Second Sunday of Easter

John 20:19-31

Grace and peace to you.

For the next few weeks at least, I will be preaching from an ‘exile lectionary.’ While the Revised Common Lectionary includes additional readings from First Peter and the Acts of the Apostles, our worship during these weeks will focus on the psalms and gospels. The gospels continue to give us stories from Jesus’ life and ministry and the psalms invite us to bare our emotions before God, both expressing thanksgiving and trust and crying out in lament or sorrow, acknowledging both the grief we are experiencing and our confidence in God’s presence with us.

One of the griefs I have right now is that, during this period of staying at home to slow the spread of the coronavirus, home is no longer a place where we rest from busy-ness or we gather with family and friends for celebrations. Instead for parents and school-age children, home is now also a classroom. For many workers, it has become an office. For many people who have higher risk for the virus, it has become a place of isolation and quarantine. And for others still it has become a place where they are now at an even higher risk for domestic violence or abuse. So “home” may no longer be a place that brings comfort or the place where our hearts rest well. In our psalm this morning the psalmist reminds us all that when we are homeless, when our security and safety feel jeopardized, when we cannot find comfort in the familiar, God is our refuge and stronghold and our habitation.

That’s something that the disciples appear to have forgotten. They heard Mary’s proclamation when she found the tomb empty and met Jesus nearby, but they didn’t go to Galilee as they’d been told. Instead, hours later on Easter evening, they are locked behind closed doors, full of fear. The Good News Mary brought could inspire hope but it could not eliminate their fear.[i]

Thankfully, God's love for us is not dependent on our emotions or our actions.

So Jesus shows up for the disciples. He enters through locked doors and says, “Peace to you.”

This is his first appearance to the ones who deserted him at his crucifixion. Peter is there, trying to shrink into the shadows of the room as he sees the resurrected Christ and remembers how he denied him three times. The one who Jesus loves is there but the knowledge of his Lord’s love hadn’t kept him from being overcome by fear with the other disciples.

And even after his first appearance, they stay locked behind closed doors for another week, imprisoned by fear and uncertainty. We don’t know what their experience of that week was like – what questions they asked or how they second-guessed what they had seen and heard. But fear isn't new to us. And acting out of fear, our impulse is to turn inward - it is the definition of sin that Luther gives us. And when we do that we cannot breathe deeply or love abundantly. What the gospel tells us is that it wasn't until Jesus appears a second time that the disciples appear to be able to receive the peace God gives them in the presence of Jesus.

Do you remember when two years ago in Thailand twelve young soccer players and their 25-year-old coach wound up trapped in an underwater cave? For 18 days the world watched as the search and rescue effort unfolded and ultimately succeeded. And while there was death - one of the Navy seals died when his air supply ran out - ultimately, the boys, the coach and the other rescuers were all delivered from fear and danger. Imagine the relief and hopefulness the trapped youth experienced when they realized they were not alone, that salvation was coming. But I expect the time between them first knowing people were working on a solution, and their ultimate safety was filled with questions and doubts.

Anne Lamott wrote once, “The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns.” [ii] Faith isn’t about having head knowledge or more information; it is about being in relationship with the living God.

Reading this gospel two thousand years later we don’t have a face to face encounter with Jesus to sustain our faith; what we have is a relationship with our living God whose love for us is more powerful than any human limits or circumstances.[iii] And, we have the witness of those who went before us and shared from generation to generation. Similar to the disciples that first Easter week, during this period of quarantine and staying at home, the closure of businesses and the suspension of our everyday activities has broken any illusion of control or certainty that we may have had. And yet, while we are scattered across the county in our homes, out of the church building and missing the physical presence of community, we have this witness from Scripture that Jesus shows up, no matter what uncertainty we are facing and what fears we are experiencing.

Thanks be to God. Alleluia. Alleluia.

[i] “Commentary of John 20:19-31.” Joy J Moore. Luther Seminary. WorkingPreacher.org
[ii] Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith.
[iii] Francis J. Moloney SDB. John. Sacra Pagina.