Easter 2 (B) + Church in-spired + 4.8.18

(Image from: https://um-insight.net/topics/nalini-jayasuriya/)

M. Campbell-Langdell

All Santos, Oxnard

(Acts 4:32–35; Ps. 133; 1 John 1:1–2:2; John 20:19–31)

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." (John 20:29b).

In the play we saw last week, the woman who saw the Lord asks of woman who did not see the Lord: "Did you see the light?" And she answers that didn't see the light, but is fine because she has the light is inside her.

In the Jewish and therefore also early Christian tradition of the ancient world, blessings were things received literally and physically. Therefore, it was very important for Jesus to heal the sick physically instead of just to heal their emotional and spiritual wounds. And for us, it is also very important to experience physical healing. That is why we pray for others’ healing and for our own. The people who saw the resurrected Christ felt the special blessing of having seen him in person. Of having touched his wounds. Nowadays that part may seem a bit unpleasant, touching someone's wounds. But the idea was to completely feel his bodily presence in order to be able to believe.
Thomas is not a person of little faith, so much as he feels left out when the other disciples see Jesus. Now, Thomas is an important apostle. According to tradition, he will bring the Gospel to various parts of Asia. He needs to see Jesus to tell about him and his good news with authority.

But here there is a problem. Not every believer could physically see Jesus. As was pointed out in the play we saw last week, it is not possible to an order of "The presence of Christ" as we would call in a pizza for delivery. “I’d like some pepperoni with my Jesus, please!” Sadly, not possible.  Some of us see Jesus, sometimes in a mystical experience, or sometimes when we sense the warmth of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. But others of us sometimes have to believe at times without seeing it.  This is why it is so special that Jesus said: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." Our faith is special because we believe through the witness of others. Blessed are those who see without seeing. Blessed are those who have the light in our hearts; who don’t have to see the light. And blessed are those who see Jesus in any way also!

So, now we are in Easter-time. And we are an Easter-people. And what do we do with this light that we carry inside? In Holy Baptism we present the baptized person with a candle, which represents the light of Christ we strive to bring to the world. This is what we do as Christians in the one Holy Catholic and universal Church. We are witnesses.
We are witnesses because Jesus blew into the first disciples and this breath was the Holy Spirit that still in-spires us. That still fills us with God’s holy breath and in-spiration to good in the world.

That in-spires us to live without fear.

Today's reading from the book of the Acts of the Apostles brings us to another time, later, when the Church is being formed in Jerusalem. It is not yet in all the world, but early Christians are forming communities where Jesus walked. The early Christians were not especially rich. But in sharing what they had, they were rich enough. This makes me think of our coffee hour at its best, when everyone is fed enough by several generous souls who take a turn. Everyone goes to church and gets fed in body and spirit, if they choose. It was thus in the early church, but on steroids. It is not that they were rich or not had no worldly concerns. But they sacrificed just enough for each other that all had enough. May it be so again!

Sacrifice. The Church of Christ in the world sacrifices for one another. And that means different things to different people. In these last weeks we have been wondering if our church can be offered as a sanctuary for some people facing deportation. In that process I became aware that we also have to protect the members of our community who may be vulnerable. So we are looking for another way to support rather than on-site. So that everyone can feel safer. The first sacrifice I thought of was replaced by the idea of not sacrificing others. Because sacrificing others is never an acceptable sacrifice to the Lord. But we will find an acceptable offering in time, with God’s help.

More importantly, the church is a community of reconciliation. In last week’s play, though the main characters fought, they found a way to remain in loving conversation with one another. In respectful dialogue. It is difficult. But it is our calling. Reconciliation. Looking at this passage in John, the famous Roman Catholic theologian and nun Sandra Schneiders says that when Jesus says " If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained," is an incorrect translation from the original Greek. Because in the original language, Jesus says, "Of whomever you forgive the sins, they (the sins) are forgiven to them; whomever you hold fast [or embrace], they are held fast." ^[1]  Which is to say that although Jesus speaks of sins in the first part of the sentence, he does not specify sins in the second part of the sentence. Thus we may well be talking about holding fast to people. Not sins.  Schneiders implies that we as Christians are not to focus so much on keeping in mind the sins of others, but to forgive and hold fast to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank goodness! We don't have to be the judges of one other. We can focus on forgiving when and as we can and try to embrace each other as best we can in community.

This is what we, the baptized, are. We are a people of reconciliation and forgiveness. This how we live the purpose of Christ as an in-spired community. Amen.

---

^[1]  Mary Hinkle Shore, "Commentary on John 20:19-31," Working Preacher, https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3619 (for April 8, 2018). FYI the first “whomever” is possessive genitive plural; the second “whomever is objective genitive plural.