Homily for Low Sunday
Homily delivered by Fr Nicholas King SJ
Scripture Readings: Acts 5:12-16; Apocalypse 1:9-19; John 20:19-31
What difference does Resurrection make? What is the big deal about Easter? These are questions that might be surfacing in your mind after a week of the Easter season; and they are good questions. As always, it is helpful to let the readings speak to us.
The first rading paints a lovely picture of the early church in those first weeks after the resurrection. There are “signs and portents” wherever you look, and a profound unity among the early Christians as they meet in the Temple. Their numbers are growing, even though people are reluctant to join them; and the numbers include both men and women. Not only that, but when Peter went by, even his shadow was enough to bring about healing among the sick people who were brought to him. Easter does make a difference, you see.
This is suddenly a very different world; and that is the world reflected in our very cheerful psalm: “give thanks to the Lord for he is good!”, “His love has no end”. Then there is the line translated as “Lord, please grant salvation”, which in Hebrew is “Hosanna”. After which we went on to sing “blessed in the name of the Lord is he who comes,” from the same psalm, which was applied to Jesus by his contemporaries, as was that other phrase, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”. Indeed, it is found on Jesus’ lips, as a statement of hope in what God is doing in his ministry. Resurrection does indeed make a difference.
Then the second reading is our first introduction to the book of Revelation which we shall be following for the next few weeks; now people can get a bit frightened of this text, but we should not be fearful. For the whole book is a wonderful statement of hope in the face of persecution. We are addressed by one called “John”, who has had a vision of triumph emerging out of apparent disaster. The vision is that of “one like the son of man”, whom we know to be Jesus as he says, “I AM the first and the last and the Living One. And I was a corpse – and look! I will live forever and ever”. This Easter gets better and better.
Best of all, what is today’s gospel so familiar that you probably know it by heart; it comes, you will remember, in two stages. Stage One is the appearance to the disciples; it turns out they are locked in terror, “out of fear of the Judeans” (so it looks as though they did not believe in the Resurrection). Quite suddenly and unexpectedly, Jesus is in their midst, proclaiming “peace be to you”. They still don’t quite believe it, so he shows them the wounds in his hands and in his side. Finally, they agree to rejoice; then, once again, he wishes them peace, and gives them a job: “as the Father sent me, even so I am sending you”, and then he breathes on them the Holy Spirit, or “holy breath”. But that, it turns out, is not the end of the story; for Thomas was missing when this happened, and they cannot resist gloating over him, “we have seen the Lord”. His reaction is decidedly crude and demands “to see the mark of the nails in his hands, and throw my hand into his side”.
We know what is going to happen next; but we may notice that it takes a full eight days (to the first day of the Jewish week) for Stage 2 to occur. “Eight days later, they were all together, and Thomas was with them, and Jesus comes – the doors were closed”. And that, of course, means that they were still terrified, still not really believing in Resurrection. Once again, he wishes them peace; but this time it is just Thomas whom he addresses; and he picks up Thomas’ crude demand: “don’t be an unbeliever but a believer”. We are not told whether Thomas did what he was invited to do, putting his hand and fingers into Jesus’ wounds; instead, something much greater happens (and we pray today that it might happen to us too) when we hear him stunned into the response, “My Lord and My God”. That is the best thing that might happen to us in this Easter season, to be granted that grasp of what is going on here. And it does not stop there; for the evangelist now tells us why he bothered to write the gospel: “that you may come to faith that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that because of your faith you may have life in his name”
That is the good news; it is an offer to us and Thomas and the disciples in this glorious Easter season. Just pray that we may rejoice in it to the full, no matter what has happened, no matter how ghastly things may seem to you, no matter how awkward you find the church, Jesus is alive. And that is the very best news of all. Happy Easter!