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Pastor's Corner: After Easter - What now?

Easter is an obvious high point in the church calendar. Where does that leave us now, in this week after Easter? After the crescendo of Easter celebrations, how could the week after not feel like a bit of a letdown, like we can't quite muster the same energy to sing alleluias as loudly as we did on Easter morning?

However, really every week for us is after Easter. Our whole lives exist in the aftermath of the first Easter morning some 2,000 years ago. The lectionary readings for this week give us a gift, then, by inviting us to consider Jesus' post-resurrection encounters with his disciples, especially Thomas, in John 20:19-31.

There are two main scenes in this passage. First, on the very day that Jesus rose again, the disciples were meeting together in the evening. Considering that their leader and teacher had been imprisoned, tortured, and crucified in recent days, the disciples were understandably afraid. What would become of their movement? Then, Jesus appears to them, saying, "Peace be with you." He shows them his wounds; he is the same one they saw crucified, but now he lives again, and he offers them divine peace and power in their time of fear. Jesus's reassuring, empowering presence will be with them as they make their way forward.

But one of the 12 disciples, Thomas, was not there for this first scene. When the other disciples testify to him about it, they don't just say, "Our friend has returned," or, "Our teacher is back." They say: "We have seen the Lord." They recognize in the resurrected Jesus a new truth: He is the Lord, one fit not only to follow but to worship. Thomas is not convinced, saying, "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."

So, a week after that first Easter, the disciples were meeting again, and this time Thomas is with them. Jesus appears to them, offers them his peace, and shows Thomas the wounds of his crucified body. In response, Thomas confesses even more boldly than his fellow disciples, proclaiming, "My Lord and my God!" Thomas, often called the doubter, actually voices one of the great statements of faith from the post-Easter community: Jesus is Lord and God.

Those who gathered last week for services during Holy Week and on Easter, even those who might not be active members throughout the rest of the year, likely already agreed with Thomas's confession of faith in Jesus as Lord and God. How do we live into that confession, not only during the highpoint of the church calendar, but in the everyday reality of being a post-Easter people? 

The poet Denise Levertov helps us see Thomas's faith in a way that might meet our post-Easter moment. In her poem "St. Thomas Didymus," she pairs Thomas with another biblical figure, the father in Mark 9 who asked Jesus to heal his son afflicted with a terrible disease. The father pleads with Jesus for help, "I believe; help my unbelief." In her poem, Levertov has Thomas take up these words as his own. Levertov frames Thomas' post-Easter faith as certain ("I believe"), yet desiring growth ("help my unbelief"). 

I hope that in the drama and beauty of the church's journey through Lent and Holy Week up to the joy of Easter morning, you found awe-filled moments like Thomas to confess with hope and assurance that Jesus is Lord and God, the One whose love saves us from the powers of death. I hope you had some moments of "I believe" certainty. And I hope that after Easter, as our rhythms of worship settle into a new season, you allow yourself to take up the words of the father from Mark 9, "help my unbelief." The journey of discipleship, of following Jesus, is long, and it is filled with moments of certain joy and hesitant faith. Thomas's wrestling with the reality of Jesus's resurrection in that first post-Easter week can help us remember that we are always desiring growth and deeper belief in the great mystery of faith that Easter proclaims. The peace and presence of the risen Christ will be with us on that journey, this week and every post-Easter week to come.

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Pastor Megan Hoewisch

First Lutheran Church

 

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