2nd Sunday of Easter: Year B, April 8, 2018

May your witness to the Risen Christ inspire other people to faith in the Risen Lord. Happy Easter! +John I. Okoye

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Acts 4,32-35; 1 John 5,1-6;  John 20, 19-31: 2nd  Sunday of Easter:  Year B, April 8, 2018)

            In the faint darkness of the early hours of the day of the Resurrection, Mary of Magdala went to Jesus’ tomb and discovered it empty. In the evening of the same day, the risen Lord appeared to his disciples. He found them still in a house well barred; they were still in the state of fear and were not participating in the new life of peace and joy of the risen Lord. Jesus had to demonstrate to them that he the crucified had risen and lives among them; he then gave them the power of remitting sins. In a world that inspired fear on them, the disciples have the conqueror of the world in their midst.

            The principal gift of the risen Lord is peace.  In the farewell discourse, Jesus had already promised his disciples this peace (John 14, 27; 16,33). But now he has, effectively, conquered death and has also ascended to the Father. He has met his goal, and now lives in their midst as conqueror. He was the foundation of their peace. The risen Lord did not free the disciples from the affliction of the world (John 16,33) but gave them security, imperturbability and trusting tranquility. He did not only speak of peace, but legitimised and gave solid basis for his words by showing them his wounds. They needed to convince themselves that the one who was standing before them was no other than the one who died on the cross. They had to recognise that he had gone, scot free, through death and in addition defeated death. The wounds were also signs of immense love of Jesus who did not fear putting his very life in jeopardy. Jesus was still filled with such love. From the wound from his side flowed blood and water. This wound on the side remained the proof that he was the font of life (John 7, 38-39). The disciples were able to see him, in his unlimited and immeasurable love, as the conqueror of death and giver of life. As they appreciated him more and more, he became for them the foundation of peace and source of joy. The disciples then acquainted themselves with the joy which Jesus had promised that would be theirs when they would meet again (John 16, 20-22). Whatever the Lord showed and gave to them then remained valid for ever. Jesus had reached his ultimate destination, the house of his Father. He remains for ever theunfaltering/steadyfoundation of peace and the inexhaustible font of joy.

            Again, Jesus bestowed his peace to the disciples:  He said to them again: Peace be with you and linked this gift to the their mission. As they were his missionaries to be sent out, they had particular  need of security and deep confidence which only Jesus could provide. Jesus had already prepared them for the rejection and hatred they would encounter in the course of the ministry (John 15, 18-20; 17,14). Participating in his mission meant automatically sharing in his destiny. It was only through being anchored in his peace would they be able to master the task given to them. Jesus was sent by the Father and came into the world as light of the world (John 18, 12). He always remained as the one sent by God who made him known as a Father with limitless love and who had opened the access/entrance of communion with God. Jesus remained the the way, the truth and life (John 14,6). Just as the Father had sent him out, in the same way, then he was sending his disciples into the world (cfr. John 4,38; 17,18). In the manner the Son made the Father known, the disciples would bear witness to the Son whom they came to know from the moment of their call till their present encounter with the Risen Lord (John 15,17). In this way they had to lead others to believe in the Son, and through him come into communion with the Father. To fulfil this mission, Jesus endowed the disciples with the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist pointed Jesus out as the one who would baptise with the Holy Spirit John 3,33). Now he was the one who was raised up, and from whose side flowed blood and water and who gave the Spirit (John 7,39). Just as at creation, God breathed into man the breath of life  (Genesis 2,7) in the same manner, then, Jesus was bestowing on the disciples the Holy Spirit. He gave them a new life that would never end, the new life he entered into after having been raised on the cross and having risen from the dead and which he had in common with the Father. Through the Holy Spirit the disciples would be able to understand the work of Jesus (John 14,26) and fulfill their mission and bear witness to him.  The disciples had the fullness of power to forgive or not forgive sins. Their efforts were to save the world but that depended on the reaction of the people. He who welcomed and believed in him, Jesus became for him the Saviour and would cancel his sins, and at the same time, usher him into communion with the Father. But for him who did not welcome and rather rejected Jesus, his sins and blindnesses would be held against him.

            We can ask ourselves the question? How do we come to believe in the Risen Jesus without having direct link with him?  When Jesus met with his disciples, Thomas was not there. He did not believe the story they were telling him and for him to believe he needed to see and feel the wounds of Jesus. Jesus eventually encountered Thomas and brought him to believe but referred as blessed are those who do not see but yet believe. Jesus told Thomas: Doubt no longer but believe.Thomas confessed his faith in Jesus as no one before him did: My Lord and my God. His doubt put him on a long journey of faith but at last he came much closer to Christ than any other disciple. Personally for him, Jesus was his Lord and his God. Thomas believed, placed himself under Jesus and had faith in him. This type of faith of Thomas is to be recommended for all of us who are disciples of Jesus. But we may not have the privileges of the immediate disciples of Jesus and Thomas of meeting with the Risen Lord directly/face to face. But we should bear in mind that the witness of the disciple of Jesus is important for the spread of faith (John 15,26-27). It is the Holy Spirit that will lend force and power to such witnesses in order to inspire faith in others. We received our faith through the witness of life of others to the Risen Christ. We should therefore, live our lives in witness to the Risen Christ so that God can, through our actions, inspire people to have faith in the Risen Christ. Happy Easter still! Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

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