From a Communitarian faith to a Personal Experience of Jesus
Today, as we conclude the octave of Easter – eight day celebration of this great feast – the Gospel passage of today concludes the series of events that we heard read on the morning of Easter, eight days ago. John 20: 1-10 was the Gospel of the liturgy of the Easter morning. It narrated to us how Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, found it empty and came to tell the apostles. On hearing this Peter and the Beloved disciple ran to the tomb, they saw the empty tomb and the linen; and the Beloved Disciple believed in the resurrection. The following section of the gospel of John (20:11-18), the one about Jesus’ appearance to Mary Magdalene was read during liturgy on Tuesday. Today we heard read the remaining sections of that Chapter of John (20:19-31).
This section has three parts:
(1) John 20:19 – 23 is about the first appearance of the Risen Lord to his apostles. It narrates to us a communitarian experience of the resurrection, also marked by the descent of the Holy Spirit.(2) John 20:23 – 29 is about a personal experience of the resurrection, by Apostle Thomas, marked by a unique acclamation of Jesus as Lord and God.(3) John 20:30-31 is the final part of the Gospel of John; according to some versions the very end of the Gospel. It tells us of the purpose of faith – to have life through the name of Jesus.
Let us reflect on these three themes:
The Communitarian experience of the Risen Lord
The text begins with these words: ‘In the evening of that same day….’ It was the Easter Sunday – the first day of the week. The disciples were behind closed doors. Jesus came and stood among them. His greeting to them is ‘Peace be with you’. It is an invitation to the apostles to be calm. It is also a blessing: shaloam! Shaloam means wholeness, wellbeing. Jesus seems to say, I have conquered death, believe in me, and you will experience this same wellbeing.
In that encounter between Jesus and the apostles what follows then is commissioning. Jesus sends them out as apostles. As heralds of the Good News. Carrying that same wellbeing and wholeness to the whole world.
The apostles are not going alone on this mission. Jesus goes with them. The Spirit of the Risen Lord goes with them. Verse 22 says, “he breathed on them…” The Hebrew word for breath (Ruah) is the same for the Spirit. Just as God breathed life into Adam (Gen 2:7), Jesus breathes on them His Spirit: “Receive the Holy Spirit.” There is no separation between the Resurrection and decent of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John. It is only Luke who would separate Easter and Pentecost; just as he connects Easter to the Jewish feast of Passover, he wants to connect the decent of the Holy Spirit to the Jewish harvest festival of the Pentecost, which took place 50 days after Passover to mark the Covenant on Mt. Sinai.
As part of the commissioning Jesus gives the apostles the authority to forgive sins – a task that, in the Old Testament, was considered the sole privilege of God. It is because of this unique privilege that has been given to the priests in the Church, Pope John Paul II wanted this Sunday to be celebrated as the Divine Mercy Sunday – remembering the institution of the sacrament of reconciliation. (It is no coincidence then that today – 1 May 2011 – he is being beatified!)
Verse 24 tells us that “Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.” Thomas was the missing apostle, the absent apostle. Since he was not part of the community he missed the experience the Resurrection. He has to wait. My dear friends, in Christ… this is the importance of the believing community (the Church) in our own lives: when we are part of the community it becomes possible for us to experience the resurrection of Jesus.
The Personal experience of the Risen Lord
There is a difference between ‘individual experience’ and ‘personal experience’. The second part of the Gospel of today is about how Thomas had a personal experience of the risen Lord, still in the context of the community. The Catholic tradition is wary of individual experiences, but it mediates personal experiences. “Unless I can see the holes that nails made in his hands, and can put my finger into his side, I refuse to believe.” Thomas yearns for a personal experience of Jesus. Thomas does not want second hand experiences.
My dear friends in Christ, is our faith just a second hand faith? Am I a Christian because of my parents, because of that priest, because of that nun…? Or have I had a personal experience of Jesus. In Africa, we have a lot of second hand goods – from jerry canes to reconditioned cars. We refer to them as Mitumba – particularly, 2nd hand clothes. Is our faith just mitumba? In John 4 when the Samaritan woman went and told her villagers, “’Come and see a man who has told me everything I have done; could this be the Christ” (Jn 4:29)? Many villagers went out to meet Jesus and listen to him. At the end of the story, they come back to the woman to tell her, “Now we believe no longer because of what you told us; we have heard him ourselves and we know that he is indeed the Saviour of the world” (Jn 4:42) Their faith was no more second-hand!
So, Thomas had to wait eight gruelling days. To have his own ‘personal’ experience of the Lord. And Jesus grants him this possibility. Eight days later the Lord invites him, “Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side.” The wound on the side of Jesus reminds us of the water and blood that flowed out when Jesus was pierced on the cross. Water and Blood stand for the two sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist – both these sacraments make it possible for us to have a personal experience of Jesus.
And Thomas bursts out, ‘My Lord and my God!’ A statement previously unheard of in the whole of the Gospels. True fruit of a personal encounter with Jesus is the experience of Jesus as the Lord and God!
The Purpose of our Faith
John concludes his Gospel with what is the third part of our gospel text today. Many scholars think that John 21 was added later by John himself or one of his own disciples.
In this section, John tells us the purpose of faith in Jesus: to have life. In John 10:10 Jesus says, “I have come so that you may have life, and life to the full.” In John 11:25 before raising Lazarus, Jesus declares: I am the Resurrection! And in John 14: 6, I am the Way; I am Truth and Life! The evangelist John now tells us that we can have this LIFE if we believe in the Lord Jesus. If we experience him personally as our Lord and God!
Let me conclude with a story from the famous spiritual writer of the twentieth century, Henri Nouwen:
There was a pair of twins in the womb of their mother. The sister said to the brother, “I believe there is LIFE after birth.” Her brother protested vehemently, “No, no, this is all there is. This is the dark cosy place, and we have nothing else to do but to cling to the cord that feeds us. The little girl insisted, “There must be something more than this dark place. There must be something else, a place with light where there is freedom to move.” Still she could not convince her twin brother.
After some silence, the sister said vehemently, “I have something else to say, and I’m afraid you won’t believe that either, but I think, there is a MOTHER!” Her brother became furious. “A Mother!” he shouted. “What are you talking about? I have never seen a mother, and neither have you. Who put that idea into your head? As I told you, this place is all we have. Why do you always want more? This is not such a bad place, after all. We have all we need, so let’s be content.
The sister was quite overwhelmed by her brother’s response and for a while didn’t dare say anything more. But she couldn’t let go of her thoughts, and since she had only her twin brother to speak to, she finally said, “Don’t you feel these squeezes every once in a while? They‘re quite unpleasant and sometimes even painful. “Yes” he answered. “What’s special about that? “Well,” the sister said, “I think these squeezes are there to get us ready for another place, much more beautiful than this, where we will see our mother face to face. Don’t you think that’s exciting?
The brother didn’t answer. He was fed up with the foolish talk of his sister and felt that the best thing would be simply to ignore her and hope that she would leave him alone.
My dear friends, our expressions of faith may seem stupid to the secular world around us. But we believe… because we do know it is in faith in Jesus that we have LIFE.