Second Sunday of Easter, April 16, 2023: Acts 2:14a,22-32; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31; Psalm 16
As someone who has lived their life in the northern hemisphere, Easter has always coincided with spring. The celebration of Easter, from the Alleluias and trumpets to the extravagance of flowers, has always been joyful and exuberant.
But the disciples did not greet the resurrection with celebration, but with fear. In today’s Gospel, on the day of the resurrection they had locked the doors of the house “for fear of the Jews”. After all, Jesus had been crucified very publicly, and then suddenly his body had disappeared from the tomb. When Jesus shows up, he just appears.
The story continues with Thomas, the doubter. He wasn’t there when Jesus appeared to the others, and he does not believe it. Like so many of us, Thomas wants evidence, the marks of the nails and the holes in his side.
I’ve long thought of Thomas as a friend, someone who give me permission for doubt. But it occurs to me that the whole story is about how we operate in the world. When we are afraid, not just physically but emotionally, sometimes God shows up. Jesus doesn’t knock, he just walks in. In life, it’s often not in the way we expect, so we don’t recognize it. All we know is that we made it through something.
So this week I am thinking about times when I have been afraid, and the ways I’ve been supported. Unlike Thomas, we don’t get to poke the holes of the nails. But we can (if only in retrospect) recognize Jesus’ presence with us in time of trial.
Easter is one day. We don’t live always in the extravagant joy we now express then; we often live in the fear and anxiety the disciples experienced. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe,” Jesus tells Thomas. We have not seen as Thomas did, but maybe we too have had the experience of Jesus in our midst.
When I realize it is Jesus “in our midst “,I do not see him all the way clear to let him know I fully understand or receive the good news of peace and fall short in moving past my anxiety and fears. I share with deep gratitude for calling attention to my need for more Faith in Jesus.