Second Sunday of Easter C April 11, 2010
Divine Mercy Sunday

Acts 5:12-16   Psalm: 118  Revelation 1:9-19   John 20:19-31

1. Some years ago, in the Mid-West USA, a group of Bishops and Priests went to an Indian Reserve for prayer and reflection. On the last day, they asked the Leaders of Reserve to address them. One of the leaders stood up and in atypically reserve and respectful manner said, “Dear Bishops and Fathers, you have been preaching for years to us and the parishioners in your own parishes and dioceses. Has any of you ever cured any person? You see Jesus always cured people as a part of his ministry. The Lame walked, the blind saw, the deaf and dumb heard and spoke. We do not need physical cures because we have medicines and we have doctors. But the cure of people, the healing of people must enter your ministry of Spreading the Kingdom.

2. In our first reading the cure and healing were so much a part of the ministry of the Apostles. These cures were not just a proof for their preaching and their words. The preached the Kingdom, the spoke about New Life through the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. A cure, a healthy life was a necessary and integral part of the Proclamation of the faith. This cure and this healing is so urgent in our Church today. We know the victims, the wounded, the pain that needs to be healed. They make the headlines of newspapers all over the world. We need the voice of Jesus to speak for them. Jesus did it 2000 years ago, he spoke for the Apostles who were upbraided, he spoke for the tax collectors and the sinners, for the lepers who were outcasts, for the ordinary person in the street who was manipulated and micro-managed.

2a Reginald Fulton, the Scripture scholar tells us that as a result of the teaching of Peter and cures of the apostles, many “were added” to the believers. They did not form a new group, a new diocese. There was already a community of believers. They joined these believers. This “addition” was the work of God.  It was not Peter, the Apostles nor the Church that “added the new members”. Nor did the converts become members through their power. God takes the initiative.

3. The second reading is from the book of Revelation, the very last book in the New Testament. John writes from the Greek island of Patmos just off the coast of Turkey, opposite the Sea city of Ephesus. His responsibility is to chastise, but more importantly to give hope and encouragement to the Seven Communities or the Seven flourishing centres, Churches in Turkey. These communities were in pain, under persecution, were in doubt and confusion. This was because of the persecution from outside. But they were also scandalised by the way of life of the very members of these churches. The story seems to repeat itself today – and probably will be again in the future. We see this in the news paper headlines, on TV, on the internet and other electronic devices. In the writing of John from the island of Patmos, the leaders of the churches were held accountable. The ordinary person in the Christian community was given hope and encouragement. This is true in our church today.

4.  So how are we to keep our faith today? Like Thomas, we must demand to see the wounds caused by the nails made in the hands and feet, by the wound caused by the spear in the side. Thomas is usually upbraided, scolded for his lack of faith, especially because of the words of Jesus, “you see and therefore you believed.”  Strangely enough the church will be credible because of the wounds that people can see in the Body of Christ.

The identity of the church, the moral authority of the Church is seen in the words of Jesus, I came to serve and not to be served. The church is most authentic when it is seen washing the feet of one another, - especially the feet of the poor and marginalized. WE must be able to genuflect before the outcast in society with the same reverence and devotion as we kneel before the Blessed Sacrament. When we do that, we merit the words of Jesus, “well done good and faithful servant – enter into the Kingdom”.  Unfortunately, since the time of Constantinople, in 313, we have gloried more in being called “princes of the church” with all its pomp, regalia and honorific titles.  We need a prophet to call us to task, just like the child who said, “The Emperor has no clothes.” We cannot complain that God does not send us prophets. We have St. Damian the servant of the lepers in the Island of Molokai, we have Mother Teresa of Calcutta, we have Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador.  Too often these are persecuted, forgotten or just ignored while they are alive and giving testimony of the Kingdom. We only make “much ado” about them after they have died.

 It is easy to accept the Risen Jesus as he does miracles, as he walks through closed doors, as he gives us the gift of peace and the forgiveness of sins. It is harder to swallow the image of Jesus with wounds caused by the nails in his hands and feet.

We demand identification of men and women who speak in the name of the Lord. This is right and just. But we must also demand the same standard of the nails and wounds in ourselves if we must stand up and be counted. As one wise man said, if they arrested you for being a Christian, would there be sufficient, hard evidence to convict you? Or would the case be thrown out because our faith and life style is too flimsy? As in the case of the Lord, people say to us, we will believe when we can see in your hands and feet the wounds, that are a result of your belief!