Gospel: (Jn 19-31) Second Sunday of Easter (or of Divine Mercy)
19 April 2020
I wonder how wonderful it must have been at the time of the Lord Jesus’ resurrection. How exciting it must have been to hear the news of the empty tomb. How uplifting it was to hear the stories of the women, the apostles and other disciples. How amazing it would have been to witness and to see the risen Lord himself. It must have been quite an experience! But alas, this is not to be so for I cannot go back in time nor can I rewrite the whole story again.
Yet the last ten days (from Holy Thursday) might have been a confusing period for Jesus’ disciples. There was the preparation and the eating of the Passover. Then the sudden arrest and trial of Jesus which condemned him to death. This was followed by the crucifixion on the cross, the death itself and the hasty burial due to the coming of the Sabbath.
Now, there are the stories from different witnesses of his resurrection on different occasions and locations. John’s Gospel even narrates that, “there were many other signs that Jesus worked and the disciples saw, but they are not recorded in this book”. How to make sense of it all? It must have been a drastic pull of the disciples’ feelings and emotions from one spectrum to another.
I empathise with Thomas for not believing, Judas Iscariot for his betrayal and Peter for his denial. Their names are forever edged in history for what they had done or said. The other apostles seem to have faded away in the shadows even though they would be as guilty as Peter or Thomas. Luckily I’m not there! The difficulty of believing in a risen Christ is found in the words of Thomas, “how can it be?” It must have been a difficult week for Thomas from the point when he said, “unless I see and put my hands in his holes that the nails had made” until he met the risen Lord eight days later.
I wonder what must have gone through his head during those eight days. Or how he may have defended his own stance of not believing in what he had heard. I can imagine that maybe there would even be arguments between him and the witnesses who had seen the risen Lord. What a miserable week he must have had.
I suppose like any family who has to cope with death, Thomas would have tried to cope with the death of his Master. He was in a period of grief and acceptance which was cut short by the appearance of Jesus on the eighth day. I find consolation in Thomas, who despite being an apostle and in so close a relationship with Jesus, was unable to believe, initially, in the resurrection of Jesus. For we too may face our own eight days of darkness, unbelief, questions of faith, which may even be lengthened into weeks, months and years.
Yet one doubt of the resurrection cannot equal to the many incidents and witnesses of the resurrection, a proof that Jesus is indeed alive. One person’s doubt cannot fully explain why the early Christians would “remain faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers”. There must be truth in the resurrection for that is what we believe in. And this is what we hand on to our children. Future generations depend on us to hand on to them what we have received so that they may have “life through the name of Jesus”. We hope that they too share the same desire that we have for all of us have not seen the risen Lord but yet believed in him.
Let us pray then that the joy of the resurrection may illumine the darkness of our lives. Let us pray for an end to the Covid-19 pandemic that the Divine Mercy of our Lord Jesus may have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Fr Patrick Heng
Rector
Blessed Sacrament Parish, BDC, Kuching
