SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER – B
(Acts 4:32-35; 1John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31)
Theme: Experience of Risen Jesus forms a community of one heart and one soul
Reflection
Peace – Pardon – Joy – Faith: the first fruits of Risen Jesus to his disciples
- We are in the second Sunday of Easter. We are still full of the joy of the Resurrection of Jesus. We are still with the happy moments of the celebration of Pasqual mystery. We have passed eight days. Today, the eighth day of Easter is the day of peace, day of pardon, day of joy and the day of faith. This is what we have heard in the gospel. The first fruits of Risen Jesus are:
o The peace – Jesus appears to his disciples and grants them the peace saying “peace be with you” (John 20:19, 21, 26 – three times); indeed, the disciples in need of this peace; they were afraid of the Jews with the thought that, may be they would also be killed like Jesus. They are frightened. They are fearful. They are worried. They are preoccupied. They lost the peace of mind and heart. And Jesus gives them the first fruit of his Risen Life: peace.
o The pardon – Jesus by giving them his Spirit, first, he forgives them for they flew/flight from him during the hour of passion and death and then, he gives them the authority/power to forgive others and that way to spread the rays of pardon to others and tells them: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22-23); indeed, they are in need of pardon – to receive and to give; they become culpable in and with the presence of Jesus; they are guilt in seeing the Risen Jesus; they are burning with the sin of flying away from him – sin of abandoning him; Jesus saw their condition of helplessness and guilt. And Jesus gives them the first fruit of Risen Life: pardon.
o The Joy – Jesus gives the disciples the true joy; “Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord” (John 20:20); they are dispersed and desperate because they have lost the sight/presence of their master for few days; they lost their smile on their faces; they lost their inner joy of being with him; indeed, they are in need of true joy – joy which lasts long, forever; Jesus gives them the joy by showing himself Risen and by interacting with them: the Joy.
o The Faith – Jesus re-establishes them in the faith – in the faith they have given up with the moments of suffering and persecution; he tells to Thomas and to all the disciples in profundity to have faith: “Do not doubt, but believe” (John 20:27); they have lost trust in him; they are discouraged with the incidents that took place before their eyes; they are in the confusion of what to believe and how to believe in the One with whom they have spent three years of their life leaving out their families and relations; in the pit of confusion and incomprehensive situations they indeed are in need of faith, in need of someone who will boost up their faith again; and Jesus extends to them the first fruit of Risen Life: Faith.
- Therefore, the peace, the pardon, the joy and the faith are not to seen individually: they are different fruits of the same Risen Jesus. They are all part of One Presence of Risen Jesus. They have to be seen together: The Fruit of Life of the Resurrection.
Being One Heart and One Soul – life of community: the fruit of Risen Jesus to his followers
- The first reading of today presents to us the life of the first Christian community: they formed one community. They have become one in heart and on in Soul. “Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul,…” (Acts 4:32). Now is the word that shows the present life of the believer in Jesus. They all have come together as a communion of believers. Their faith in the Risen Jesus made them to live a common life – a life with and for others. The community, therefore, is the fruit of the faith, the faith which is the fruit of Jesus died and risen. Two elements are evident here:
- First - The community is the group of believers: it is not anyone or everyone who wished to be in the community or who desired to be part of the community; it is he who believed; it is he who has faith; it is he who knows the present condition of Jesus who is Risen; they have come to know that when we believe in Jesus we are not alone or we are not individuals; there is no more a place or possibility for the private life; every life is open up towards and for the other; communion is the fruit of the Risen Jesus;
o After the death of Jesus all have gone astray; after the death of Jesus all have abandoned the other; after the death of Jesus each has taken his own way; after the death of Jesus each follower is desperately divided himself from the word and deed (the call and mission) of Jesus. Yes, the death divides; yes, the death tears apart the unity; yes, the death kills the communion between the persons.
o After the Resurrection of Jesus all is set to return; after the resurrection of Jesus all have the possibility to find the other whom they have abandoned; after the resurrection of Jesus each has found their return way leaving aside the way they have taken; after the resurrection of Jesus each follower is reunited himself to the life of Jesus. Yes, the life unites; yes, the life brings all together; yes, the life resurrects the communion between the believers.
o Once, we have believed that we are the people, not of the death but of the Life of Risen Jesus, we have the norm of uniting ourselves with Him and as a consequence the charitable act of uniting ourselves with all other believers. It is only if we really believe. The faith will not make us solitary beings or individuals. The faith is always a seed of common life. We may have personal faith but once faith is professed it leads us, by force of the Risen Life, into the communion with others.
o We are free beings. Yes, it’s true. But as the believers in Risen Jesus our exercise of freedom is authentic only with and for the other followers of same Risen Jesus. Our freedom is for the common life. Our free and individual life is to be kept open and transparent. Once we participate in the faith of Jesus we should not give any chance for the human logic of freedom and individual life. Jesus is never for himself. His whole life is for other. Not even a single moment he spent for himself. If we are to be genuine followers of such Jesus, we are to imitate him: live and let live others is the human attitude but live for others even sacrificing one’s own self is the Christian attitude. We are to be human, indeed, true. More than that, we are to be Christians. Therefore we have the task of creating union and thus we have to become the community builders.
