SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER

April 11, 2021

St. Uriel’s, Sea Girt, N.J.

Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 133 

I John 1:1-2:2; John 20:19-31

The Collect for the Second Sunday of Easter introduces two themes that stand out in today’s readings: reconciliation and fellowship. It begins by addressing God “who in the Paschal mystery hast established the new covenant of reconciliation,” and then asks that “all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith …”

The word for fellowship in New Testament Greek is koinōnia, which is also often translated “community.” However translated, it refers not to a casual circle of easygoing friends and acquaintances, but to the sort of intimate bond that develops among an otherwise diverse group of people who share some deep common commitment. In the Church, the basis of all true community or fellowship is our shared faith in God the Holy Trinity, and our shared membership in the Body of Christ.

Fellowship and reconciliation naturally go together. To maintain our fellowship in Christ serious interpersonal disputes among the Church’s members need to be identified, named, and resolved through mutual repentance and forgiveness. So reconciliation makes fellowship possible; and fellowship in turn facilitates reconciliation when disagreements arise, as they inevitably will, we being the fallen creatures that we are. A community whose members are unable to be reconciled with one another is likely to split apart and eventually disintegrate. Conversely, communities that actively foster reconciliation among their members strengthen their ability to grow and flourish.

Today’s reading from Acts describes the deep fellowship among the earliest Christian disciples in Jerusalem. “The company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no-one said that any of the things that he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were possessors of land or houses sold them, and [laid] the proceeds … at the apostles’ feet; and distribution was made to each as any had need.” 

Now, I don’t think that this passage is necessarily meant to be read as a utopian blueprint for an ideal Christian society (though many have read it that way). Rather, it serves as testimony to the power of the apostles' preaching of Christ's resurrection. Reconciled to God, the members of the Jerusalem Church find themselves reconciled to one another—overcoming the age-old division between rich and poor, those of high degree and low—even to the extent of sharing all earthly goods in common. This transformation illustrates the difference that Christ’s resurrection makes, in fulfillment of the words of Psalm 133: “Oh, how good and pleasant it is, when brethren live together in unity!” 

Today’s reading from the First Letter of John takes up these twin themes of fellowship and reconciliation. The Apostle writes: “that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ … If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” Notice how John links fellowship—which he mentions three times in this passage—with being cleansed from sin by the blood of Jesus. In other words, reconciliation with God makes possible the reconciliation with one another that is the sole foundation of any genuine Christian community.

Similarly, in Saint Luke’s account of the risen Lord’s appearance in the upper room on the evening of the day of resurrection, after Jesus stands among the disciples and wishes them Peace—Shalom—he delegates to them his authority to forgive sins: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” This text has many implications, not least concerning the ordained priesthood’s authority to grant absolution to repentant sinners. But the implication I want to highlight is that this duty to forgive extends to all Christians, because only by mutual forgiveness and reconciliation can we experience that harmony with God and one another—that Shalom—that Christ wishes his disciples when he says to them, and to us, “Peace be with you.”  

In this context, I suspect that the deepest significance of the story of Doubting Thomas—seemingly everyone’s favorite character in the Gospels—is that before he can finally see and touch the risen Jesus, he must rejoin the disciples’ fellowship. Luke doesn’t tell us why Thomas was absent or where he was that first Sunday evening when the risen Jesus appeared to the other disciples in the upper room. What seems significant to me, however, is that Jesus didn’t just go and appear separately to Thomas wherever he was, even though he was clearly capable of doing so. Instead, he waited for Thomas to be reunited with the community one week later. 

That detail suggests in turn that if we want to come to know the risen Jesus, we normally need to do so in the midst of our Christian community. As someone once put it, Christianity is a team sport, not a solo performance. The good news is that once Thomas rejoins the fellowship, the risen Christ does come to him, answering his questions and overcoming his doubts. Our God is a God of second chances par excellence, and that is good news for us all!

These observations suggest some questions that we might profitably reflect on during the coming week. In what ways do we need to be restored to the fellowship of Christ’s body to reawaken and renew the fullness of our faith? More specifically, whom do we need to forgive, and whose forgiveness do we need to seek, in order to take our appointed place in Christ’s new covenant of reconciliation?

I hasten to add that none of this is anything we can do on our own, but only something that Christ does in us. As today’s reading from Acts says of those first Christians in Jerusalem, “With great power the apostles gave their testimony … and great grace was upon them all.” That power and grace could only come from on high. Again, in the Gospel, “Jesus breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit …’” Relying not on ourselves, then, but on the grace that God continually offers us, we find the power to realize true reconciliation and fellowship in the Body of Christ, showing forth in our life what we profess by our faith.