Sunday, April 19, 2020

Second Sunday of Easter

The Revised Common Lectionary passages for the Lord’s Day are:

First Reading: Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Psalm 16
Second Reading: I Peter 1:3-9
Gospel Reading: John 20:19-31

The liturgical color for the day is: White

The text meets our reality in a way that it has not previously.  Jesus is alive and Jesus has arrived.  It is not only about what Jesus did then and there; it is also about what he does here and now. 

Jesus is alive and Jesus has arrived.  We are now the ones behind the closed and locked doors.  We are in the same position as those disciples of old.  There is little we can do beyond staying home.  With them we face an immediate future of uncertainty.

It is in that space and place where the risen Jesus appears.  Perhaps this truth is enough and we need to strongly lay firm claim upon the truth that Jesus appears with us behind our locked doors. 

In this moment we need to receive the proclamations of the text.  “Peace be with you”—here it is far more than a casual greeting.  It is an imperative.  The peace of God meets us in our anxiety about today, the rest of the week, and however many more weeks we face this isolation.  Peace is with us, and while it does not erase the anxiety, it certainly confronts it.

Thomas’s proclamation is a firm statement of faith: “My Lord and my God!”  I dare say that given our circumstances we may be a little less harsh with our designation of Thomas as “Doubting Thomas.”  We are acquainted with doubt when we are confronted with uncertainty.  Thomas’ doubt is transformed with boisterous affirmation when he encounters the risen Lord.

The risen Lord meets us right where we are.  Yes, in our locked door homes, but more than that in the fragility of our emotions, in the face of our uncertainty, and in the icky anxiety we know now all-to-well.  In all of that the Christ is among us.

The Lord is with you.  Receive.  Shalom.  The living fullness of God’s presence.  Receive.

Rev. Dr. Daris Bultena
General Presbyter and Stated Clerk