"Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God"
John 20
Homily for the Second Sunday of Easter
Mark Payne, OSB
At the very end of the fourth Gospel, St. John
reveals his purpose in writing the Gospel. Not to entertain or to
delight, not to make money or to promote a product. This is
written, St. John says, so that you may come to believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that through this belief
you also may have life in his name. It's a little like finding a
letter written by an ancestor and addressed: "to my
descendants." Not exactly a personal letter but in the
context of the Communion of Saints, we certainly are spiritually
accompanied by St. John each time we read his work. St. John's
Gospel is personally directed from him (now fully alive in
Christ) to you and to me (who are coming alive in Christ.) This
is the Good News: Eternal life is granted not just to Jesus but
to all who believe in him. Jesus' resurrection did not happen
only in the past and only to Jesus but resurrection is for all of
us and resurrection is for right now.
His conviction is based, St. John tells us, on
what he and his contemporaries saw and heard in those three years
of Jesus' public ministry. They listened to this man from
Nazareth and they saw the signs he worked. As a result of knowing
Jesus, they experienced a profound spiritual transformation. From
confusion about the purpose of their life they discovered a
powerful clarity. Instead of life's frustration they found
forgiveness and acceptance. From feeling anonymous and irrelevent
they found a joyful fulfillment in spreading the good news about
Jesus. Moving out of isolation and bitterness they became part of
a joyful, optimistic and healing community. Our ancestors in
Christianity faced the same issues in life as we do and they want
to share the news of their discovery with us. They want us to
know that by sharing in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus
they have received more out of life than they could ever have
hoped for.
The good news of God's love that is available
in the person of Jesus Christ was so good that the earliest
apostles and their successors wanted more than anything else for
this news to be handed on. Even at peril of their own lives, if
it came to that - and it sometimes did - these men and women
joyfully persevered in spreading this good news. In this sense
the worst fears of those religious and political leaders in Jesus
day all came true. In Jerusalem and all of Judea and Galilee,
even to the far corners of the world and down through the ages
the world has been filled with the good news of Jesus of
Nazareth. This news is handed down from person to person and from
place to place not as mere knowledge or as a spiritual teaching
but as a lived experienced, a life-transforming inner conviction.
Yes, here it is. The whole point of life, the solution to all
your troubles. It has happened to me and I want to share it with
you.
To encourage the growth of our own faith, St.
John describes for us today what happened to Thomas in those days
following the resurrection. Thomas wanted proof. If he ws going
to stake his life and risk his hopes on something, he wanted to
be sure. The testimony of the women and of Peter and of John just
were not enough for Thomas to believe in the resurrection.
Whatever were the details of Thomas' experience with the risen
Lord, we hear today that Thomas was granted a personal experience
of the Risen Lord and so he came to faith. Notice that Thomas'
experience came in the presence of the believing community.
Moreover, Thomas expressed not only that God has raised up Jesus
but he also professed that Jesus is the perfect representation of
God to the world. Jesus is the whole point of all creation. My
Lord and my God! All of this I have written, St. John says to us
today, so that we too may come to believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God and that through this belief we also also
may have life in his name.