Sermon by the rev'd. John Bauerschmidt

The Second Sunday of Easter

The Second Sunday of Easter, Year C
April 22, 2001
Christ Church, Covington

"Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." (Jo. 20:29)

Our Gospel reading on this Second Sunday of Easter transports us back to the events of Easter Day, and the appearance of Jesus to the disciples on the evening of the Day of Resurrection. As John tells it, the disciples are present with the exception of Thomas; Jesus appears suddenly and greets them with the word of peace. He shows them the marks of the wounds upon his body to establish his identity; he breathes upon them and gives them the Holy Spirit. Jesus sends them into the world as he himself has been sent; he gives them the power to declare the forgiveness of sins and their retention as well.

Yet Thomas is not present, and declares to the others that he will not believe unless he sees and handles the wounds. This brings us forward a week into the future when the disciples are again gathered, this time with Thomas. Once again, Jesus appears with the familiar greeting of peace. He addresses himself to Thomas, and invites both his gaze and his touch. "Do not doubt", he says, "but believe" (Jo. 20:27). Thomas responds, "My Lord and My God" (Jo. 20:28): not, of course, an exclamation of surprise or bewilderment, but an affirmation of faith. Jesus has invited his belief, his trust and faith, and it is with this that Thomas responds.

It’s possible to draw the wrong conclusion from this encounter with the Risen Christ. One wrong conclusion might be that some of us require "special handling" in the life of faith; like Thomas, we have our own demands to make on God before we will believe and we are right to expect to see them fulfilled. It’s interesting to me that the tradition of the representation of this event in art often shows Thomas taking Jesus up his offer to touch his wounds, but the text nowhere says that Thomas actually did this. Far from it, for our text quickly reduces Thomas to the ranks, as his response of faith is based on the same sort of encounter with the Risen Lord that is given to his comrades. He is invited to believe that the person before him is the same Jesus who was crucified, risen from the dead.

The Risen Lord underscores this by pointing forward in time to us. "Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." What is central in Christian discipleship is not the encounter the disciples have with Jesus after his death and resurrection, but belief itself. Here we are on common ground with those who were gathered that evening in the sudden and unexpected presence of the Lord. Jesus invites our belief, though we have not seen him. We have no ground for standing around carping, demanding a special encounter, a certain kind of experience, as the condition of our belief. Our response needs to be that of Thomas, and we will be blessed.

Jesus in our Gospel implies that this belief will come in response to the mission of the Church, and the work of the Spirit present in its midst. "Peace be with you", Jesus says to the disciples. "As the Father has sent me, so I send you" (Jo. 20:21). Not only this, but Jesus extends to his disciples, through the power of the Holy Spirit, his own power to forgive and retain sins. It is the community of faith which will proclaim the Good News of Jesus’ Resurrection, and the forgiveness that comes through it. Those who come to believe without seeing will do so in response to our proclamation, themselves becoming through that response a part of a community of belief whose business is proclamation.

Look for a moment at actions which are central to our daily life as a community, and you will see there invitations given to each of us (like Thomas) to believe in the Risen Lord. In a few moments the priest will share with us the Peace of Christ, a ritual action which is fraught with Resurrection significance. In our Gospel, Jesus stands in the midst of the disciples, in the midst of the community of faith, and bestows his peace. It is this peace which we share, rather than some mild and harmless social greeting. When we exchange the peace, we are recognizing within each other the presence of the Risen Christ; we are inviting each other’s faith in the one who rose from the dead.

Yet again, as we gather before the altar to celebrate the Eucharist, we will be given an opportunity to place our faith in the Risen Lord. The Eucharist is not about the dead Jesus, but about the living Lord, and how we share communion with him through faith. Not that the sacraments depend on our faith (that would reduce Jesus again to catering to our own spiritual demands), but rather that the sacraments invite our faith. They are opportunities for us to put our whole trust in his grace and love. That grace and love are characteristics of one who is alive, not dead; the virtue and power that are in these sacramental signs of Christ’s Body and Blood have their source in the Risen Lord, who has passed from death to life.

The Rev’d John Bauerschmidt is Rector of Christ Church, Covington.

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