Acts 2:14a,22-32 1 Peter 1:3-9 John 20:19-31 Psalm 16

In the evening of the day of Resurrection, the disciples are sheltering in place in the same secluded room where they had shared their last earthly meal with Jesus three days before.  They have survived the nightmarish whirlwind and, now, are in isolation from society, in safe housing from those who would seek their crucifixions in the same way they crucified Jesus.

These closest followers were well known as Jesus’ faithful disciples.  For them, it is a frightening reality that the religious powers would again ally with political powers to purge any remnants of Jesus’ mission.  The elite among Jesus’ own people had been successful, so they thought, in stamping out the mouthy radical.  No doubt, the religious leaders were themselves hiding under a rock, held in suspense, uncertain of the fallout of their actions.

John’s Gospel describes the disciples crouched together; we could imagine a state of near panic; most of them had fled in fear for their own safety along the road to the cross.  But, as events unfolded, they had ventured from their separate hiding places, seeking sanctuary with one another.  Certainly, Mary Magdalene’s eyewitness account of the risen Jesus would have aroused their curiosity and inspired hope that seemed so remote just a day ago.

Mary Magdalene’s report seems too good to be true.  Can they believe it?  Thomas expresses the skepticism we all would have shared.

Then Jesus, indeed, does appear – speaking peace, breathing upon them the Holy Spirit within whom is the essence of forgiving and being forgiven.  The Risen Lord, fresh from the grave of a most unjust and brutal death, demonstrates the essence of our earthly mission enveloped in peace and forgiveness.

In the months and years to follow, Peter would come to better articulate the magnificent mystery of the resurrection.  In the portion of Peter’s first letter that we read today, Peter writes of the new birth given to us – a new birth “into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” [1 Peter 1:3-5]

The effort to stamp out the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ has continued from this time of fear and isolation by the disciples in the days following the resurrection to today.  But, powered by the words of their Risen Lord, the disciples would venture from their hiding places to give the remainder of their lives to the discipleship of Jesus Christ.  Some would be crucified; others stabbed, beheaded, or beaten to death.  But, the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ would not be stamped out.  Time and again, the mission is tested by our doubt; time and again the mission is given new birth by our faith in the unfading inheritance secured for us in heaven.

On these Sundays when our church sanctuaries are silent and our altars bare, there are those who would surmise that the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ is being defeated, finally, by an invisible enemy that has forced us all into isolated seclusion.  And, indeed, the Church is suffering the challenge of an invisible relentless foe who desires that we crouch in fear in our separate hiding places.

But, we say “No” to the naysayers.  We, like the early disciples, seek creative means to usurp the boundaries of our social isolation with determination to continue the mission.  Our Food Pantry perseveres in spite of limited funds and sparse food supplies and heightened concerns for sanitation; our staff and choir combine their talents to offer elements of worship that bring satisfaction of our hunger for connection and corporate praise to God; parishioners reach out to fellow parishioners as never before.  We offer one another the unbounded gift of Christian love and compassion, serving one another in the name of Jesus Christ.

When a loved one dies, we nearly always regret not having taken more time to express our love; if only we could have another chance, a few more moments to affirm our love.   Jesus’ death on the cross opened the eyes of his disciples to the essence of his all-powerful presence.  Now, he has risen, and they begin again in the spirit of new birth.

Perhaps we too had become complacent in our devotion to one another and to our community – allowing relationships to fade, or even die.  Our experience of social isolation offers an experience of new birth – another chance for renewal.  WE are the Church; we are the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ.  Our “inheritance is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, … protected by the power of God [even now] through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”  Amen