Today in the Spirit: Easter 2C
The church utilizes the two Sundays following Easter Day to center its worship around the resurrection appearances of Jesus recorded in Luke and John. (The one account of an appearance to his disciples in Matthew 28:16-20, the Great Commission, is appointed on Trinity Sunday A, and the one in Mark 16:9-20 is an alternative Gospel reading on Ascension Day).
At Easter 2 every year, the assigned Gospel reading from John 20:19-31 features Jesus’ first two recorded appearances to the eleven disciples: the first on the evening after the resurrection when he dramatizes for them the coming of the Holy Spirit and commissions them,“‘As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you’” (21); the second a week later when Jesus realigns Thomas’ faith marked by his famous declaration to Jesus, “My Lord and my God” (28).
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The preferred option for the first reading of Scripture on Easter 2C is from Acts 5:12a,17-22,25-29. This reading covers Luke’s narrative of the events leading to an unprecedented second meeting of the Sanhedrin (the council of Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem) to address the apostles’ ministry in the temple area after Pentecost. To their insistent demand that they stop teaching the people, Peter replies on behalf of the apostles, “‘We must obey God rather than men’” (29).
The alternative OT reading from Job 42:1-6 is Job’s brief but extraordinary response to YHWH after being confronted with the truth of his infidelity. Job’s words of contrition will serve in our worship to reflect the feelings of Thomas after being likewise challenged by Jesus: “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (5-6).
Psalm 111, appointed every year on Easter 2 (and Epiphany 4B), is an ode to the greatness of “the works of the Lord” (2). In our worship, we will recite or sing this psalm, with the resurrection of Christ foremost in our minds as the greatest of the great works of God.
The NT reading assigned for this Sunday is Revelation 1:(1-8)9-19. The required latter verses recount John’s description of his initial vision of Jesus Christ in heaven, one “like a son of man” (13, echoing Daniel 7:13). From Jesus, John receives the instruction to write down for the seven churches in Asia “the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this” (19).
The appointed Collect for Easter 2 is a plea to God for the Church, to “show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith.” By the wording of the prayer, we become not merely imitators of Christ but members of his ongoing “body” life on earth.
The Collect
Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Now Many Signs and Wonders (Acts 5:12a, 17-22, 25-29)
12 Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. 13 None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. 14 And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 16 The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. 17 But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy 18 they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” 21 And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. 22 But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, 23 “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” 24 Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. 25 And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” 26 Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. 27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
Acts 5:12a, 17-22, 25-29
As the Book of Acts changes the tone of the NT, so does the insertion of readings from Acts during the Easter season alter the tone of the church’s worship. Where the death and resurrection of Christ in the Gospel narratives raises the expectation level of what might happen with the people of God, they stop there. The evidence of a transformed people of God is supplied only with Luke’s reporting of what happens to the apostles and the believing community after Pentecost. The actual new things reported in this reading are these: “signs and wonders” from the apostles (12); “believers were added to the Lord, multitudes” (14); assistance from angels (19); ministry activity in defiance of the religious leaders (25); and courage to proclaim obedience to “God rather than men” (29).
Devotionally, adding church history (through Acts) to our corporate worship should encourage us to look further into church history as part of our regular study as Christians, both corporately and individually, everywhere. We may read Acts and think, “Well, that was then, and this is now.” So, let’s see what’s happening in modern history. We may read Acts and think, “Well, that was for the apostles (they were special; I am not), so let’s see how later generations of Christians fared.” We may observe reading Acts, “Well, Peter and Paul were men. What about women in history?” The list goes on and on. Reading Acts to grasp what happened at the time and place of the apostles plays a critical part in our development as people of God. Reading more of the history of God’s working in the church takes us further still. Thank God for the historians.
Today, Holy Spirit, I am grateful for Luke’s testimony in Acts, which has helped build my faith. Show me more.
Repent in Dust and Ashes (Job 42:1-6)
1 Then Job answered the Lord and said:
Job 42:1-6
2 “I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 ‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
6 therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes”
These are the final words spoken by Job in the book. Judging from the language “I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (6), we might well imagine this story’s patriarch feeling sorrowful about himself. While that may be the case, we must see that literature itself projects something different. In the story of Job, these words of contrition represent the exact moment at which the redemption of the man has begun. We, the readers, might impose on Job some regret over the loss of his family, his wealth and his health, but it is not at all there in the writing. Instead repentance is the trigger that sets the story off on complete turn around.
In the same way, as I often tried to say before, biblically we must view humility and repentance as the currency in the kingdom of God for the transformation of man. Salvation from God trades off the contrition of people. Not with faithful prayers, increased understanding of God’s word, or acts of service at church does the meter move forward in the reign of God, but in our seeing ourselves for who we really are in the eyes of Almighty God and living into that reality. This is what John the Baptist means when he says he must decrease so that Jesus might increase. Neither for Job in this instance nor for Thomas when he is caught short by Jesus in the Gospel reading are these sorrowful moments, but the turning point to new joy. Sorrow results only when we note how sinful we are and fail to receive God’s mercy in return.
