Second Sunday of Easter, cycle A

JOHN 20:19-31
ABOUT 1900 YEARS AGO IN WHAT IS WESTERN TURKEY TODAY, THE LAST LIVING APOSTLE SAT IN HIS STUDY, WONDERING WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO HIS FLOCK. WHEN HE HAD FIRST MOVED TO THIS AREA TAKING ALONG MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS, HE HAD PREACHED THE GOOD NEWS, AND ATTRACTED MANY CONVERTS. HE HAD ORDAINED DEACONS AND PRESBYTERS AND HAD A THRIVING, ENTHUSIASTIC CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY, AND ALL THIS WAS HELPED BECAUSE THIS WAS AN AREA WHERE THE HEAVY HAND OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE WAS NOT SO MUCH IN EVIDENCE. HIS FLOCK WAS NOT PARTICULARLY PERSECUTED, AND THEY GOT ALONG WITH THEIR PAGAN NEIGHBORS AND WITH THE JEWISH COMMUNITY AS WELL.; MAYBE THAT WAS BECAUSE THE MOTHER OF JESUS LIVED IN THEIR MIDST. GOD HAD TRULY BLESSED THEM AND SPARED THEM FROM THE TERRIBLE THINGS WHICH HAPPENED TO CHRISTIANS IN ALMOST EVERY OTHER PART OF THE EMPIRE.
BUT JOHN SENSED THAT SOMETHING HAD CHANGED. THE PEOPLE WERE CONTENT; THEY HAD LOST THEIR EDGE. THEY WENT TO CHURCH AND PARTICIPATED IN THE LITURGY, BUT YOU COULDN'T TELL THEM FROM THEIR NEIGHBORS ANYMORE. PROSPEROUS BUSINESSMEN, WELL-DRESSED MATRONS – RICH CHRISTIANS SPENT MORE TIME WITH RICH PAGANS THAN WITH THE POOR CHRISTIANS. AND THE OLD BISHOP KNOWING THAT HIS LIFE WAS DRAWING TO A CLOSE, DECIDED TO WRITE AN ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE OF JESUS IN THE HOPES THAT IF HE COULD MAKE THIS MORE REAL TO HIS PEOPLE, THEY COULD BELIEVE – AND BY BELIEF, HE MEANT THEY WOULD TAKE THE MESSAGE OF JESUS SERIOUSLY.
THINGS ARE NOT TOO DIFFERENT TODAY. OUR DIOCESE HAS COME A LONG WAY DURING MY LIFETIME AND YOURS, AND IN THE WRONG WAY. THE LAST FEW YEARS HAVE SEEN CLOSING OF PARISHES, A LOSS OF ABOUT A THIRD OF THE PERSONNEL WORKING FOR THE DIOCESE; HARDLY ANY PRESENCE OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS – AND OF COURSE THE SCANDALS AND THE LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY THAT HAVE BEEN GIVEN IN SETTLEMENTS. I WON'T BORE YOU WITH STATISTICS, BUT THEY ARE PRETTY DEPRESSING.
AND YOU KNOW, WE DON'T SEEM TO KNOW WHAT TO DO. WE ARE GOING THROUGH A BIG EFFORT TO REVISE THE LITURGY. THAT'S WONDERFUL, BUT WILL IT BRING PEOPLE BACK TO THE CHURCH? I DOUBT IT. WE JUST GOT THROUGH ANOTHER EASTER. HUGE CROWDS AT EVERY MASS. WHERE ARE THEY TODAY?
WHAT'S THE ANSWER? I DON'T KNOW. BUT THE READINGS TODAY ARE INTERESTING, ESPECIALLY IF YOU READ THEM BACKWARD. THINK ABOUT THOSE APOSTLES – AFRAID, LOCKED IN A ROOM, NOT LETTING ANYONE IN, NOT DARING TO GO OUT. AND JESUS APPEARS IN THEIR MIDST, AND GIVES THEM HIS PEACE, AND GIVES THEM HIS SPIRIT, AND GIVES THEM SOMETHING NO KING, NO EMPEROR, NO PROPHET HAD EVER HAD – THE POWER TO FORGIVE SINS. AND HE TELLS THEM TO GO OUT, TO TRANSFORM THE WORLD.
THAT'S GREAT, ISN'T IT? BUT NOTICE, A WEEK LATER, THEY ARE STILL THERE, STILL LOCKED UP, STILL WONDERING WHETHER IT IS SAFE TO GO OUT. AND THOMAS SAYS, WHEN THEY TELL HIM THEY HAVE SEEN THE LORD, “I WILL NOT BELIEVE”. IS THOMAS JUST A WORLD-CLASS SKEPTIC? AFTER ALL, THE WORDS “DOUBTING THOMAS” HAVE BECOME PART OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. IS THOMAS BEING STUBBORN, BECAUSE JESUS APPEARED TO THE OTHER APOSTLES, BUT NOT TO HIM? WE CAN SPECULATE. BUT MAYBE THE ANSWER IS STARING US IN THE FACE.
