baptism of the Eunuch (1626). Oil painting on oak panel by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669). Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht, Netherlands. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Acts 8:26-40

Hear this assuring message through Sunday’s readings: God’s abiding love is open to all humankind. It showers on us as a free gift. The Acts reading offers a sweet, funny story of the young church: All are welcome, no matter who they are. To join the young Christian community through baptism, all you had to do was ask. Even an Ethiopian eunuch – a foreigner from a strange land, barred from Judaism because his physical condition made him biblically unclean – was eagerly welcomed as an equal. With mutual joy, right there on the spot, Philip baptized him as one of us.

Psalm: Psalm 22:24-30

This relatively short passage comes from a longer Psalm that begins with the memorable words that Jesus uttered from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The despair of the opening two verses quickly turns, though, to the message we hear in this reading, a statement that resonates with Philip’s warm welcome to the Ethiopian eunuch: God is the ruler of all the world’s nations: those already born and all those yet to come. We live for God, we serve God, we praise God, and we fulfill our vow to God by caring for the poor and feeding the hungry.

Second Reading: 1 John 4:7-21

Sunday’s verses from the first letter of John both reflect and add to Jesus’ unforgettable promise as told by John the Evangelist: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you … love one another as I have loved you.” (We will hear that passage, by the way, in next week’s Gospel.) This reading, like last week’s, assures us of God’s love, and in doing so it calls us to action. “Love one another” is not just a suggestion: It incorporates a covenant promise. If we can’t love our brothers and sisters, how can we make room in our hearts for God?

Gospel: John 15:1-8

For the remaining Sundays of Eastertide, our Gospel readings will draw from John’s account of Jesus’ long farewell to his disciples at the Last Supper. Here, Jesus uses the vineyard as an extended metaphor for our relationship with God through Christ. Clearly describing vineyard practices that continue with little change to this day, Jesus shows us how God cuts out weaker branches in order to make the vines strong and productive. We must abide in God as God abides in us; otherwise we risk being pruned and discarded as the weak vines are. But when we abide in God through Jesus, living in God like a sturdy branch on a nurturing vine, we will be strong and fruitful.

Easter 4B

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for April 22, 2018

Good Shepherd

Christ as the Good Shepherd (1750), by an unknown artist from Lower Bavaria. Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Acts 4:5-12

This Sunday, coincidentally falling on Earth Day this year, is called “Good Shepherd Sunday” for its focus on God’s protective love. In our first reading from Acts, we see Peter again, brave and bold with the power of the Holy Spirit. He and John have been arrested by the Temple authorities for healing a paralyzed man and preaching that the resurrected Jesus is the Messiah. Unafraid, he reminds them that they are the ones who crucified Jesus, whom God then raised from the dead and – quoting the Psalm 118 verses that we heard on Palm Sunday and Easter – made Jesus, the stone they had rejected, into the cornerstone of salvation.

Psalm: Psalm 23

When Christians read the beloved verses of the 23rd Psalm, we may well imagine the face of Jesus as the Good Shepherd who walks beside us through the valley of the shadow of death. Indeed, John’s Gospel shows us Jesus declaring himself the Good Shepherd in today’s Gospel reading. Originally, of course, the people sang this Psalm in thanksgiving and praise for God, who brought them out of exile and led them home, serving them a lavish banquet while their vanquished enemies could only look on.

Second Reading: 1 John 3:16-24

Jesus loved us so much that he laid down his life for us. This beloved idea from John’s Gospel – which we see reflected here in the first letter in John’s name – is just about as reassuring as the 23rd Psalm. But the rest of this reading becomes challenging when we hear that we are to lay down our lives for one another too. We must not refuse help to a brother or sister in need. In short, we are to be not only sheep, but shepherds, too. Filled with God’s love, we are called to be bold, just as Peter was bold, fired by the Holy Spirit just as Peter was inspired.

Gospel: John 10:11-18

If we step back and read this chapter of John its full context, this seemingly simple narrative intriguingly mirrors today’s reading in Acts. Much like the authorities confronting Peter and John in Acts over their healing and preaching, here the Pharisees are angry and alarmed because Jesus healed a blind man on the Sabbath, prompting people to speak of Jesus as the Messiah. Suddenly we realize that Jesus isn’t gently reassuring us by calling himself the Good Shepherd; he is pushing back hard against the Pharisees. If the people are harmless sheep, the Pharisees are the vicious wolves who prey upon them. Jesus declares that he will lay down his life for the sheep, and that he will live again.

