Now We Start!

 NOW WE START – SUNDAY APRIL 27, 2025

John 20:19-31 “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²² When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

²⁴ But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶ A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” ²⁸ Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

³⁰ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. ³¹ But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”

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This coming Wednesday, April 20, 2025, will complete the first 100 days of President Trump’s second presidency. These first 100 days have been much worse than I could have even imagined, and I so appreciate those of you who have gathered with, around and elsewhere as we all try to make sense of this together. Grief washes through me slowly and I have learned over the years to give grief its time. Then mysteriously, unexpectedly, there comes a moment of transition when one chooses to move forward. As an American I will continue to be watchful and mournful because this is not over. But as a Christian I am now thankful for an invitation from the Resurrected Christ to move forward, an invitation which coincides with the end of these 100 days.

Today in our Gospel Lesson Jesus appears to those who mourned his death. They were literally locked away nurturing fear and foreboding. I relate, for as I’ve focused on our Gospel readings these last 100 days greed, narcissism and marginalization have slapped me in the face each and every week. As Jesus has made his way to Jerusalem, we’ve been experiencing in real time what was waiting for him there. Now, though, Jesus calls me – us – out of those locked rooms.

Do not miss the fact that the very thing that assured Jesus’ disciples that he was alive were the scars of the atrocities by which he died. Jesus’ hands and side were healed, yet he still bore the scars of his before time. He was not in the least disassociated from the very powers that continued to seek the lives of his disciples. Jesus’ Resurrection witnesses to transformation, not denial. “Peace. Peace be with you!” These are the first words the Resurrected Christ speaks to his followers. “Peace!” - and now get out there and engage those powers from which you hide.

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you!”

It is my intent as of today to dwell less in my political pain and more in the certainty of Christ’s sending. This is the invitation!

It is my choice at this 100 day/Easter junction to recognize where true power lies and remember that Project 2025 has no enduring control over us. This is the deeper truth!

And it is my mission now to connect with those who need forgiveness – or from whom I need forgiveness - those who have lost their way, or who seek mutual healing, or need projection. We will heal the world as best we can, together. But it is also my mission – our mission - to “retain the sins” of those who continue to lie, abuse and misuse the trust they have been empowered by. There can be no forgiveness or healing where there is no repentance. "Retaining sins" may not sound very “Christian,” but read the story. Apparently, it is!

What Jesus invites us onto is a difficult path. It is a painful path, and it is a risky path. I know I will fail as much as – by the Grace of God – I might succeed. But the time has come to move out of grief into glory again. Out of hiding into the light of day. For how will anyone find salvation unless a mirror is held up to their brokenness? It is a gift to lance the boil before it bursts.

This is the “Peace” Jesus offers us. “Peace” is to accept the call. It is to live in the Light. Peace is to observe the Truth that now walks among us – and begin once again to follow the Way. 

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”