- Second – one heart and one soul: personal interests do not come appear anywhere in the scene. Individual desires give way to the common cause. No thoughts and words for the individual priority or well being. All are ONE. “… and, no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common” (Acts 4:32). What is personal belonging has become now common belonging. The attitude of ‘mine’ is gone. The attitude of ‘ours’ has taken place. All are one not just in the materials things they have but in heart and in soul. What does this mean?
o One in Heart: heart is the symbol of desire. Their desire is common. All have just one desire: to experience Risen Jesus.
o One in Soul: soul is the symbol of life. Their life is common. One cannot and should not live for himself. They all have just one life: the life of Risen Jesus.
o Once they are One in Heart and Soul, everything else is not so important for them; that is the reason why they have no difficulty in bringing all their possession and placing them at the feet of the apostles: the gesture indicates that they have left what is their preoccupation of the heart and soul and now waiting for the new experience: experience of Risen Jesus in and with the other.
o Desire for experiencing Risen Jesus supersedes/transcends the desire for the material goods and pleasures. They have now one desire and one life: Faith and Life in Him who has died and risen again. This desire makes easy the way of renunciation and sacrifice. We don’t feel painful when we lose or give away what we have. We do this in order to regain what is more precious: Life of Jesus.
- How often do we ask ourselves the fundamental question as Christians: why we fail to be one at heart and soul as the community of Jesus? We all listen to the same word proclaimed. We all participate in the same banquet of the Lord. We all say with one voice ‘amen’ to the celebration. We really are one at heart and soul when we are in the Sunday celebrations. But when we come into life why do we fail to live out this community life: sharing of heart and soul? What is the obstacle that blocks us to be together? Here we have to affirm for our displeasure (though it is displeasing to us) that we do not have ‘genuine faith’. Or we do not know and follow the difference between the ‘amen’ of our words and the ‘action’ of our deeds. Whatever it is, the faith is not a profession of formulas but task of living. When we realize this we find ourselves at ease in sharing our life with others: becoming one at heart and soul.
- The first step, thus, is not leaving out everything of our belongings and coming to the community. It is only a consequence. The first things should be our desire for the common life which is the only fruit of faith in Jesus. It is this desire that enables us to forego what belongs to us in order to be with others and with Jesus: the community of one heart and soul. If we take ‘renouncing’ as first step we will somehow and somewhere fall back because there will be still that tendency which makes us go for what we have lost: the things we have sacrificed. If we take ‘desire for something more and valuable: the community life’ as our first step we cherish the desire because here we are not losing anything but only gaining back our joy in another form of being united to the community.
- We are people of both Water and Blood: the second reading of today encourages us further with the truth that we are regenerated by God with the life (One heart and one soul) of Jesus: the water and the blood. Water signifies the purification and the blood signifies the life. Not purification alone but also the very life. We are not stopped with the purification (or renouncing) but we are endowed with risen life (desire for community). This is the reason why we are called with the Waters of Baptism in the faith and we are inserted into the community of one heart and soul with the Blood of the Eucharist. First is not complete without the second and the second is not possible without the first. One life of “Water and Blood” leads us into one life of “Heart and Soul”. This reflection leads us forward into the understanding of what heart is and what the divine mercy is. Mercy is opening the heart for others. This is what happens in the divine mercy of Jesus. Today the church asks us to celebrate this divine mercy of Jesus.
The three moments of Divine Mercy of the Risen Jesus to the Apostles: today’s gospel review
(Following part is taken from the Year A reflections)
- Today, the second Sunday of Easter, the Church also celebrates the day of Divine Mercy. The mercy of God is fully expressed in the love that God has for the humanity, which is extended in His Begotten Son, in whom He is well pleased. In the particular manner, in His offering of self, for the will of His Father, Jesus, extended the loving mercy to the sinful being and to bring him to the participation of life in God.
- His Presence: He stood among them and said ‘Peace, be with you’: Indeed they need an encouraging presence and word of peace. The mercy of Risen Jesus is to give them what they needed in that hour. He stood among them – the gift of his presence; and gave them the word of assurance – the gift of his peace. They are closed themselves in the room for the fear of Jews. Their life and their hope is, shattered. They are in confusion of what is happening in spite of Jesus’ repeated predication of these events. They have nothing in mind. They lost everything what they have. They are just living with the minimum breath of hope that these things will pass away soon and they become normal again, and they can go back to their old life where they have come from before three years. Once the fear of Jews is gone and once all these events are forgotten soon or later, they want to return immediately to their life and forget these three bitter years. These are the bitter years because they hoped for something in Jesus whom they considered to be the Messiah and they desired that they will be saved in the victorious manner. But nothing happened; not even one of their thoughts and desires are fulfilled. All the hopes they had till this moment are shattered. They remained silent and perplexed. They want to forget these moments and return to lead the normal life as though nothing had happened. They do not want to lose their life half a way like this in the hands of the Jews. Therefore, with confusion and with fear they closed themselves in the secret place. Jesus, who always knows their thoughts, has appeared to them. Nothing was impeding him to enter into the room, not even door. The doors remained closed and yet Jesus entered. He is more worried about the closed doors of their hearts than the room. In the right moment of their need Jesus gives them the peace. They are in need of push. They need something extraordinary to encourage them and to lead them out of that ‘room of fear’. They exactly need the peace of heart. And Jesus gives them what they need: ‘peace be with you’ (v.19). His presence and His peace are the first gifts of Risen Jesus to his disciples.
