Conquering Death And Fear

March 30, 2008     Easter 2 A

Acts 2:4a, 22-32             Psalm 16

1 Peter 1:3-9         St. John 20:19-31

The setting for Jesus' appearance to the disciples is a house with locked doors in which the disciples are gathered. In Jesus' nosey Mediterranean society, people suspect that those who gather behind locked doors are up to no good. Unlocked doors allow the children, the official "spies" or "snoops" in the village, to wander in and out of homes at will, keeping everyone on the up and up.

For this reason, John notes that the disciples were hiding nothing but were rather protecting themselves against attacks from Judeans who did not believe in Jesus. Jesus has been raised from the dead. The disciples were not, however, filled with joy, they were filled with fear. Fear that Jesus' fate would be their own. Their assumption was true, but not in exactly the way they thought.

The early Easter church of faith worked wonders. These believers performed signs, prayed, shared everything, lived in generosity, worked hard every day, praised God, and won new recruits. They even got along with each other, judging from the accounts of the early parts of Acts. Later chapters, however, prove that the long labor of faith was only beginning. It was not all sweetness and light.

No doubt it is those rosy pictures of the first Christians that dominate our minds when we think that, if we were really a people of faith, everything would be hunky-dory. We "People of God" would behave and perform far better than we seem to be doing. We would also be more impressive, "winning the approval of all" as the early church did. Well, we are not getting much approval?neither from the world around us nor from each other.

The same gap between expectation and performance gapes in our individual personal lives. One would think that we'd be doing marvels if we really had faith. There would not be so much confusion in our lives. We would not be contentious. We would pray more and hurt less. We would not be so haunted by doubts. We would be happy. We'd be nicer. Life would not be so daunting.

We presume that faith, like love, should make things easy, even effortless. We imagine that if we really believed in and loved God, we would, in the words of the First Letter of Peter, "rejoice with inexpressible joy." Love is supposed to feel good, at least so say the songs. And you'd think that faith would make things a little less arduous and more fulfilling.

It is widely believed among contemporary New Testament scholars that 1 Peter is based on an Easter baptismal homily. Some even think that it is a baptismal liturgy, but that is probably going a little too far.

Through their baptismal identification with Christ's death and resurrection, Christians have experienced a new birth. But the author warns his readers that this new life is not yet completely realized.

They are being guarded for a salvation to be revealed in the last time, and meanwhile they may have to face various trials and have their faith tested in the fire of persecution. Speaking with apostolic authority, that is, as one whose faith is grounded on his having "seen" the risen Lord, the author distinguishes himself from his hearers, who depend for their faith on the eyewitness of others because they have "not seen." This advances a theme that is to be developed in the story of Thomas in the gospel.

The disciples, remember, were locked in. They were in fear; there was a lack of peace; perhaps there was confusion, pain, and division. It is into that unsettled disquiet that Jesus came. Even then the Apostles were not able to experience fully the joy of his presence without entering the mystery of his wounds. Once they saw his hands and side, the remnants of pain and sorrow, they could rejoice.

The experience of faith is not the absence of pain or sorrow or loss. It is, rather, the bearing of pain or sorrow in faith. Faith does not take away the wounds; it transforms them. In faith, flaws are not obliterated; they are refined and purified.

There is a subtext to Jesus' comment that while Thomas became a believer in the seeing, those who do not have the joy of seeing offer something far more splendid in their act of sightless faith. We are told that Jesus did other signs. The ones scripture records are meant to help us believe that Jesus is the Messiah. That belief, that faith, is finally felt and expressed not in sheer joy alone, but in arduous trial, in the plague of worry or doubt, in the grip of fear. These lacks, these wounds, these trials make faith shine all the more and the hearts that hold such faith more precious than gold.

Jesus has triumphed over death. Even the disciples who heard this were not complete in their faith. They still lived in fear. Fear that Jesus' fate would be their own. They were right. Jesus had triumphed over death, and because of their faith in Jesus the disciples also would triumph over death. But although death was conquered, fear was not. It is only as the disciples are filled with Jesus' Spirit and hear his words for them to carry on his work, that fear is dispelled.

It is in the living-out of faithful service to God, that fear is removed. It is in living that we, as God' people and Jesus' disciples can see and know that there is nothing to fear in this life or in death, because Jesus has conquered life and death and by his Spirit, makes us share in that victory.