Year A - The Second Sunday of Easter, April 16, 2023
As the Father has sent me, so I send you
To honor the Glorious Trinity, Amen
This second Sunday in the Easter season is also called Thomas Sunday because every year we read this scene from the Gospel according to John. The passage describes the second and third appearance of Jesus to his disciples after his resurrection. The first was to Mary Magdalene outside the tomb when she mistakes him for a gardener.
Jesus says her name, she sees him clearly and rushes to embrace him, but he sends her out to proclaim his resurrection to the fearful disciples.
The second is the joyful scene which opens our reading. Jesus appears in the locked room, surprises everyone, and confirms his identity by showing the marks from his torture and execution by Pilate’s order.
The third appearance follows closely and is likely the best known. Our social stereotype of the “Doubting Thomas” comes from this gory scene. Jesus arrives again in the locked room with the gathered disciples. He entreats Thomas to believe. Displaying his scarred body, Jesus invites Thomas to put his finger in the nail holes of the crucifixion and reach his hand into the spear’s wound – a gesture of love to comfort his apostle and friend Thomas.
If none of that hit your memory button, the first words uttered from Christ’s lips surely did. You have it in your deep memory, the brain pocket for spirituality smooshed into our neural wiring for connection, empathy, and altruism[i]. Our ritual of passing the peace springs out of Christ’s greeting, “Peace be with you…” and God’s people respond, [“And with thy spirit.”] “And also with you.”
Both of these incredibly familiar moments have layers of profound meaning for how we live as Christians and what it is to be human. I’m not going to talk about any of that.
Instead, I want you to notice Christ’s second greeting:
“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (John 20:21)
Close to what he said to Mary at the tomb, Jesus dispatches his friends to share the gift he has bestowed: change the hearts of all just as God has changed their hearts.
He releases the Holy Spirit, the animating wind of God, by breathing on them and blessing them with spiritual power so they may continue his work to heal human society and reconcile the world to God. This is the Pentecost moment in this account of the Gospel, but Thomas is missing. When he rejoins them, he is no longer their peer in the faith.
Thomas was present throughout Jesus’ establishing his movement of peace and love: the teaching, miracles, and raising of Lazarus, the last supper, footwashing, and grief.
Yet, his steadiness fails and he rejects the community. Many stories would have Thomas driven out or require him to undertake a separate quest. There is no such punishment, Jesus returns and weaves Thomas back into their communion. Thomas only needs to accept the invitation. This is belonging in the Jesus Movement.
How do we knit members into our body? Washing, feeding, teaching, and blessing; baptism, communion, confirmation, and anointing. What our Savior did to the original disciples by his presence, we represent by our sacraments.
Baptism is an entrance into the communion of the Body of Christ through time and around the globe. Though we ask the person being baptized to vow they will reject evil and follow the teachings of Christ, all other vows are taken together. In every baptism, confirmation, and Easter Vigil service, we accept the invitation and call.
Baptism is a sacrament: a ritual moment that makes spiritual realities tangible. The rites we perform with Holy Water and Consecrated Oil are the marks of our commitment to those we fold in. Like the exchange of rings at a wedding, we present gifts as a reminder of our vows.
One of the honors of serving a historic parish is tending the sacramental needs of generations of the same family. Whether they are names engraved in brass or faces who have inhabited the same pew as children, parents, and grandparents, it is a joy to walk with them through Christian milestones. Parishes are not sacred because they inhabit lovely buildings, lovely buildings are made sacred by the people gathered as the Body of Christ.
This morning [at the 10:30 service] we have the pleasure of welcoming Violet Christine Metry into this holy fellowship. She is the fourth generation of her family to be a parishioner, Bill and Maryann Kay would be her great grandparents.
Our relationship to Violet, her parents Chris and Rachel, and the family is bonded in Christ’s love by God’s grace through the Spirit’s blessing. Take this week to pray for Violet, give thanks for the foundation her family has already provided to Trinity. Ask God to inspire her in her spiritual development and pray God grants you courage to be a model of faith. We are sent out, in the words of the prayerbook, to “Confess the faith of Christ crucified, proclaim his resurrection, and share with [all the Church] in his eternal priesthood[ii]. Amen.
Dean Vanessa Clark+
[i] Referenced 04/15/2023 https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisonescalante/2021/08/24/scientists-think-they-just-found-the-brains-spirituality-network/?sh=352454e219b4
[ii] 1979 BCP, p. 308