Second Sunday of Easter B: April 7, 2024

We have a picture in our minds of the disciples on the evening of that first Easter Sunday. They knew that Jesus’ body was not in the tomb. Mary Magdalene had said that she had seen the Lord risen. But they really did not know what to think. They gathered in a locked room, very possibly the same room in which they ate the last supper. They were afraid; they listened to any sound on the other side of the locked door; would the Sanhedrin send soldiers to arrest them too? Maybe their turn was next. What were they to do? Where were they to go? Where was Jesus dead or alive? These must have been the kind of questions that were driven into their minds, so fearful were they. They felt terror.

And then as they sat there paralyzed by fear, Jesus was suddenly in their midst. And he gave them the usual greeting given in the East: “Peace be with you,” meaning ‘May God give you every good thing.’ And then Jesus gave the disciples the commission which the church should never forget: He said that as God had sent him forth, he was sending them forth. This means three things:

First, it means that Jesus Christ needs the Church. This means exactly the same thing as Paul meant later when he called the Church “the body of Christ.” Jesus had a message that he wanted everyone to hear, and he was going back to his Father. So, that message could not be taken to all people unless the Church took it. We, the Church, the Body of Christ, had to become the mouth to speak for Jesus, the feet to run his errands, the hands to do his work. Jesus could not become the savior of the world in fact, unless the Church took his story all over the earth. Therefore, this means that Jesus is dependent on his Church.

Second, it also means that the Church needs Jesus. For a person to go out, he or she must have someone to send them; that person needs a message to take; and that person needs power and authority to back the message. He or she needs someone to come to in times of trouble and doubt. Without Jesus the Church has no message, no power, no one to turn to in difficult situations, no support to strengthen and enlighten. The Church, then, is dependent of Jesus.

And, thirdly, We, the Church, have to relate to Jesus in the same way that Jesus related to the Father. The Father was depending continually on Jesus perfect obedience, submission, and perfect love. Jesus could represent God only because he rendered to God perfect obedience and love. So the Church, that is us who are the body of Christ, can only represent God and Jesus when we remain faithful to Jesus’ message and not our own. We cannot use Christ’s saving message, Christ’ sacraments, unless we always give his message and not use it to further ourselves or make ourselves the center of it all.

The next thing Jesus does as he appears in their midst without opening any locked door, is to give them the Spirit. In fact, Jesus breathed on them just as the Lord God breathed life into the clay during the creation or as Ezekiel breathed life into the dry bones. This giving of the Holy Spirit is like a new creation. The Spirit woke the disciples up and allowed them to see what all this meant: the tomb was empty, but Jesus body was not stolen, Jesus had risen from the dead and defeated death itself. And this meant something. It meant that they had a purpose: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” The Church became wide awake and was recreated for a new task. It was not the one the disciples had been hoping for as ministers in a new government of Israel which threw out the Romans; rather it was spreading a new message that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead and had defeated death; and more, that every person could do the same by becoming a member of the Body of Christ and being his mouth, feet and hands for the whole world. And to do this Jesus said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

So in spite of all that the disciples had misunderstood, they now had a clear vision; they could leave the locked room and face the world with a message that was unlike any the world had ever heard: Do not be afraid. I am the one who lives. Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever. I hold the keys to death and the nether world. I share my victory with you who believe. Eat and drink with me and bring into being the Kingdom my Father sent me to establish; one in which the values of the world are turned upside down and the last are first.

During Babe Ruth’s baseball career, he drifted away from his Faith. One night he was very ill in a New York hospital, and a friend suggested he makes his peace with God. As a result, Babe Ruth asked to see a priest. After celebrating the sacrament of Reconciliation,
Babe Ruth wrote:
“As I lay in bed that evening, I thought to myself – what a comfortable feeling to be free from fear and worries. I could simply turn them over to God.” — Wow! What an expression of Trust in God’s Love and Mercy. In doing this he put on Christ. Today, this Sunday, are we ready to live this challenge of putting on Christ like the disciples did, like da Vinci did and many Christians have throughout the ages? Are we willing to be the mouth, feet, and hands of Jesus?