Easter 3B

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for April 15, 2018

The dinner at Emmaus

La cena de Emaús (The dinner at Emmaus, 1620); oil painting by Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) . The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Acts 3:12-19

Christ, the Messiah, has come for all the world. We’ll hear this promise repeated through Sunday’s readings. In the Acts passage, Peter and John have just healed a beggar who could not walk, to the amazement of everyone who saw this once-disabled man walking and praising God. Peter tells the crowd that this man was healed through the power of Jesus, the Messiah, whom they had rejected and had killed, but who will forgive them if they turn to him. It’s best to set aside the ancient echoes of anti-Judaism that we hear now and then in Acts. Hear, rather, God’s gracious promise that forgiveness through the Holy Spirit is available to all humankind.

Psalm: Psalm 4

You may hear the lovely Taizé hymn, “When I call, answer me,” in your head as you read this Psalm. In contrast with the many angry Psalms that call on God to crush and destroy the foe, Psalm 4 raises up a more quiet and trusting confidence that’s echoed in the Taize hymn: “O Lord, hear my prayer … when I call, answer me.” We ask that the light of God’s countenance shine upon us, and we are grateful that we can sleep in peace, knowing that God is watching over us.

Second Reading: 1 John 3:1-7

In a message that resonates with Peter’s speech in Acts, the author of First John assures the people of the early church that we become the children of God through the gift of God’s love as revealed to us through Jesus. Although the world does not seem to know this yet, the writer assures his audience, the world will eventually come to do so. Meanwhile, doing what is right keeps us in relationship with God through Jesus and thus free from sin, for there is surely no sin in Jesus.

Gospel: Luke 24:36b-48

We turn to Luke’s Gospel for one more account of the resurrected Jesus, picking up the narrative just as the two disciples who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus have returned to tell the rest. Suddenly Jesus is standing with them, such a shocking apparition that they respond not with joy but surprise and terror, as if a ghost had appeared! Much as he did for Thomas in John’s Gospel, Jesus invites them to examine and touch his wounds. He takes a piece of fish to eat, perhaps to show that he is no ghost but solid flesh and blood. Then he declares himself the Messiah, and declares that repentance and forgiveness of sins will go out in his name to all nations.

Easter 2B

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for April 8, 2018

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas

Incredulità di San Tommaso (The Incredulity of Saint Thomas), oil painting (1601-1602) by Michele Angelo Amerighi da Caravaggio (1571-1610). Sanssouci Palace of Frederick the Great, Potsdam, Germany. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Acts 4:32-35

Christ is risen, and we move forward with joy into the 50 days of Eastertide. Sunday’s readings offer us insights into the meaning of resurrection in our lives. Our first readings during the season come from the Acts of the Apostles, the evangelist Luke’s story of the life of the early church. Luke’s Gospel consistently emphasizes Jesus’ command to avoid riches and serve the poor and the oppressed. Now in Acts Luke shows members of the early church following Christ’s example, sharing all possessions and caring for the poor. What can we glean from this to guide life in Christ today?

Psalm: Psalm 133

Sunday’s short Psalm celebrates the joy of a community that lives together in unity like brothers and sisters, a theme that foreshadows the sharing lifestyle that Luke shows us in the early church. The earthy image of anointing oil running down Aaron’s head, beard and robe may sound less than appealing to modern sensibilities, but – perhaps akin to the Gospel accounts of the woman anointing Jesus with very expensive ointment – this reminds us that the most desirable luxuries are not to be hoarded but abundantly shared.

Second Reading: 1 John 1:1-2:2

We will hear parts of the First Letter of John every Sunday during Eastertide. This letter was written in John’s name long after his life, but its overall style is consistent with John’s Gospel, as is the emphasis that it places on love and on Jesus as the Word and the Light. If we walk in the light just as Jesus is in the light, John’s first letter tells us, we have fellowship with one another akin to the fellowship of the early apostles. We only deceive ourselves if we think we are free from sin, it goes on. But when we confess our sins, God will forgive our sins and restore our righteousness through Christ.

Gospel: John 20:19-31

After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples at many times and places, the Gospels tell us, often in mysterious ways. In today’s Gospel, the terrified apostles are hiding. Suddenly Jesus is with them in a locked room! Their fear is turned to joy, but Thomas, who missed Jesus’ first appearance, refuses to believe that Jesus is alive until he sees him and his wounds for himself. Jesus doesn’t show anger but offers Thomas peace; but he also asks Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me?” Then, in words for us all to consider, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”