2nd Sunday of Easter & Divine Mercy Sunday Year C-April 27, 2025
Acts 5:12-16; Revelation 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19; John
20:19-31
Theme: The Breath of Mercy of Jesus Brings Us New Life and Makes Us His Missionaries
A. A Brief Exegetical Analysis of John 20:19-31
1. Historical
and Literary Contexts
This
Gospel passage about Jesus’ appearance to his disciples attests to Jesus’
Resurrection and marks the end of Jesus’ earthly life and the beginning of the
age of the Church. Immediately before this Gospel passage, the narrator recounted
the story of Jesus’ appearance to Mary of Magdala (20:11-18), and right after our
text comes the story of Jesus’ appearance to the seven disciples in Galilee
(21:1-25).
2. Form,
Structure, and Movement
The
Gospel text is a narrative account structured into three parts. The first part
(vv. 19-23) recounts Jesus’ appearance to his disciples without Thomas. The
second part (vv. 24-29) describes Jesus’ appearance to his disciples again,
with Thomas present. The third part (vv. 30-31) serves as the initial
conclusion to the book as a whole.
Vv.
19-23. These verses recount Jesus’ appearance to the disciples without Thomas.
“On the evening of that first day of the week” refers to the evening of the
Sabbath (Sunday for the Christians). The ten disciples (excluding Judas and
Thomas) were gathered in a locked room, presumably in Jerusalem, out of fear of
the Jews. They feel as though they wasted three years following Jesus, who is
now dead, and everything seems finished. Furthermore, they are experiencing
immense fear and confusion, believing that the people who crucified their
Master, Jesus, are now seeking to crucify them as well. Amid this
disappointment and anxiety, Jesus appears and stands in their midst. Jesus’s
resurrected body enters the room without opening the locked doors.
Jesus
did three things. (1) He greeted them with the following words: “Peace be with
you.” In this passage, he wished them “peace” three times (vv. 19, 21, and
26). This peace is different from the ordinary peace the Jews use to greet one
another. It echoes Jn 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give it to you.” (NABRE). Jesus knows their fear,
so he begins by filling their hearts and minds with the peace of the
resurrection, which restores their hope, courage, confidence, and faith in him.
(2) Jesus shows them his hands and sides as evidence that he is alive. Luke
speaks of “hands and feet” based on Ps 22:17 (see Lk 24:39-40). The fearful
disciples now rejoice because the living Lord is among them. (3) He sends them
on a mission like his Father God sent him. This means the disciples are
commissioned to continue Jesus’ mission. He fills them with the Holy Spirit by
breathing on them. This recalls the story of creation in the book of Genesis
when God created Adam. This latter was not a living being until God blew into
his nostrils the breath of life (see Gn 2:7). So, by using his breath to give
the Holy Spirit to his disciples, Jesus recreates them. He also empowers them
with the authority to forgive and return sins. This faculty to forgive and
return sins was previously reserved for Jesus alone. Here, he shares this
faculty with his disciples.
Vv.
24-29. Jesus’ appearance to his disciples for the second time. This time,
Thomas is present. The nine other disciples report to Thomas how they saw the
risen Jesus, but he does not believe them. He conditions his belief on physical
proof: to see the marks of the nails on Jesus’ hands and to touch Jesus’ side
and the nail marks. A week later, Jesus appears to them in the same manner. He
stands in their midst and wishes them peace. Then, he invites Thomas to see and
touch his nail marks and side. He exhorts him to believe. The narrator does not
say whether Thomas touched Jesus’ hand and side. He simply tells the readers
Thomas’s reaction. In light of this evidence, Thomas professes his faith in
Jesus, “My Lord and my God.” This recalls the first verse of this Gospel: “[…]
and the Word was God.” (Jn 1:1). Thomas believes that the risen Jesus is the
Lord and God. Jesus’ declaration in v. 29 is a beatitude for future generations
who will not see him physically but will believe in him and his resurrection.
Vv.
30-31. These verses form the first conclusion of the entire Gospel of John. The
evangelist affirms that his book contains only a few of the many signs
(miracles) Jesus performed in the presence of his disciples. He reveals the
purpose of writing this book: it is so that his readers “come to believe” (or
continue to believe) that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God; through this
belief, the readers will have life in Jesus’ name.
4.
