Second Sunday – Easter Cycle C

Reflecting on John 20:19-31, Rev. 1:17-19

Mercy.  Can you feel it?  It’s getting ready to explode all around us.  This cold, long winter is finally giving way to spring.  Without seeing it, we believed that new life was secretly budding on trees that, just a short time ago, appeared forever barren.  Some of us have needed to touch the branches ourselves, to put our hands on the tiny buds, to hold the tiny crocus peeking out of the ground.  But even our winter-hard hearts know mercy when we see it.

Doubting Thomas

Resurrection is tricky business.  Our eyes tell us one thing―no; let’s not even mention the messages of death that want to hijack our joy.  They get enough of our spirit, right?  But still, we could believe the Easter Gospel so much more easily if we had been in that upper room, or at the empty tomb, or one of those who were healed by the shadow of Peter, the Forgiven One.

We trust the testimony of the eyewitnesses, of course.  But how much more blessed is our own experience of the Risen One!  We see him and know him whenever mercy, undeserved and so desperately desired, whispers our name.  So watch carefully and remember what you have seen, and what is happening, and what will happen afterwards.

Mercy abounds.

Sharing God’s Word at Home:

In what ways have you experienced mercy so great that you knew that Jesus was alive?

(Caravaggio painting c.1601)

Easter - Cycle C