Here is C. S. Lewis writing on this matter in The Problem of Pain:
My own idea, for what it is worth, is that all sadness which is not either arising from the repentance of a concrete sin and hastening towards concrete amendment or restitution, or else arising from pity and hastening to active assistance, is simply bad; and I think that we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to “rejoice” as by anything else. Humility, after the first shock, is a cheerful virtue: it is the high-minded unbeliever desperately trying in the teeth of repeated disillusions to retain his “faith in human nature” who is really sad.
C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
Today, Holy Spirit, grant me the gift of repentance which you convert, as you did for Job and Thomas, into unspeakable new joy.
In the Company of the Upright (Psalm 111)
1 Praise the Lord. I will give thanks unto the Lord with my whole heart, *
Psalm 111, New Coverdale Psalter (BCP 2019)
in the company of the upright, and among the congregation.
2 The works of the Lord are great, *
sought out by all who have pleasure in them.
3 His work is worthy to be praised and held in honor, *
and his righteousness endures for ever.
4 He has made his marvelous works to be had in remembrance; *
The Lord is gracious and merciful.
5 He has given food to those who fear him; *
he shall ever be mindful of his covenant.
6 He has shown his people the power of his works, *
that he may give them the heritage of the nations.
7 The works of his hands are faithfulness and justice; *
all his commandments are true.
8 They stand fast for ever and ever, *
and are done in truth and equity.
9 He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant for ever; *
holy and awesome is his Name.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; *
a good understanding have all those who live accordingly;
his praise endures for ever.
The psalmist is inspired here either by an actual experience of worship in the temple or the anticipation of having one. It would be completely foreign to the thinking of this singer that the contemplation of the “works of the LORD” or “good understanding” from God could be discerned outside “the congregation” (1). The praise is corporate, and the benefits of his works are distributed corporately. Even when invoking the well-known Hebrew proverb “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom”, followed by “a good understanding have all those who live accordingly” (10), he is picturing in his mind’s eye a whole people rising to new heights, not individuals. It is not that each one who lives accordingly has understanding but “all those” have (together) good understanding.
Be careful you do not entertain an individualistic reading of the language of the psalms such as this. It can easily lead to a wrong understanding of God’s ways apart from the gathering of the people of God, as if any one person has the capacity to experience God’s blessings in isolation. Normally, God does not deal with us scatter-shot, with one person studying their Bible over here and another doing their godly service over there. No, beloved, the leading thought of this psalm is the singer’s desire to be in the assembly worshiping and the observation he makes there of the works of God among the group.
Today, Holy Spirit, give me this psalm’s appreciation for the corporate manifestation of your “wisdom,” and increase in me a love for the church.
In the Midst of the Lampstands (Revelation 1:[1-8]9-19)
9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” 12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.
Revelation 1:9-19
The renowned Scottish evangelical commentator F. F. Bruce calls this “inaugural vision” of the Book of Revelation. But what can we say about the setting of this vision? It is not a scene of “heaven.” That comes later in the book, after the messages to the churches are delivered and John is invited to “come up” to the throne of glory (4:1). This is not Christ with the Father surrounded by a celestial company, but Christ of Spirit (“stars”) and Word (“sword”) “in the midst of the “lampstands,” among the churches in the world. It is here as if a veil has been pulled back on our earthly circumstances as Christians in the present age, so that we might see our sovereign Lord in our midst and poised always to speak to us. Think of it like the experience of the three disciples at the transfiguration of Jesus (note, here too images of “white” and “light”), but with a different backdrop and characters.
Devotionally, a vision of Christ and his churches is encouraging for Christians in any generation. We, like John and the churches of Asia Minor, are children of “tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus” (9). On this “Lord’s day” we benefit from knowing, even if we cannot perceive him with our physical eyes, the presence of the One who is “first and last” and who have “the keys of Death and Hades,” so that we know not even these can separate from the love of God. And, perhaps best of all, we perceive now as then that the Lord Jesus is eager to speak with his churches. To tell us if he is pleased with us or if he has anything against us, it matters not. It is enough to be assured he has a word for us always.
Today, in the Spirit, give us eyes to see the Son of God still “in the midst of the lampstands” and ears to hear him speak encouragement to us in our trials.
Do Not Disbelieve But Believe (John 20:19-31)
26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:26-31
As I write this commentary ahead of Easter 2, during Holy Week, I find myself wondering if Jesus’ challenge here to Thomas—to look upon and touch his wounds—is designed to make the man come to grips with more than just the fact of the resurrection. Thomas had been absent not only on the Sunday evening for the resurrection appearance but also on the Friday for the crucifixion. Is his insistence on “disbelieving” in our reading rooted only in the doubt that Jesus—or anyone—could rise from the dead, or is it a cumulative skepticism starting from the failure to see why he should die in the first place? When he exclaims, “My Lord and my God,” is he crying passionately after just the One who has conquered death, or also to the One who has forgiven sins–his sins?
Lord, I am like Thomas in many ways. My disbelief runs deep. I pray that you would find a way to my heart, like you did his, to turn my insecure faith in your saving ministry into an exuberant new confession: “My Lord and my God!” I may be among those who have believed without seeing your side and touching your wounds, but I would “see” other things, whatever you think is necessary, to bring eternal life out from under the unbelieving skin which covers it.
Today, Holy Spirit, draw out of me the same new courage which you drew out of Thomas.
Today in the Spirit
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