Have you
ever wondered why we observe Sunday as a holy day rather than the Sabbath
(Saturday) even though the Ten Commandment says, "Remember the Sabbath
day, and keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8)? The gospel readings of the Sundays
after Easter give us the answer.
The gospel
writers were not particularly interested in telling us the precise day of the
week in which many of the events they recorded took place. With one exception.
In the public ministry of Jesus they often told us that many of the healing
miracles of Jesus took place on the Sabbath day. And this got Jesus into a lot
of trouble with the religious leaders of his day. But as soon as Jesus dies and
rises from the dead we do not hear about the Sabbath any more. Instead we begin
to hear about the first day of the week which is Sunday.
It all
began on Easter Sunday. Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week,
Sunday, and appeared on the same day to Mary Magdalene and the other women, to
the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and to the gathering of the apostles.
He did not appear to them again until "a week after" (John 20:26),
that is, the following Sunday. Without exception, all the recorded appearances
of the risen Lord to his followers took place on no other day of the week than
Sunday. This made the group of believers set Sunday apart as the day when the
risen Lord comes to be with his people gathered in worship to share with them
the word of life and to break bread with them. This is how they came to
recognize Sunday as the dies Dominica, "the day of the Lord" (Revelation
1:10). After the Lord's ascension into heaven, the disciples continued to
gather together in worship on Sundays, in expectation that the Lord Jesus would
come to be in their midst and fellowship with them as he had promised.
In today's
gospel we read about the appearance of the risen Lord in the assembly of the
apostles on the day of resurrection and a second appearance a week later. The
second appearance focuses on Thomas who was not present with the rest of the
apostles when Jesus appeared among them. Where could he have gone? We do not
know exactly but as soon as he comes back the other disciples tell him that
they have seen the Lord. Could it be that when they heard that Jesus had risen
from the dead, that he, Thomas, went out on his own to seek him out? Perhaps he
went to the houses of Jesus' friends, to the house of Lazarus, Martha and Mary
in Bethany, or to the village where they ate the last supper. He was seeking
Jesus alone while Jesus was with the assembly of his followers. Could that be
the evangelist's way of telling the reader that encounter with the risen Lord
is something that happens not so much in the privacy of the individual's
religious initiative and practice as much as in fellowship with the community
of believers?
So the
following Sunday Thomas is there fellowshipping with the rest of the community.
Jesus appears as usual and Thomas experiences the desire of his heart and
exclaims, "My Lord and my God (v. 28)." Next time around he would not
lightly absent himself from the community Sunday assembly.
Do we have
to look far to see such Thomases in our society today, men and women who deep
down in their hearts seek the risen Lord, but who seek him outside the
worshipping and believing community? They try to draw near to God by engaging
in all sorts of self-imposed devotional exercises. Religion, they say, is
personal, and they are right. But religion is also communitarian,and that is why one person cannot make a Church, so we need to learn just as Thomas did.
Jesus in
today's gospel commissions the apostles to forgive sins. This is a function
that can be exercised only where there is a believing community, or else each
one would be absolving their own personal sins. Today's Thomases often do not
appreciate nor have recourse to this avenue of reconciliation with God and with
the community that is affected by our sins. May the success story of Thomas
help us all to appreciate the important role of the church and the sacraments
in our spiritual journey to meet the risen Lord. May the peace the Rise Christ wished his friends reing in our hearts, our homes and in our countries.
