The Second Sunday of Easter 2024
Texts: 1 John 1:1-2:2; John 20:19-31
In the Roman Catholic Church this Second Sunday of Easter is Divine Mercy Sunday. It’s a feast day celebrating the unlimited mercy of God, instituted by Saint John Paul II in 2000.
We often use words like mercy, grace, and love in connection to God. Perhaps mercy is the one quality that most characterizes God, and maybe we don’t consider it enough. Mercy is defined as 1) kind and compassionate treatment, 2) a disposition to be forgiving and kind, 3) a fortunate occurrence, and 4) alleviation of distress: relief. This last definition of mercy is what God is all about, the alleviation of our distress from sin.
Theologically, mercy is a personal quality that is expressed in the act of forgiveness. While it might be easy enough for any human being to forgive someone they love, the capacity to be merciful to strangers or even those who wish to do us harm, comes to us from God. Without God being merciful to us there is a natural limit to the human capacity to be merciful. We are limited by our own brokenness. A cup that is broken cannot be filled.
Every moment of Jesus’ life on this earth was guided by the mercy of God, from his miraculous birth to his baptism by John, from his time in the desert to his life with the disciples, the miracles and healings, and his teaching about the kingdom of God to thousands of people, from being questioned and scorned by the Pharisees to being lied about at his trial, from the cruelty of his Passion and Crucifixion, to his overcoming sin and death on the Day of his Resurrection. Jesus was the embodiment of God’s Divine Mercy.
After the Resurrection Jesus came to the disciples to entrust to them the mission of the Church. His first words were “Peace be with you.” The rest of the lesson from John today is about Thomas and those who have not yet seen Him becoming believers. However, I think it’s important to also consider why Jesus’ first words to the disciples, his closest friends, were “Peace be with you.”
These twelve, minus one—Judas, had just abandoned their teacher as he endured the unjust trial, the mockery, the scorn, and painful death. We remember that Peter denied he even knew Jesus. They all ran away on Good Friday, but Jesus forgave them. It was in his divine nature to be merciful.
The word “shalom” in Hebrew means “peace to you”. It is not a common greeting like “How are you?” In saying “shalom”to the disciples Jesus meant their betrayal and abandonment were forgiven. They need not live in guilt or remorse for what they did or did not do during the events of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion. When we say “Peace be with you” in the liturgy it comes after the confession, so in our hearts we can experience true communion with God and one another at the eucharist.
The Christian community described in the Acts of the Apostles is a place where mercy has been received from God and it is shared. The life of the community is perpetuated by mercy, God’s mercy to us, and ours to each other. The primary expression of mercy is forgiveness. Where forgiveness is not practiced a community is in dissension.
Where people are living the Christian life and faith authentically forgiveness is what holds that community together. This has been true since the very beginning of the Church. This is why it upsets us so much when Christians can’t get along together or their disagreements drive them apart. The Church is intended by God to be the place where people can see the coming kingdom of God. It is intended to be a place of hope for all human beings. In order for us to have peace with one another we must practice forgiveness. We must sincerely mean “shalom” when we greet one another.
Where the world calls for justice, God calls Christians to be merciful. Without mercy hostility is perpetuated. This is what we see in the Middle East, particularly in Israel today. Everyone bears some responsibility. The people there need most of all to forgive one another, to see each other as flawed human beings in need of mercy.
The Church is a community on earth connected to heaven through Jesus Christ, who is our Lord, the one we follow. Now, we are meant to be the embodiment of God’s mercy on earth. We do this by forgiving one another, showing the world the compassion of God, praying over people, promoting healing and reconciliation. People were attracted to the early Church because of the simple life, the joy and honesty, and forgiving nature of her members.
In the 50 days after the Resurrection Jesus was appearing to people who would become his followers. They would begin to form the Church of God, the Body of Christ. In the coming weeks we will hear more about how this happened, and learn what our role is today. Amen.
