SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER C
Divine Mercy Sunday
This past week, as I read over this Sunday’s gospel reading, I was reminded that the first Easter did not take place in a crowded church, filled with singing and flowers. As a matter of fact, on that first Easter Sunday, the disciples were locked in a house.
Because they were friends with Jesus, it was dangerous for them to go out. Filled with fear, they wanted to believe the good news that they had heard from the women that morning, but it seemed too good to be true…Could Jesus really be alive?
If they left their homes, their lives – and perhaps the lives of their loved ones – might be at risk. Could this terror and fear really be coming to an end?
Huddled in that house, could the disciples dare to believe that hope was possible, that God’s love and peace were more powerful than a pandemic of anxiety?
Do you know that one of the most common commands in the Bible is some variation of, do not be afraid? And this is often followed by the phrase, for I am with you.
Don’t let anyone tell you that Easter was cancelled this year! Just like the disciples, it may even be possible to encounter the risen Christ more profoundly while locked in our homes, than if we were able to gather in our churches.
Easter matters and it cannot be cancelled because it changes everything. Without the resurrection of Jesus, we’d still be stuck in our sins, we’d be powerless over our present problems, and we’d be filled with fear about the future. But, everything changed when Jesus rose from the dead.
No, Easter cannot be cancelled and hope cannot be quarantined!
The evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the authorities, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
“As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” Christ’s peace is given to us so that we will engage in his mission. He saves us in order to send us into the world. The disciples are given a message that cannot be kept in a locked room. Likewise, we cannot get too comfortable within the walls of a church building or our own homes.
This week while I was online I saw an ad for a t-shirt that I liked. It simply had the line printed on it; The Church has left the building. The gospel message is to go out, not stay in. Christianity does not simply put out a sign that says come on in. Christianity also puts on its shoes and goes on out.
In order to do this, we need the peace and the hope that the resurrection brings – now more than ever. We need the peace of the Holy Spirit to carry us through this pandemic, despite not knowing what our new lives will be like when the fear of suffering and death subsides and resurrection and new life become a reality once again in our world.