Word to the Wise
Sunday, April 7, 2024 - 2nd Sunday of Easter - B
[Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31]Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the Father loves also the one begotten by him. In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith. [1 John] Jesus said to [Thomas]: "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are 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. [John]
The importance and power of faith is on full display in the scriptures assigned for this day. The power of faith is manifested in the love of neighbor without which faith is empty. Faith comes from an encounter with God's love and not merely an intellectual assent to a list of dogmas printed on a page. The scriptures from the Johannine community speak to faith as a force that overcomes "the world." The "world" in this case is the world of non-belief that requires nothing but self-preservation. The "commandments" of God are brought together in the commandment to love one another as Christ has loved us and gave his life for us.
The portrait of the early Christian community in the first scripture for today is a kind of snapshot of what the commandment of love meant to the earliest believers. "The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common." How does that ring in the ears of our individualistic and consumerist culture? Faith has consequences that must be manifested in love, and the challenge comes on the level of everyday life, whether it be international or local.
In short, faith is more than celebrating the Eucharist in the same space with a bunch of other folks. It is more than devotions and prayers. It is manifested in displaying the "divine mercy" that gives this Sunday its nickname. How merciful are we? How loving? The answer to those two questions will tell us a lot about how faithful we are. AMEN