Second Sunday of Easter • Year C

Historical Collect

Help us, almighty God, that our joyful celebration of the resurrection feast may be reflected in our daily work and conversation. Grant this, we pray, through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Gelasian Sacramentary, 7th Century)

Thematic Collect

Living God, in the midst of our doubts and fears you bring your peace and presence through the wounded hands of Christ. Breathe on us the power of your Spirit, increase our faith, and quell our doubts and fears; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

The Common Thread

More people were being added to the Lord after his earthly life than before. The Holy Spirit was working through the testimony of Scripture and the witness of Christians. Christ, the power of God, is mighty in person, in the Spirit, and in the heart. First the death and then the ascension of Christ were troubling to the disciples on a personal level, and then on the level of a larger question, “Who will believe us?” But this was always Jesus’ intention. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

First Reading • Acts 5:12–20, 21–32

We often hear people bemoan that more people are not added to the Lord because of the lack of miracles in evidence in the Church today. But this is not the reason people were being added to the Church. We have the same positives and negatives at work in our time. First, the negative: powerful people were opposed to the Christians. Still more were actually afraid of the power at work in the ministry of the apostles. The incident with Ananias and Sapphira could not have been an attraction (Acts 5:1–11).

Though we do not experience this fear factor in the modern Church, we do sense opposition to Christianity in our culture. We would do well to follow the example of the early Church, who took the Word of God right into the midst of their bristling culture. God told them to preach the resurrected Lord in the very place that epitomized resistance to the Christian message. The very next morning, the apostles were in the temple, preaching the message of salvation. Lastly, they trusted the Holy Spirit to work in their ministry. This is evidenced in their words, “We must obey God rather than men.” Outcomes and rejection was not their concern. They simply did what they were told to do and trusted God with the rest. 

Psalm • Psalm 148:1–14

God has raised up an insurmountable power in the Church. As he raised up a king in olden days, he has elevated his Son to be the King of kings. Let us praise the Lord with such conviction and joy that the whole of creation joins in our song of praise. 

Second Reading • Revelation 1:4–18

God is in control. He is the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega. He is the one who was and still is. But he is also the one who is to come. The Holy Trinity had the first word, the creating word. And God has the final word, the word of victory. Yet God is speaking now too. He speaks today through his Word and through his Church. Some of us may be exiled for our witness to Christ—perhaps not to a prison colony, but maybe by friends and family. Nonetheless, it is our privilege and responsibility to help them see the living one, who died but is alive forevermore. 

Gospel • John 20:19–31

Like us, the early Church was afraid. Sometimes they hid behind locked doors for fear of those who opposed them and their message. At such times, we need to hear the word of Jesus. “Peace be with you.”

How can we have such peace in troubled times? Will the mere words produce peacefulness? Sometimes, yes. At all times, we need to look to Christ’s hands and side. Then we can hear those words more clearly. “Peace be with you.” The word of peace is brought into clarity when we understand that this wounded one standing before us, was crucified, dead, and buried, yet is alive again. Now that we have clearly seen and heard, he sends us into the world where we will be treated no better than our Lord (John 15:20).