Easter Sunday, 2022

The four gospels all tell us about the Resurrection of Jesus, but the stories are all a little different.  This is in contrast to the way they handle the passion and death of Jesus -- pretty much the same from evangelist to evangelist.  Needless to say, scholars have spent a lot of time discussing the discrepancies.  But there are some common threads.  The first is that the Resurrection begins with an empty tomb.  The second is that the people who discover the empty tomb are women; not as significant now as it was then.  In that society women were not considered reliable witnesses and their testimony meant a lot less than that of a man in a court of law.  But all the gospels insist on this fact.  The third is that those women who discovered the empty tomb met with some kind of supernatural being or beings -- men dressed in white, two angels, one angel, a young man -- but something supernatural explained that Jesus had risen from the dead, and this is the important part -- as he had promised. And the fourth is that when Jesus appeared to people, they at first did not recognize him.   

Sure, the scriptures tell us that Jesus appeared to his apostles, later on to more than 500 people, surely to Paul.  But when you think about it, you either believe those witnesses or you don’t.  It’s like so many things we hear about.  If I hear that the Blessed Mother is appearing to people in Medjugorje, I guess I neither believe nor disbelieve.  I figure if she wants to give me a special message, she knows where to find me.  It’s the same with the appearances of Jesus.  I’m sure they were momentous to the apostles and the first Christians.  The appearances of Jesus gave them the courage to preach the gospel and to suffer a martyr's death.  But in the long run, you either believe those witnesses or you don’t.  Or if you are like me you neither believe or disbelieve; that's just the way I am.

But the tomb was empty.  If you or I open a tomb, we would expect to find a body, probably in some state of deterioration.  Even the bodies of saints that have been preserved are not quite like living bodies; no matter what, you can tell that they are no longer alive.  But the astonishing thing about the tomb of Jesus is that you don’t encounter death there, you can’t help asking, just as the women did, “Who did this, who took the body away?”  

Not only don’t you encounter death in the tomb, but you encounter life.  You are reminded that he predicted this.  While he was living among you, he reminded you over and over again that this must happen, that the scriptures foretold this event, that the Son of Man must be tortured and put to death, and to rise again on the third day.  What the women encountered was a special insight from heaven, kind of like when Peter realized that Jesus was the Messiah of God.  

Now you have to ask, why women?  We could quibble over how many women were at the empty tomb;  we know one woman was there at least, and that was Mary Magdalene.  But remember, you certainly don’t have to believe women.  In the Gospel of Luke it says that the women returned to the apostles and kept telling them about what they had witnessed, but the apostles didn't believe them.  I like to picture the women who kept telling.  They didn’t say it once, they said it over and over.  But the apostles didn’t have to believe women.  

And maybe that’s the point.  Peter and John eventually go to the tomb and see for themselves that it’s empty -- but there is no angel to tell them why.  They go home wondering what it all means; they still don’t believe..  

Saint Paul tells us that if Christ did not rise from the dead, our faith is futile, and we are still in our sins.  If it is only for this life that we have hope in Christ, then we are to be pitied more than all men.  And that is the mystery.

There are scholars who have studied the scriptures and concluded that Jesus was a good man and a fine teacher, but that’s all.  There are others who talk about a mass hallucination that convinced those early Christians that Jesus had conquered death.  Some in fact think the hallucination came from God.  And there were a lot of theories among the enemies of Christianity -- in the Gospel of Matthew, the soldiers are told to say that someone came and stole the body while they were sleeping.  

In the end we are all in the position of Peter and John, of Thomas, of Mary Magdalene, of the two followers on the way to Emmaus.  If the Resurrection ofJesus is to mean anything to us, we must believe, we must have faith, we must totally commit to this as a fact, like the sun coming up in the morning, or the flowers that burst forth in the spring.  Because we all stand before the empty tomb that tells us death has been conquered for you and I if we believe that Jesus did what he promised to do.  As Jesus told Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen, but have come to believe.”

Second Sunday of Easter, cycle C

 John 20:19 - 31

There is a science called “heuristics''. It’s very important in bible study; it’s the attempt to get back to the original meaning of the text -- not only what the words meant originally, but what the audience heard. So heuristics means that we have to know what was going on historically, what pressures the audience felt; and we need to know what the words meant to the writer and to the audience. And that brings us to the story in John about the first and second appearances of Christ to his apostles.

The first thing to notice is that the doors were locked, for fear of the Jews. According to John, Jesus simply appeared in their midst. But he does more than that, he shows them his hands and his feet. They see the nail holes. And then he performs a god-like act -- he breathes on them and tells them to receive the Holy Spirit. This reminds us of how God breathed life into clay when he formed Adam. He also gives them the power to forgive sin -- a power only God has and only God can give.

John’s gospel account next moves to a week later when Thomas, who was not there originally, is now present and is doubting what his brother apostles are telling him. And at that point Jesus appears and offers Thomas what he said it would take to be convinced, to believe. After Thomas says, “My Lord and my God '' -- and this is the first time a human being has called him God -- Jesus tells Thomas “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” And our gospel goes on to give us the whole reason it was written -- so that you may come to believe, and through that belief you may have life in his name.

Now this is where heuristics is helpful. The original Greek has the apostles saying “We have been seeing the Lord!” Thomas did not just go out for coffee while Jesus appeared; he probably temporarily left the community out of discouragement. But discouraged or not, he makes the decision to return. That’s why the author tells us that Thomas was “with” them. He

Has missed out on the appearances, and being from Missouri, is not going to take anyone’s word for this. After all, didn’t Jesus promise all kinds of things and here he was, crucified, dead and as far as Thomas knew, still in the tomb. I suspect Thomas was sort of saying “I won’t be fooled twice.” But again, his mind doesn’t believe, his heart is broken, but he believes with his feet. He returns to the community.,

And that is why Jesus offers his wounds to Thomas. Because it’s the only way Thomas can believe.

And what about that word “believe”? In Greek, it is pistou, which doesn’t translate easily

Into English. In fact in some places it is better translated as “trust”. In any event it doesn’t mean purely intellectual agreement - I believe two and two is four. Jesus wants Thomas to believe not just with his feet, but with his heart and with his mind as well. He wants Thomas to commit.

Jesus blesses you and I who believe without seeing -- that’s good. But again, Jesus is calling us to do more than agree that he rose from the dead. The author of the Gospel goes on to tell us the whole reason he wrote the book is so that you and I may come to believe, in this total way, that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, in this total way -- a way that makes a difference in our lives, because if it doesn’t make a difference, it doesn’t get us to life in His name.

You and I have been raised to believe that there is something we have to do in order to receive a reward. And yet, Jesus, over and over again, compares God to a father. A father doesn’t put conditions on what he does for his children. It’s the nature of a father to provide for his children. Even if a child divorces himself from his father, the father welcomes him back if he chooses to return. Sure, the scriptures tell us that it’s possible for someone to live a life that essentially tells God to get lost. We see that around us today. But in this story in the gospel of John, we see that whatever we need to believe, to trust -- Jesus will provide. In the meantime, like Thomas before the revelation of Jesus’ wounds, we need to have the faith of our feet, we need to stay with the assembly of the apostles, we need to live as though we believe even if it’s hard to do. Because this gospel tells us that Jesus will always,always, give us what we need to trust him, to believe in him, to give us life in his name.