Second Sunday of Easter Lessons and Brief Meditation
FIRST READING: Acts 2:14a, 22-32 [GOOD NEWS: “You killed him… God raised him!’]
Suddenly emboldened in that room when the Holy Spirit came, Peter preaches outside to the crowd on that first Pentecost. But the message is pure Easter. Peter speaks first of the crucifixion, even lifts up human guilt in the rejection and execution of Jesus. But Peter adds that, from another viewpoint, this was the plan and will of God. The good news is that God raised Jesus and freed him from death. The satanic power of death did not prove stronger than the power of life that resided in God’s Messiah. Peter quotes from Psalm 16:8-11 – which celebrates God’s saving activity in delivering the psalmist from death – as a prophetic word about the death and resurrection of Jesus. According to Peter, Jesus was attested by deeds of power, wonders, and signs. What has convinced you that Jesus is Son of God and Savior? How did the psalmist know, and how do we know, that God has not abandoned us to death?
SECOND READING: 1 Peter 1:3-9 [GOOD NEWS: “Even in suffering for faith, God gives hope!”]
The author praises God for mercy, for new birth, for a living hope, and for an inheritance of heaven. He wants to encourage Christians who are experiencing difficult circumstances, hardships, and suffering because of their faith. He wants to be honest, that God does not spare us from suffering… yet God continues to offer us love and strength both now and into a guaranteed eternity. In all of this, the resurrection of Jesus is the key action that lifts and sustains us, including all of us those who had not seen and known the earthly Jesus. What would be the effect on our faith if we never had any troubles? How can we rejoice in the time of trouble?
GOSPEL READING: John 20:19-31 [GOOD NEWS: “He’s no longer dead! Can you believe it?”]
This lesson has two parts. On that first Easter evening, Jesus unexpectedly appeared inside locked doors and offered his shocked and scared disciples the gift of peace, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and his mission marching orders. One week later in the same room with the doors again shut, Jesus again appears… and this time he confronts a “doubting Thomas” with the wild reality that he is risen, alive, victorious, and real. Jesus’ words to Thomas are also to all readers of this gospel throughout the ages: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” What evidence do you sometimes require, what are your conditions for trusting faith and obedient service? The Risen One, who could through the tight-sealed tomb and the locked doors, can also burst through our locked minds and sealed faith!
A BRIEF MEDITATION
We were not there to see the empty tomb, to hear the angel, to touch those holed hands and that pierced side and to feel the warm breath of the One who was crucified. But we are here together in this place (Yes, even though physically divided by COVID-19 rules and a common concern for the health of each other, we are nevertheless UNITED in the name and spirit of Jesus!) as personal witnesses to the fact that Jesus – once very dead – is risen, alive, victorious, and real. EASTER is a season of 50 days… indeed, every day of faith in our life’s journey is Easter. At our worst points of failure, whenever we feel like giving up, may Jesus Christ keep breaking through our doors, our doubts, our questions so that resurrection is not something that only happened to him! We have a message to hear and a story to tell!
The resurrection of Jesus Christ cannot be argued or demonstrated, much less proved. It must simply be told, proclaimed, witnessed, and lived. We were not there that first Easter. So we remember the stories passed on to us through the ages of women on a journey to do some kindness to a corpse, the surprise of an opened tomb, the presence of a dazzling angel or two, and a stunning message. This morning we listen to the stories told by Peter, by Paul, and by Mark. There are other Easter stories to hear and remember as well, and most are filled with surprise and confusion. Out of the confusion, hope sometimes emerges, and good news is celebrated and boldly spread – around, beyond, and all the way to us. Out of the confusion, fear and uncertainty sometimes continue, and some are reluctant to believe the message of others and to consider the possibility that Jesus kept his word. RESURRECTION MUST ALWAYS SHOCK US. How will we respond to the story this morning? What will we make of it? Will we allow it to empower our living? In our faith, Jesus is risen, Jesus lives. In our faith, the dead rise! And we, who were dead in our estrangement from God, are reborn and lifted into new life. Every year, we ought to wonder at it: how we always get another chance, according to God’s love and promise. Each day, the surprise of Easter offers us new life. The only thing that limits our joy and the power of God in our lives is our reluctance to believe. BECAUSE HE DIED, YOU ARE EASTER-ALIVE!