- His Breath: the Spirit: He breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit”: Breathing the spirit is always an act of creation. In the act of first creation God has breathed his Spirit into the nostrils of man and he began to live and move in Him (we live, move and have our being in Him). in the act of second creation (is a regeneration as Peter admonishes) Jesus breathes the Spirit into the hearts of frightened disciples and they become new creation who live and move in Risen Jesus.
o The Spirit makes them ‘new beings in Christ’: the darkness of fear in them is dispelled and the light of joy is shone upon them. The closed doors are open. The cold hearts become warmed up with the breathing of Jesus. The cowards become the witnesses. They move out with the new mind and with the new heart and in a word, with the new life in Christ.
o The Spirit sends them into the world: the breath of Risen Jesus effects in them, the mission of being sent. ‘Being Sent’ is the mission: sent into the world; sent to give to the world the word of God (evangelization); sent to give the world the grace of God (sacraments); sent to give the world the life (testimony of faith). Jesus who has received it from His Father did it perfectly and those who are sent by Jesus, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (v.21), have to be in the world and for the world but not by the world or of the world. This is the mission of regenerating the souls to God by witness of the faith.
o The Spirit gives them the authority: the spirit which Jesus gives as the fruit of His Death and Resurrection is not the spirit of fear but the Spirit of Power. All that Jesus has said and done is transmitted to his disciples by this Spirit. They have to exercise the authority that the Spirit of Risen Jesus gives them. They are given the power to do their ministry of sowing the love. They have to teach and administer the grace of God with the same authority that Jesus has exercised. Their word is authoritative, because it is not from their mouth but from the Spirit that is given to them. Their grace is efficacious because it is not of their own power and merit but of the power of the Spirit that is active in them.
o Do not doubt but believe: The words that Jesus spoke to Thomas are the words to each one of us. Jesus does not want to abandon even one. He searches and seeks what is lost, for he came ‘to seek out and to save the lost’ (Lk 19:10). He goes always behind the lost sheep leaving aside the ninety-nine safe sheep (Lk 15:4-7). He does not take pleasure in the lost disciple, Thomas. He wanted to complete his revelation of glory to them all. That’s the reason why he reappeared to them in the same mode who has done the first time, one week ago. Now Thomas is there. He goes straight away to Thomas and tells him to do want he wanted. He wanted to see the holes that the nails have made and put his finger in his side. Jesus exactly asked him to do the same. The divine mercy never stops anyone from their desire of knowing. Jesus then says to him not to doubt bu believe. More than the holes and the side in which he has put his fingers to touch and see, the assurance of his risen glory came to him in His words of love and comfort: ‘do not doubt, Thomas, but believe’.
Whenever we are doubtful about the authenticity of Christian faith, the divine mercy is revealed to man by the various appearances in the history of the Church, like that of Mary in Fatima, Lourdes and various other places and different modes. All that just to say one word to the world: do not doubt but believe.
Whenever the persecutions and trials come in various forms of atheism, secularism, fundamentalism and so on, Jesus generates the holy lives and authentic testimony of the faith in His Church, many saints and blessed people, like that of Pope John Paul II, the defender of faith, for a simple example, the one who is made ‘blessed’ today (1.5.2011), just to tell the world: ‘do not doubt, but believe’.
The result of this assurance of Risen Jesus is the ‘acceptance of Him’ on the part of his disciples and believers (all the believing community, the first reading) as ‘My Lord and My God’ (v.28). Once Jesus is recognized as the Lord and God, the believer, becomes regenerated and new creation (second reading) who lives for him alone and nothing in the world can separate him from the One in whom He has believed.
- His Joy: The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord (v.20):
o Joy of seeing the Lord is recognizing him as the messiah: Jesus invited the first disciples to come and see where he is staying. They went and saw and remained with him that day and when they returned they have proclaimed the joy of see the Lord and they said: “We have found the Messiah” (John 2:41).
o Joy of seeing the Lord is accepting him as God: the gospel tells us that the disciples have seen, not just Jesus with whom they have been for all these days but the Lord Jesus, in whom all the glory of God is revealed through the resurrection from the dead. If they have seen just a Jesus of miracles and pious words they would have still remained in confusion and in doubt; but they see the Risen Jesus, the Lord, therefore they have overcome all the fear and doubt and recognized him as the Lord and God and now the joy is all over. No one take away this joy as Jesus promised and not even suffering and death.
Conclusion
Let us be the community of one heart and soul: only this way we have fullness of participating in the celebration and living of resurrection of Jesus.
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