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Gospel reflection for April 12, Second Sunday of Easter
We do not focus much on it, but instead of dispersing and returning to their homes and families after Jesus was crucified, the disciples remained together. The long years of their journeying together with Jesus through the villages and countryside built a community of brotherhood among them. We also get hints in the Gospels that it was not just the 12 who were with Jesus, but that there were other companions who came and went along the way, even some women are mentioned as part of the band.
This might have seemed a little confusing and unordinary to the Jewish people of the day, especially the inclusion of the women with the group, but the Gospels never reference that.
These men and women had abandoned everything they had in life – even spouses and children – to become his disciples. They made life decisions that came at a cost. Then, with Jesus dead, their common bond of a community was what they had to rely on.
Much must have passed through their minds since the arrest and execution of Jesus. They were likely frightened for their own safety and well-being, distraught over the Death of Jesus, angry and disappointed at the betrayal by Judas, and certainly apprehensive about what would come next. We can imagine tears, shouting, silence and consoling moments among them.
When the events of the First Day of the Week occurred, and the reports of first an empty tomb and then appearances of Jesus began to reach them, the mood would have shifted. First, as with the beloved disciple, there were those who accepted the Resurrection; others, like Peter, were confused while trying to understand, and then we see Thomas, who disbelieved it all, and yet remained with the other disciples.
Things would never be the same again.
Jesus’ Resurrection inaugurated a new way of life for his disciples and those closest to him. The Gospels and the Acts provide insight into this new modality which stands as the seed of the Church. They dispersed at Pentecost, but only then to fulfill their mission. The Acts gives us a glimpse into the communal life of the early Church, reflecting the community of the apostles with Jesus during his ministry.
Firstly, we see in John’s Gospel, that Jesus gave the disciples a fuller sense of their shared mission: the forgiveness of sins. The Synoptics recounted how Jesus had sent them forth on missions to heal the sick and to prepare the people for the coming of the Kingdom of God. But they always came back to Jesus, and then Jesus himself went to those communities and offered the fullness of his message. Now it was their time to execute the work that Jesus had prepared them to do.
The power to forgive sins demonstrates more than a spiritual authority, it also has a restorative power within a community. Once one’s sins are forgiven that person is reconciled to God and to the community. The past is gone and a new person exists. Built upon the call to love one’s neighbor as one loves their own self, forgiveness of sins brings all into harmony.
The disciples, as they went forth preaching the Kingdom of God and Jesus as messiah and Lord, built communities of faith. These small house churches developed throughout the Roman world and beyond, as the apostles and their companions went forth living their mission.
While some like to read into the Acts of the Apostles some new socio-economic order created by the disciples, their shared life was built first and foremost on their common mission to live the Kingdom of God and to love one another. This shared love and way of life was made possible because they were called together by the power of the Holy Spirit given to them by virtue of their Baptism.
Often persecuted and defamed, these earliest Christians planted the seeds of the church. We are the heirs of their sacrifices, commitment, and shared love for God and one another.
Today we stand in union with those Christians who suffer hate and persecution for their faith as well as those who flourish and live their faith freely. We are all sinners who have received the words of absolution and are reconciled to the Father and to one another through Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
While most of our parishes are too big and our lives too busy and seemingly self-reliant to function as did the house churches we read about in the Acts of the Apostles, we still share a common bond, a community of faith in which the Lord says to us as we say to each other: “Peace be with you.”
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.