On Easter Sunday we proclaim the resurrection. But the second Sunday of
Easter gives us an opportunity to reflect on the nuances, contradictions
and implications of this central event.
I’ve always loved the story of the skeptical disciple who did not at first believe that Jesus was back from the dead. I suspect there’s a bit of Thomas in us all.
The first thing the resurrected Jesus does in the presence of his
disciples in the Upper Room is breathe. Before his famous back and
forth with Thomas, before he offers his bloody hands and side, Jesus
breathes, offers his peace, and then he breathes peace on the
disciples.
At Duke Chapel we exchange the peace of Christ each Sunday.
I shudder when I’m reminded that it is painful for someone with dark skin to hear that “God is light, and in God there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Being legally blind, I know firsthand that to walk in the light (1 John 1:7) often hurts. I wear sunglasses both to darken my world so that I can function and to protect my eyes from the light.
Hey you! Don’t even think of parking that sermon near this playground! Take your Doubting-Thomas-Mobile to some other lot. Don’t even wait here with your motor running. OK—maybe it sounds like I don’t have a life. But Bible people are real to me. And my relationships with them change as I mature, just as you come to appreciate relatives at family reunions.
