Easter Delayed

 

Second Sunday of Easter
Sunday of Divine Mercy

Year B

Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 118; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31

Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them.
John 20:26

I have been asked all week, “Did you enjoy your Easter?”  My response has been unequivocal.  “I’m still enjoying Easter.”  I’m still enjoying Easter because, of course, it didn’t end with the day but continues through the season.

It’s quite possible the early disciples were having a similar experience.  Basking in the glow of our Lord’s resurrection, they must have had to pinch themselves to be sure it was not a dream.  All of them might very well have been having this experience except one- Thomas.

Thomas was not with them when the Lord appeared to the rest.  And he didn’t believe their report.  One wonders if he wasn’t the least bit curious at seeing the dramatic change in their demeanor.  Deluded men do not have the mark of authenticity.  These men must truly have been transformed by their experience.  Nevertheless, Thomas remains resolute in his skepticism until he can have solid proof for himself.

I think Thomas gets a bad rap as being dubbed, “Doubting Thomas”.  Why isn’t he remembered for anything else he did?  Peter isn’t known as “Denying Peter” and James and John were not always remembered as the “Sons of Thunder”.  The fact is that Thomas manifested heroic loyalty to our Lord before His crucifixion and, once restored to faith in the story before us today, continued in the same vein, most famously taking the Gospel to India where he suffered martyrdom.

I’m thankful for Thomas.  His skepticism echoes that of many through the ages who have asked similar questions.  It’s good to know the whole band didn’t naively go along with the story.  They asked hard questions.  They struggled, and they finally came through to a living faith.  That’s how it is for many of us as well.

Furthermore, who of us wants to throw the first stone at Thomas?  Are we so full of faith that we can’t possibly relate to his position?  I doubt it!  No, rather I believe we can all relate to Thomas in many ways.  We find ourselves in him in his dilemma.  Some of us have walked where he has walked.  We’ve faced trial and tragedy and wondered, “Where is God in all this?”  Our faith has been shaken and we insist on some sign from heaven if we are going to be drawn back into belief.

But having said all that, there’s something that captures my attention in this story.  It’s that Thomas’ Easter was delayed by a week.  What a tragedy!

This Easter was perhaps the best I’ve had since I entered the Church.  Maybe it was even better than that.  What made it so good?  I’m not sure.  But I strongly suspect it had to do with COVID.

When everything shut down a year ago and we were not permitted to celebrate Easter in person, it was as if Lent continued.  And it wasn’t until this Easter that I began to realize that I was living as if Lent had extended all the way to the current moment.  After living more than a year in that state it was almost incredulous to think that we could celebrate as we have this year.  But when we could be in church this year and celebrate the Easter Vigil and watch souls birthed into the kingdom in Baptism as well as others received into the Church it all came alive for me.  The most poignant moment of the Easter Vigil for me was when the Blessed Sacrament was reposed in the tabernacle.  I had this sense of “Ah!  He’s back where He belongs!”  It almost brought me to tears.

I have thoroughly lived this week.  It’s been glorious.  The Easter triumph resounds within my soul.  The thought of having to delay for another week is agonizing.  Yet, this was Thomas’ experience.  He couldn’t begin the celebration until then.

I am mindful of the very real possibility that those reading this, or others close to them, may be in the same situation as Thomas.  We celebrated Easter and we ate the food and visited family and did all the stuff.  But then when it was over we went back to “normal living”.  There was no manifest change in us.  There was no encounter with Jesus.  And here we are a week later and not actually living in the glory of Easter.

If that’s you, my friend, I plead for you to take some time immediately to ponder the glorious truth of the Easter message: Christ is risen!  He is truly risen- just as He said!  If we really believe that then it changes everything and nothing is impossible.

At one point this week while I was in prayer I sensed the Holy Spirit gently chide me, “It’s real, you know.  And if that’s true, then there’s nothing for you to worry about.”  If I have the faith that a Man was raised from the dead, could I really doubt that anything is impossible to God?  I just need to put my Easter into my experience.  I need to live out what I say I believe. 

And the same goes for us all.  If your Easter has been delayed by a week, don’t let it be delayed any longer.  Get alone with God and shut yourself into your room just like those early disciples on the first Easter evening.  Then allow Jesus to enter in and be transformed by His resurrected presence.  Then find the nearest “Thomas” and announce, “We have seen the Lord.”