“YOU TELL ME YOU SAW JESUS ALIVE? YOU TELL ME THAT HE GAVE YOU HIS SPIRIT AND SENT YOU TO PREACH HIS GOSPEL? YOU TELL ME HE GAVE YOU THE PEACE THAT WAS ALWAYS WITH HIM, THE PEACE THAT GAVE HIM THE COURAGE TO TELL THE TRUTH, TO CONFRONT THE AUTHORITIES, TO LIVE WITHOUT FEAR? AND YOU ARE STILL HERE, LOCKED IN THIS ROOM? I DON'T BELIEVE YOU.”
AND MAYBE THAT'S OUR PROBLEM TOO. WE ARE LIKE THOSE TEN APOSTLES, LOADED WITH GREAT SPIRITUAL GIFTS, GIVEN PROMISES BY GOD HIMSELF WHO CANNOT LIE; AND LET'S FACE IT, WE'VE WITNESSED GOD'S WORK IN OUR LIVES, THE BIRTH OF A CHILD, THE WEDDING TO OUR BEST FRIEND, AND LITTLE GRACES AS WELL, LIKE THE FLOWERS THAT ARE BLOOMING OUTSIDE THE CHURCH AND GIVING US BEAUTY, AS A PURE GIFT, FOR NO OTHER PURPOSE THAN TO DELIGHT US. AND LIKE THE APOSTLES, WE STAY LOCKED UP, AFRAID TO VENTURE OUT, AFRAID TO WITNESS TO THE WORLD WHAT WE KNOW – CHRIST HAS RISEN, DEATH IS CONQUERED, ETERNAL LIFE IS OURS.
THE SECOND READING FROM THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER IS A SERMON. NOW PETER IS FIRED UP. HE TELLS US OF AN INHERITANCE WHICH CANNOT BE DESTROYED, WAITING FOR US IN HEAVEN. EVEN OUR SUFFERINGS ARE VALUABLE BECAUSE THEY STRENGTHEN OUR FAITH AND THUS OUR LOVE.
AND IN THE FIRST READING, WE GET A GLIMPSE OF HOW IT WAS IN THOSE FIRST DAYS OF THE CHURCH – A COMMUNITY WHICH BY THE WAY THEY LIVED THE GOSPELS BECAME A UNIVERSAL CHURCH THAT GREW AND PROSPERED DESPITE PERSECUTIONS AND CORRUPT POPES AND KINGS, DESPITE SCHISMS AND HERESIES. AND DOWN THROUGH THE AGES, CHRISTIANS HAVE SEEN THEIR COMMUNITIES WITHER AND SOMETIMES DISAPPEAR AND FELT DESPAIR. BUT EVERY NOW AND THEN AN INDIVIDUAL OR A COMMUNITY REALLY LISTENED TO WHAT THAT OLD BISHOP JOHN HAD TO SAY, AND THEY HEARD THE PROMISES AND HEARD ABOUT THE RESURRECTION WHICH GUARANTEED THOSE PROMISES. AND EVERY NOW AND THEN A REAL CHRISTIAN WOULD FALL ON HIS OR HER KNEES AND SAY “MY LORD AND MY GOD!” BECAUSE IF YOU SAY THAT FROM THE BOTTOM OF YOUR SOUL, YOU CAN'T HELP BUT BE CHANGED, THE PEACE OF JESUS WILL TAKE AWAY YOUR FEAR, AND THE SPIRIT OF JESUS WILL PUT THE WORDS IN YOUR MOUTH AND GUIDE YOUR ACTIONS, AND THE CHURCH WILL CATCH ON FIRE ONCE AGAIN, AND JOHN'S GOSPEL WILL ACHIEVE IT'S GOAL, SO THAT YOU WILL BELIEVE, SO THAT YOU WILL HAVE LIFE.
THIS IS MERCY SUNDAY. GOD HAS FORGIVEN US. HE HAS GIVEN US JESUS HIS SON. HE HAS FORGIVEN OUR SINS, AND STANDS READY TO FORGIVE US AGAIN AND AGAIN. AND JESUS LIVES! CAN YOU REALLY BELIEVE THIS AND KEEP QUIET? AND IF YOU ARE QUIET, WHO WILL SEE YOU AND SAY, “I DO NOT BELIEVE, BECAUSE IF YOUR BELIEF MAKES NO DIFFERENCE IN YOUR LIFE, IF YOUR BELIEF IN THIS STUPENDOUS SET OF IDEAS DOES NOT MAKE YOU DIFFERENT, IF YOU BELIEVE ALL THIS AND DON'T SAY SOMETHING, THEN YOU DON'T REALLY BELIEVE IT AT ALL, DO YOU?”
AS ANOTHER FRIEND OF JESUS ONCE SAID, "LORD, I BELIEVE; HELP MY UNBELIEF."