The Second Sunday of Easter (Year A), March 30, 2008
BCP: Acts 2:14a, 22-32 or Gen. 8:6-16; 9:8-16; Psalm 111 or Psalm 118:19-24; 1 Pet. 1:3-9 or Acts 2:14a, 22-32; John 20:19-31
RCL: Acts 2:14a, 22-32; Psalm 16; 1 Pet. 1:3-9; John 20:19-31
In Robert Browning’s poem, “A Death in the Desert,” the dying apostle John speaks to his attentive friends. He expresses the deep anxiety and urgency he feels about his death:
“So when they scatter, there is none left on earth No one alive who knew (consider this!); How will it be when none more saith, “I saw?”
Browning has rightly caught the intent of John in his gospel. John wants to leave the missionary commission to the church, but he also wants to make clear the new responsibility of those who come after him. He makes the missionary command clear: “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” That gives God’s expectation of the church as witnesses.
John takes this one step further. He saw that the task of being Jesus’ witness has inevitably taken on a new challenge. Perhaps this was, as Browning wrote, because John was the last living eyewitness. Perhaps it was also because of where John was when he wrote – deep in Turkey. He was surrounded by people who not only didn’t believe but hadn’t seen Jesus either. And that would be the case for all people from that time on.
After Thomas’ cry of faith, Jesus points this out: “Well have you believed, Thomas, for you have been with me and seen me risen from the dead. But after you, when you all die, those who believe will not have the advantage of seeing and believing.”
That is the anxiety, the urgency which John brought out in the rationale for his gospel. In his prologue, he planted seeds whose full bloom can be seen here at the close. A paraphrase will help make the connection.
“These stories herein are written so that you may believe that the Word was made flesh in Jesus Christ. Christ was with God from the beginning and was God. He came that all who believe in his name may have life.”
The themes of the prologue culminate in the missionary conclusion of the gospel.
We who share the faith of the apostle Thomas, who know Jesus as “My Lord and my God,” have a responsibility with that faith. All who were in that room knew Jesus and believed because they saw his ministry. All who come after have not seen him. For them to believe, we must be, like John says, their witnesses to the living Lord.
Look It Up
What stories in John’s gospel are easiest for you to use in talking about your faith?
Think About It
In what ways was Jesus sent? We are sent in the same way. What can we learn of our mission from how he was sent?
Next Sunday
The Third Sunday of Easter (Year A), April 6, 2008
BCP: Acts 2:14a, 36-47 (or Isaiah 43:1-12); Psalm 116 or 116:10-17; 1 Pet. 1:17-23 or Acts 2:14a, 36-47; Luke 24:13-35
RCL: Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17; 1 Pet. 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35
