2nd Easter 2018, Joy Inside

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2^nd  Easter
John 20: 19-29
 
On the evening of the first day after the Sabbath, the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the authorities. Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you!” And while he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
Full of joy the disciples recognized the Lord. And again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”
And when he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive Holy Spirit through which the world will receive healing. From now on you shall work in human destinies with spiritual power so that they shall have the strength to wrest themselves free from the load of sin, and at the same time to bear the consequences of their offences.”
Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called

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the Twin, was not there with them when Jesus came. Later the disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he replied, “If I do not see in his hand the marks of the nails, and do not put my finger in the place where the nails were, and place my hand in his side, I cannot believe it.”
Eight days later, the disciples were again gathered in the inner room and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Stretch out your finger and see my hands, and stretch out your hand and put it into my side. Be not rigid in your heart, but rather feel and trust in my power in your heart.”
Then Thomas said to him, “You are the Lord of my soul; you are the God whom I serve.”
And Jesus said to him, “Have you found my power in yourself because you have seen me? Blessed are those who find my power in their hearts, even when their eye does not yet see me.”
 
2^nd Easter
April 8, 2018
John 20: 19-29
 
Movies nowadays are capable of creating amazing visuals. Characters in 3D can seem to hover in the space before us. They can become transparent and finally disappear, while their voice still continues to speak.
 
On Easter evening, Christ Jesus appears in the room though the doors are locked. He must have looked somewhat different, for it takes a moment for his friends to recognize him. His wounds are the keys that open their hearts. And his breath. He breathes peace into them. And He also breathes His power and strength into them, and into us—the strength to gradually work ourselves free from the burden of our destinies; the strength at the same time to carry the necessary consequences of our deeds.
 
Thomas was not present when Christ appeared, and so he questions the reality

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of what his friends had experienced. Thomas is a figure for our time. For we are all struggling to recognize the reality behind the appearances. Pilate’s question to Jesus—what is truth?—is answered through Thomas. For Thomas learns that truth has many layers, of which the material is only one. Thomas must learn to trust in the non-material physical evidence. He trusts in what he can see, but also in what he can perceive as body warmth through his sense of touch, and through his recognition, his intuition, that the One who appears before him really is who He seems to be.
 
For at that moment, Christ inhabits a non-material body. It looks like a human body, yet I imagine it is transparent, and yet still visible, still bearing the marks of His suffering, still touchable, still real. As real as warmth, as real was His death, as real as is His Love. And through trust, Thomas awakens within himself the reality of Christ.
 
As a poetic theologian says:
 
… let yourself receive the one
who is opening to you so deeply.
For if we genuinely love Him,
we wake up inside Christ's body
 
where all our body, all over,
every most hidden part of it,
is realized in joy as Him,
and He makes us, utterly, real,
….
he awakens as the Beloved
in every last part of our body.*

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*  “We Awaken in Christ's Body” by Symeon the New Theologian (949 – 1032 AD) English version by Stephen Mitchell.