2nd Sunday of Easter year A.
Christ shares the first fruits of the resurrection which is Peace.
Fr. Fred Wekesa, OSA
4/7/20263 min read
Sunday Homily for 2nd Sunday of Easter year A
1st Reading: Acts 2:42-47
Psalm: Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
2nd Reading: 1 Peter 1:3-9
Gospel: John 20:19-31
First gift after resurrection
This is a Sunday homily for 2nd Sunday of Easter Year A. This Sunday is also called Divine Mercy Sunday. We are going to reflect on: The first gift given after christ’s resurrection and the three objectives for Christ’s appearance to his disciples.
To begin with, every second Sunday of Easter, we read the Gospel passage from Saint John, who places the appearance of the resurrected Christ at Jerusalem, whereas the synoptic gospels present the appearance of the resurrected Christ outside Jerusalem. As a recap, Last Sunday, we had the first evidence concerning Christ’s resurrection, which is « the movement from the empty tomb to the meaning of the empty tomb », on this Sunday, we have the second evidence about his resurrection which is basically the « appearance » of the resurrected Christ to the Disciples on two occasions 1. on the first day of the week and 2. 8 days later after his resurrection. In other words, the resurrected Christ appeared to his disciples on two Sundays while they were gathered and the doors were closed. How was it possible that Christ appeared to the disciples even though the doors were closed? Because, after resurrection, Christ had a glorified body. In a more general way, on this 2nd Sunday of Easter year A, we can see 3 objectives from the liturgical readings that could be categorized in three progressive steps as follows.
1. The Manifestation of Christ. 2. The reactions from his disciples and finally 3. The mission. Let us start with
1. The Manifestation of Christ. On two occasions, on two Sundays, he appeared to the disciples in a closed house. Why did they close the doors and the windows of the house? The gospel passage tells us that they were afraid of the Jews. In fact, we can say that Christ manifested himself to the disciples to dispel their fears hence strengthening their faith to believe in the resurrected Christ. On the other hand, he gave them a gift of Peace saying, « peace be with you ». Do we experience this gift, the gift of peace in our families, do we experience this gift of peace in our places of work and do we experience this gift of peace in life today? May the resurrected Christ give us this true gift of peace in our life because when we are peaceful, it means that our hearts are in the rightful place, of course, in the resurrected Christ. Let us look at the Second step which is
2. The reactions from the disciples. On the first day of the week in the evening, that is Sunday, Christ appeared to the 10 disciples, who believed in him. in fact, they could have experienced a movement from darkness to light, from fear to faith, from restlessness to a peaceful and joyful moments. Again, 8 days later, the disciples had gathered on a Sunday, and Christ appeared to them, and that is when Thomas saw, touched his wounds, and believed in the resurrected Christ. In this context, Thomas represents Christians today who doubt the presence of Christ in their life but fortunately, as time goes by, they come to believe in the resurrected Christ. But the resurrected Christ says that « blessed is the one who believes without seeing ». In which category are you? with 10 disciples or with Thomas or among the blessed who believe without seeing? Lastly but not least,
3. The mission. The major reason why the resurrected Christ appeared to his disciples is to reactivate their faith and send them to share the good news to others. Indeed, Christ renews and strengthens his disciples’ faith by making an important gesture of breathing in them the newness and then they received the holy spirit to propagate the good news as reported in other synoptic gospels. This episode resonates with what happens in GENESIS 2, 7 during creation in which God breaths in to man. Therefore, the disciples received the mission first to Forgive sins, to forgive those who crucified him, to teach and remind others to forgive with the aim of obtaining peace because Christ is the prince of peace. We too have received this mission, the mission to live and share forgiveness. do we carry it out this mission faithfully?
To conclude, on this 2nd Sunday of Easter year A, the resurrected Christ indeed appears to us even today whenever we are gathered in his name, for instance, during the Eucharistic celebration, when we read and meditate on his word. Indeed, Christ manifests himself in our life each moment even if we close the doors and windows of our churches but then he enters in our life through a forgiving heart, a loving heart, and a caring heart. Therefore, let us open our hearts and Mind to receive the fruits of resurrection such as forgiveness, faith in God while living in one heart and one mind as we serve God forever and ever. AMEN.
HAVE A BLESSED DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY.