Happy Sunday
DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Acts 4, 32-35; 1
John 5, 1-6; John 20, 19-31: 2nd Sunday of Easter, Year B, April 11, 2021)
On this Sunday, the Gospel refers to a first
apparition of the risen Jesus to the disciples in the Upper Room on Easter
evening, and another apparition that takes place eight days later. The doors of
the Upper Room were
closed for fear of the Jews. The risen Jesus appears in the midst of the
disciples, despite the closed doors, and the first word he addresses to them is
very significant. He could have scolded them harshly, because they all
abandoned him and Peter even denied him; instead, he says to them: Peace be with you! This
is the peace that comes after victory. Jesus conquered evil and death, hatred
and all selfishness; therefore, it can bring us reconciliation and peace.
Instead of rebuke, he addresses the disciples with a wish for peace. Then he
shows his hands and side, that is, the wounds with which he obtained the
victory. They are the wounds that testify to the sufferings he endured with
love, in order to overcome, precisely through love, evil and death. The
disciples then rejoice seeing the Lord. The risen Jesus also brings joy to the
disciples. This is the joy of his victory, the joy above all for his love,
which defeated our selfishness and our wickedness, Jesus makes the disciples
sharer in his victory. Then he repeats his wish: Peace be with you! He
then gives his disciples a task: As the Father has sent me, so am I sending you. Jesus’ resurrection is
not an individual benefit, which concerns only him, but it involves us all. He
communicates his new life to us: a life of intense love, which is meant to
transform the world. Risen Jesus entrusts missions/assignments to be carried
out to people: Mary Magdalene, some women, and now the apostles. To
bestow the strength necessary to carry out this mission, which is the
continuation of his mission, Jesus gives the Holy Spirit: Receive the Holy Spirit. Thus, the evangelist makes us understand that the
Holy Spirit is a gift from the Risen One, a gift that Jesus obtained for us
with his victory over death. This gift was most, sensationally, manifested on
Pentecost; but even then Peter will declare that the Holy Spirit was obtained
by Jesus with his resurrection and passed on to us (cf. Acts 2, 32-33).
Therefore, Jesus’ resurrection is an immense benefit for all of us: it is the
new life of Christ - life in the Spirit - which is bestowed on us and meant to
transform our whole existence. At the end of this episode the evangelist points
out that Thomas was not with the other disciples when Jesus came, and that he
does not believe their words. They tell him: We have seen the Lord! Thomas declares: If
I do not see the sign of the nails in his hands and I do not put my finger in
the place of the nails and I do not put my hand in his side, I do not believe».
Thomas does not believe until after seeing. However, the condition that he
poses is also inspired, because, in order to believe, he asks to see the sign
of the nails and the wound on the side. Jesus had made himself known by the
disciples by showing them his hands and his side. Therefore, his identity is
now defined by his wounds, and the love they manifest. Jesus went to the
extreme possibility of love, accepting unspeakable suffering for us, death
itself and, after it, a wound in the side. It is from these signs that it is
now possible to his suffering. Eight days later Jesus appears to the disciples
again. He stops in their midst and says again: Peace be with you!
Jesus
never tires of bestowing his peace to the disciples, as he promised: Peace
I leave with you, my peace I give to you (John 14,27). Then, turning
to Thomas, he says to him: Put
your finger here and look at my hands; stretch out your hand and put it in my
side; doubt no longer, but believe. Jesus accepts the
conditions set by Thomas, to overcome his incredulity. At this point Thomas
declares himself defeated and expresses his purest and strongest faith towards
the risen Jesus, saying: My Lord and my God! In the whole of the New Testament there is no confession of faith
so profound, and perfect as that of Thomas. He recognises not only the
messianicity of Jesus, but also his divinity. He receives this inspiration,
thanks to his contact with the hands and the pierced side of Jesus. The heart
of Jesus communicates to him a strong and profound faith. Jesus then says to
him: Because you have seen me,
you believe: blessed are those who have not seen, but believe. The
teaching that was given to Thomas is to our advantage. This episode could make
us think that in these apparitions of the Risen Lord the apostles were
privileged, and therefore, could arouse some envy for the time they saw the
risen Jesus in us. But Jesus says: Blessed
are those who, despite not having seen, still believe. Thus, we are
made to understand that faith puts us in a much more beautiful relationship
with him, more profound than the physical vision of his risen body. In fact,
our relationship with him must be that of faith. And the purer the faith, our
relationship with him will be more profound and perfect. God has given us faith
in his Son, and we must be happy and proud indeed. Faith is a wonderful gift
from God, because it puts us in an intimate relationship with Jesus and,
through him, with the Father, in the Holy Spirit. We must, therefore, be aware
of the beauty and strength of our faith.
In the second reading John
tells us that faith is our victory. Through it, we participate in Jesus'
victory over the active world: This
is the victory that defeated the world: our faith. Whoever,
truly, believes in Jesus is a winner; he draws from him all the strength
necessary to overcome the evil world, that is, to overcome all egoistic
tendencies, the temptations of sin, and forces of hatred. Jesus came with water
and blood, which flowed from his pierced side and manifest the fruitfulness of
his sacrifice. When we contemplate Jesus in meditation, our faith grows and our
victory becomes more and more complete.
The first reading makes us
understand what Christian victory consists of. For the apostles it consists of
having the courage to bear witness to the Jesus’ resurrection, as the Acts of
the Apostles tell us: With great force the apostles testified to the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus. During Jesus’ Passion, the apostles
were fearful, and abandoned their Lord, Peter had not had the courage to accept
his relationship with him. But after Jesus’ resurrection and receiving the gift
of the Holy Spirit, they have the courage to bear witness to him before the authorities,
despite all threats, and risking their lives for the sake of faith. Faith makes
them victorious. This is the first aspect of the victory of faith: the
testimony given to Jesus. The second aspect concerns charity. We read in the
Acts of the Apostles: The
multitude of those who had come to faith had one heart and one soul.
This is perfect union in brotherly charity, through the love of Jesus poured
into hearts by the Holy Spirit. This union is not only theoretical, but
manifests itself in a very concrete and visible way: No one kept
to himself his property as belonging to him alone, but everything was made
available to all for common use. This charity is truly an impressive
victory of faith. In fact, we are all naturally inclined to be possessive and
hardly accept to share our things with others. However, the early Christians
had such a strong faith that they shared all their properties. The author
explains that those who owned
fields or houses sold them, brought the amount of what had been sold and placed
it at the feet of the apostles; and then it was distributed to each according
to need. The result was that none of them was needy.
In the first communities the sharing of goods was practiced. Therefore, they
lived an exemplary life, free from all selfishness and happy life, because no
one was in need. We can then recognize that the risen Christ makes us sharer in
his victory in two ways: with the witness of faith and witness of brotherly
charity. We must therefore, ask the Lord to make us more open and available to
the strength of faith, more courageous in bearing witness to it and more
generous in practicing the charitable brotherhood, which was bestowed on us by
the pierced heart of Jesus and his resurrection. +John I. Okoye
(graphics by Chukwubike)
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