Thomas: 19 April, 2020
19 April 2020 – Second Sunday of Easter
Thomas was hurt and disappointed; he had had a mighty letdown. All his hopes had been shattered by Jesus’ crucifixion. When we have been hurt and disappointed—above all, when we have experienced the intense hurt of being abandoned—we are slow to trust that anything could console us or make right the injury we feel has been done to us.
Thomas can be admired for refusing to be talked out of his pain too easily. He must have wondered what had happened to his friends to change their mood so quickly from one of despondency to one of elation. Whatever it was, it had not touched him, and his refusal to leave his sadness behind too quickly has an air of great integrity about it. It would have been better for him had he been able to believe on the basis of his friends’ testimony, but he could not. When Jesus appears, he does not condemn Thomas but offers the proof required by him. —Blair Gilmer Meeks
John 20:19-31
The gospel reading presents the Easter apparitions to the disciples on the first day of the week. From the word “disciples” (mathetai) it is not clear whether John is referring to the ten (minus Thomas) or to a larger group of disciples. Jesus came and stood (esthe) in their midst (v 19)—again, the attitude of standing, of speaking with assurance and confidence. His greeting, “Peace be with you” (repeated in v 21), is ordinary and echoes John 14:27; 16:33. . .
Jesus’ words in John 20:29 are spoken to future generations of Christians: “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed,” a blessing reflected in today’s reading from 1 Peter 1:8. —Blair Gilmer Meeks
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
This is the first of six proclamations of the kerygma in Acts, in which the raising of Jesus from the dead, with his glorification as Lord, brings with it the opportunity for repentance. This in turn opens the gates for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Particularly significant is the fact that the proclamation is a communal action: the kerygma and the Spirit are entrusted to the community (vv 17–18). “Then Peter stood up with the eleven” (see also v 37). The preaching and the call to repentance came from the community that had been entrusted with the tradition.
In verses 22–32 is an example of Luke’s kerygmatic tradition, that Jesus, “commended” by God to the Israelites, was killed by them, though they used “lawless men to crucify him.” Here the image is of the man Jesus, sent by God, rejected and handed over to death, and now raised up by God, freed from the bands of death. —Blair Gilmer Meeks
1 Peter 1:3-9
The author addresses these words to Christian communities in Asia Minor, “sojourners of the dispersion” (v 1), who were experiencing trials, a testing time, a period of being “delivered up” to suffering. Their hope was focused on the salvation promised in a future time, and the inheritance entrusted to them had to be guarded in faith. This fidelity, like that of Jesus, was to be tested in the fire of adversity to prove its genuineness. —Blair Gilmer Meeks
Blair Gilmer Meeks, was at the time of this writing, a pastoral minister, writer of worship-related resources, and leader of workshops on worship living in Brentwood, Tennessee. Among her four books is Standing in the Circle of Grief: Prayers and Liturgies for Death and Dying (Nashville: Abingdon, 2002).
Homily Service 38, no. 5 (2005): 3-8.