The Second Sunday of Easter

Although this Sunday is called the Second Sunday of Easter and is meant to be the joyous continuation of the Easter celebration, in many churches it can feel like Low Sunday. To be in worship on such a day can feel a bit like showing up at a party after most of the guests have left and those who remain report on what a grand time you missed by coming too late! It may be helpful on such a Sunday to remind ourselves that we missed Easter also, by a mere two thousand years. We have never lived at any time other than the time after Easter. For most of us, every Sunday is more like the Sunday after Easter. We can hear the accounts but we were not really there. We did not see and touch and experience it for ourselves. It is common for us to focus on Thomas but we should also take this opportunity to remind ourselves that even Mary Magdalene, Peter and some of the other disciples did not believe at first either. It was only when Christ appeared to them that the disciples rejoiced. We are not told if Thomas took Jesus up on his offer, but what we do know is that Thomas’s response – ‘My Lord and my God’ – is one of the strongest declarations of faith recorded in all of the New Testament. Perhaps it was enough for Thomas just to know that Jesus cared enough to give him what he needed. He was, and is, in the business of meeting people where they are, and that is what we are called to do. This is the way most of us have come to believe. Someone told us the story in a way that invited us to say yes. Sometimes those in our community need something else, something beyond the verbal, beyond the simple telling of the story, and that is OK too. Jesus can still give them and us what we need whether we approach this Sunday as Low Sunday or the Second Sunday of Easter. He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Blessings,
Fr Jonathan