Synthesis
On the evening of the Sabbath of Jesus’ Resurrection, Jesus appeared to his fearful disciples twice. Thomas was not present the first time. The Resurrected Jesus entered the locked Upper Room without opening the doors. He stood before them, wished them peace, and showed them the marks on his hands and side as evidence that he was alive. The disciples rejoiced at seeing him. Then, he extended the mission God had given him to his disciples. He gave them the Holy Spirit by breathing on them. His breathing on them recalls God’s breathing into Adam’s nostrils in the creation story (see Gn 2:7). Finally, he empowered them with the authority to forgive and retain people’s sins. In Jesus’ second appearance, Thomas was present. The other nine disciples reported how they saw Jesus, but he did not believe it. He conditioned his belief on physical proof (he must see and touch Jesus’ nail marks on his hands and side). Then, Jesus appeared to them, wished them peace, and invited Thomas to see and feel his hands and sides as he, Thomas, requested. Thomas professed his faith in Jesus: “My Lord and my God.” Then, Jesus, referencing future generations, called “blessed” all those who believe in him without seeing him physically. The narrator concludes his entire book by affirming that he wrote only a few signs (miracles), not all, that Jesus performed in the presence of his disciples. He reveals that in writing his book, he aimed to help his readers come to believe (or continue to believe) that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief, his readers have life in Jesus’ name.
B. Pastoral Implications
1. Liturgical Context
Since
the year 2000, the Church has designated the Second Sunday of Easter as
“Divine Mercy Sunday.” The background of the feast of Divine Mercy centers on a
devotion stemming from the private revelations of Saint Faustina Kowalska. To
make these private revelations official, Pope John Paul II added “Plenary
Indulgence” to Divine Mercy Sunday in 2002. “Plenary Indulgence” is a complete
pardon that Jesus grants to us as he himself revealed it to Saint Faustina, “I
want to grant a complete pardon to the souls that will go to Confession and
receive Holy Communion on the Feast of My Mercy.” (Diary 1109). Through the
Scripture readings we heard, the Church invites us to contemplate our Risen
Lord as the Ambassador of Mercy.
2. What
the Church Teaches Us Today
The
first part of our Gospel (vv. 19-23) recounts that Jesus appears and stands in
the midst of his fearful disciples on the Sabbath day, which is Sunday for us
Christians. Jesus’s resurrected body enters the room without opening the locked
doors. Many of us today are going through similar crises. Our fears, anxieties,
worries, and sins force us to “lock ourselves in our minds” and distance
ourselves from God. The way Jesus stands in front of his fearful disciples
reflects how the mercy of God always stands in front of us. We need to
recognize and embrace it. God’s mercy is like the wind—invisible, but we can
feel its effects of peace and joy in our hearts.
Jesus
did three things to his disciples when he appeared to them. (1) He greeted them
with the following words: “Peace be with you.” In this passage, he wished them
“peace” three times (vv. 19, 21, and 26). This peace is different from the
ordinary peace that the Jews use to greet each other. It echoes Jn 14:27,
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I
give it to you.” (NABRE). Jesus knows their fear, so he begins by filling their
hearts and minds with the peace of the resurrection, which resurrects their
hope, courage, confidence, and faith in him. Jesus also understands that today,
wars tear through many countries, many families are experiencing crises, and
each of us lives with different fears. Therefore, we need his peace, the peace
of resurrection, which revives the hope, confidence, and courage that we lost
due to the fears, worries, and anxieties that have held us captive for so long.
(2) Jesus shows his disciples and us his hands
and sides as evidence that he is alive. The fearful disciples now rejoice
because the living Lord is among them. We, too, should rejoice because our Lord
is alive and with us in this Eucharistic celebration.
(3)
He sends his disciples and us on a mission like his Father God sent him.
This means he commissions us to continue the work he started. He fills us with
the Holy Spirit, who sustains us in our mission. He gives us this Holy Spirit
by breathing into us. This recalls the story of creation in the book of Genesis
when God created Adam. Adam was not a living being until God blew into his
nostrils the breath of life. (See Gn 2:7). Therefore, by breathing on us this
Divine Mercy Sunday, Jesus restores God’s breath of life that we lost through
our sins. We are now a new creation, breathing in the breath of the
resurrection. Let us feel this new breath, God’s presence within us. We are now
ready to embark on our mission, which involves bringing the good news of Christ’s
resurrection to everyone, especially those who isolate themselves due to fears
and the various crises they face. All of us are called to extend the peace of
the risen Lord to them and encourage them to come to Church as the apostles did
in our first reading. This mission also includes forgiving the sins of the
people of God. Here, Jesus institutes the Sacrament of Penance and empowers the
Church through the ordained ministers to forgive and return the people’s sins:
“Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are
retained” (Jn 20:23).
