Eucharistic Gospel Reading for the Second Sunday of Easter: Year A
“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” (John 20: 29)
Although we have not “seen” Jesus, at least, not in human form as a Palestinian Jew. We see him in the acts of people who believe in him.
In scripture we see Jesus come to people huddled up in a room as did the apostles. They had their own quarantine so to speak. They were behind a locked door but that did not stop Jesus.
Jesus seems to really get upset about people who have first heard and then did not believe. Jesus was upset with the disciples who heard Mary Magdalene declare “He has risen,” but they didn’t believe her. Jesus reprimanded the two on the road to Emmaus. You see, “In the beginning was the Word!” not the sight. I think Jesus is trying to make the point that we should believe the Jesus stories we are told, at least believe until we find out different, and I don’t believe we ever will.
We can see the presence of Jesus through the acts of believers today. I saw and heard Jesus in a Doctor at Chapel Hill University Hospital many, many years ago, who asked if she could pray with us for one of our then teenage high school boys who was run over by a school bus. She asked to pray with us before she performed surgery on him. I was so moved by her asking. It is good to witness doctors of faith and feel the presence of Jesus today in our presence. We can hear and see our Lord Jesus in doctors and nurses and store clerks, and truck drivers cooped up in their various, and sometimes locked-in environments today. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Even more blessed are those who have heard and then come to see our Lord Jesus in the loving acts of his people. I bid you all, to go and be blessed, and then be a blessing to others. Tell your own Jesus stories so that others may first hear and then see our Lord Jesus in their own way.
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and to serve, and to teach others to love and to serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
Let us pray: Second Sunday of Easter (BCP p. 224)
Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
onewhoponders 