Word to the Wise
Sunday, April 24, 2022 - 2nd Sunday of Easter - C
[Acts 5:12-16; Rev 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19; John 20:19-31]"Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive they are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." [John]
The Gospel According to John has its own "agenda" in recounting the story of Jesus. [This is true of each of the other gospels as well.] In the post-resurrection scene from today's gospel scripture, the broad statement of the gospel that Jesus is the one whom God has sent is now to be applied to the disciples. "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." The reception of the Holy Spirit in this gospel takes place here. It is the Johannine Pentecost. The forgiveness of sins in the Gospel According to John is not the forgiveness of individual wrong actions but forgiveness of disbelief. The one big sin in the Gospel According to John is refusal to believe. This provides the context for the story of "Doubting Thomas!"
Thomas, like the royal official in John 4:48, represents all those whose faith is based on "signs and wonders." He has to see physically before he will believe. He would not accept the testimony of the other disciples, "We have seen the Lord!" Jesus' reply to Thomas' profession of faith is very important: "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." These latter ones are all of us who accept the testimony of the original witnesses which has come down to us through the scriptures and Tradition. Can we believe without miracles and apparitions? Which comes first to us?
The gospel passage today concludes with lines that stress the importance of accepting the Word of God - the testimony of the original disciples. The gospel was written "that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name." AMEN