We
seek three things in the sacrament of confession: forgiveness of our sins,
reconciliation with God and our fellow humans whom we have offended, and the
healing of the spiritual, emotional, or psychological wounds that sin causes. (1)
In confession, we implore Jesus to forgive our sins. Just as we go to our
shower room and take a shower to clean our bodies of any dirt, we need to enter
the confessional room to take a spiritual shower and cleanse our souls of any
stains of sin. On the day of our baptism, we wore a white garment and were
given a lit candle. We were instructed to keep this white garment (which
represents our souls) unstained and to keep our souls' lamps always lit until
our Lord Jesus returns. These two symbols encourage us to frequently use the
sacrament of confession whenever we sin to ensure that we are prepared to
welcome our Lord whenever he comes back or calls us to him.
(2)
In the sacrament of confession, we seek two reconciliations: vertical
reconciliation (with God) and horizontal reconciliation (with our fellow
humans). Note that the priest who listens to our confessions plays two roles.
First, in vertical reconciliation, the priest represents Jesus, who stands on
behalf of God the Father, whom we offend through our sins. When we confess our
sins to a priest, we confess to Jesus, our mediator with God the Father. The
priest who acts in persona Christi accepts our confession, absolves our sins,
and reconciles us with God. Second, in confession, we also reconcile with our
fellow humans whom we have offended. For some reason, it is often difficult and
even complicated to meet all the people we have hurt, to ask for forgiveness,
and to seek reconciliation with them. That is why, in confession, the priest
represents all the people we have offended by our sins. He listens to us,
accepts our apologies, forgives us, and reconciles with us on behalf of these
people. Hence, we should not feel afraid or shy about telling our sins to the
priest. We tell him our sins with the attitude as if we were telling the people
we have offended. Thus, confession restores our relationships with God and our
brothers and sisters.
(3)
In the sacrament of confession, we seek multiple healings. Because sins can
cause emotional, psychological, or spiritual wounds, we need God to heal us. We
speak with doctors, psychologists, or counselors to seek healing; it should be
the same way we need to speak with a priest to seek emotional, psychological,
and spiritual healing through confession. Sometimes, the healing process takes
time. In this case, I advise us to continue the process in a spiritual or
psychological direction with the same confessor priest or a professional
psychologist.
Let
us take advantage of this beautiful sacrament of confession that Jesus
established to forgive our sins, reconcile us with God and our fellow humans,
and offer us the spiritual, psychological, or emotional healing we need.
The
second part of our Gospel (vv. 24-29) details Jesus’ appearance to his
disciples for the second time. Thomas was absent during the first encounter and
did not believe his companions when they told him about their experiences with
the risen Lord. He based his faith on physical proof: “Unless I see the mark of
the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand
into his side, I will not believe.” (v. 25b). A week later, Jesus appears again
to them with Thomas present, inviting him to touch the marks of the nails on
his hands and side. Here, Jesus invites us to touch his nail marks through the
suffering of our fellow humans. Thus, the mission we receive from the risen
Lord is also a mission to minister to those in need. We see Jesus physically
through them.
The
third part of our Gospel story (vv. 30-31) concludes the entire book. The
evangelist affirms that his work contains just a few of the many signs
(miracles) Jesus performed in the presence of his disciples. He reveals the
purpose for which he wrote his book: so that his readers “come to believe” (or
continue to believe) that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God; through this
belief, the readers will have life in Jesus’ name. This aligns with what the
author of our second reading conveys. (Most Biblical scholars affirm that the
evangelist John is the same individual who wrote the Book of Revelation and the
three Johannine letters.) The Church invites us to believe and continue to
believe in Jesus’ resurrection, as this is the mystery of our faith and the
pathway to our salvation.
May
the liturgy of this Divine Mercy Sunday help us understand and believe that
Jesus’ gift of forgiveness, which we receive through the sacrament of
confession, restores in us God’s breath of life lost through our sins and makes
us Jesus’ missionaries again, who announce Jesus’ resurrection and share his
peace wherever we live. Amen.
Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD
Pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church, Jackson, MS
&
SVD USS Biblical Apostolate Coordinator
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