Homily for 2d Sunday of Easter

Homily for the
2d Sunday of Easter

April 14, 1985

John 20: 19-31
Acts 4: 32-35
1 John 5: 1-6
St. Joseph, Florida, N.Y.

I was away for a family celebration this past weekend.  Herewith a homily from the archives.

“Jesus came and stood among them and said to them ‘Peace be with you.’  When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side” (John 20: 19-20).

The Incredulity of Thomas

(Maerten De Vos)

The readings for this last day of the Easter Octave take us beyond the immediate shock, the immediate joy, of the resurrection.  In them we see not only who Jesus is but what Jesus does and what he expects us to do.

1.  Who is Jesus?  Jesus is the one whom the Father has raised up from the grave; the one “who came by water,” i.e., who was pointed out in the ministry of John the Baptist and in the water jars of Cana; the one who came also “in blood,” i.e., who was pointed out in the sacrifice of Calvary (1 John 5:6).  Jesus is the “child of God” (1 John 5:1) whom the Father has anointed as Lord, king, savior of mankind.  Jesus is the one whom Thomas confesses to be his Lord and his God, not only because he sees him alive but also because Thomas recognizes that Jesus has conquered pain and death.  It is a wounded and scarred Jesus who stands before the eleven, who stands triumphant before us.

2.  What does Jesus do?  Jesus is the wounded healer. Only the one who has suffered can bring peace.  “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness,” the Letter to the Hebrews tell us (9:22).  Jesus bestows peace upon all those who will allow him to be present to them.  He bestows the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins (John 20:21-23) and the reconciliation of mankind with our Father.  He enables us to love the Father and one another and, in this love, to obey the Father’s wishes; in this love, to overcome the world of sin, of pain, and of death, as he did (l John 5:2-5).  Jesus makes us one heart and mind with all God’s children (Acts 4:32; John 5:1-2).

3.  What does Jesus expect of us?  He expects, first, that we will believe in him without seeing him in his risen and wounded body, as Thomas did (John 20:29).  Then he expects that we will live our faith by loving our brothers and sisters (1 John 5:2), not just in word but in deed.  How shall we love in deed?  The first Christians give us the example:  “No one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own….  There was not a needy person among them … and distribution was made to each as any had need” (Acts 4:32,34-35).  They showed a practical oneness, a practical faith, a practical love, a practical initiation of their Lord Jesus by their generosity with this world’s goods.  And so their faith became “the victory that overcomes the world” (1 John 5:4).

Such a generosity toward the needy in our own community or around the world not only unites us to Christ and to our brothers and sisters.  It also makes us like Christ, wounded healers.  For giving does hurt a little, but it heals so much!

I heard just 2 days ago of a family in Paterson that agreed not to exchange Christmas gifts, but instead to give the money for famine relief in Ethiopia; they gave over $1,000!  “We are the world,” indeed, when Christ makes us one:  the wounded, self-emptying Christ, the risen Christ, the Christ who gives us his peace and his Holy Spirit, the Christ who challenges us to believe in him and to overcome the powers of sin and selfishness and death with him.