St Barnabas Anglican Church, Warrington
19 April 2020
Dear Sisters and
Brothers,
Grace and peace to
you from God.
Today is Low
Sunday, the 2nd Sunday of Easter.
The 4th Sunday of
Pandemic Level 4.
Readings:
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
1 Peter 1:3-9
The Gospel lesson
is John 20:19-31.
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
¹⁴ But Peter,
standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, ²²
“You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of
Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders,
and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know—
²³ this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and
foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those
outside the law. ²⁴ But God raised him up, having freed him from
death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. ²⁵
For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; ²⁶
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my
flesh will live in hope. ²⁷ For you will not abandon my soul to
Hades, or let your Holy One experience corruption. ²⁸ You have
made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness
with your presence.’ ²⁹ “Fellow Israelites, I may say to you
confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried,
and his tomb is with us to this day. ³⁰ Since he was a prophet, he
knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of
his descendants on his throne. ³¹ Foreseeing this, David spoke of
the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, ‘He was not abandoned to
Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.’ ³² This Jesus
God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.
1 Peter 1:3-9
³ Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has
given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that is
imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵
who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you
rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer
various trials, ⁷ so that the genuineness of your faith—being
more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—
may be found to result in praise and glory and honour when Jesus
Christ is revealed. ⁸ Although you have not seen him, you love him;
and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and
rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are
receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
John 20:19-31
¹⁹ When it was
evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the
house where the disciples had met were locked 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, which are not
written in this book. ³¹ But these are written so that you may come
to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that
through believing you may have life in his name.
The disciples are
locked in, and we are locked out?
Or are we locked in
too? Inside our bubbles.
Not for fear of the
Jews but for fear of the virus. In view of what happened then, and
what is happening now, both views are reasonable.
Also reasonable, in
my opinion anyway, is the attitude of Thomas the twin, Thomas Didymus
in Greek, and Doubting Thomas in popular culture.
This is a story we
commonly get thrown in our faces by those who don’t believe. An
example of the foolishness of faith that the one who has doubts, gets
criticised. I think generations of Christians have looked down their
noses at Thomas because he wanted proof. I think all of us want
proof, would welcome concrete evidence, but we know we won’t get it
in this life. If Jesus stood in front of me I’d be trying to have a
good look, without being too rude I hope. I’d be wanting to touch;
just you know, to be sure.
I am frequently
challenged by the confidence atheists have in their views. They seem
to find it much easier to suspend their critical faculties than
people of faith do. If you don’t believe there is anything else,
then you don’t have any motive to think about it, so you never
engage your brain enough to doubt.
What is important in
the gospel accounts, is that Jesus accepts Thomas’s doubts and goes
out of his way to pass the test. Jesus does not criticise Thomas for
his test, he merely observes that those who don’t need to touch,
who don’t get to touch, are blessed. He appears to Thomas
deliberately for a show, tell and touch.
And Thomas sees and
touches on behalf of all of us who are challenged by Jesus’
resurrection and what that means for all humans.
Amen.
So be it.
Blessings
Jeremy
Rev Dr JJ Nicoll,
0274 361 481
Priest-in-Charge St
Barnabas,
Warrington, NZ
Collect 2nd
Sunday of Easter.
Almighty Father,
you have given your
only Son to die for our sins
and to rise again
for our justification:
grant us so to put
away the leaven of malice and wickedness
that we may always
serve you
in pureness of
living and truth;
through the merits
of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and
reigns with you,
in the unity of the
Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for
ever. Amen.
Prayer.
O God, our Father,
in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus you have given us the
remedy for sin.
In him you have
opened to us the way to forgiveness for all our past sins, and you
have given us the strength and the power to live in purity and in
truth.
Help us to put away
all evil things.
Silence the evil
word; Forbid the evil deed; Break the evil habit; Banish the evil
thought;
Take away the evil
desire and the evil ambition; and make our lives to shine like lights
in this dark world.
Help us to live in
purity.
Make all our words
so pure that you may hear them;
Make all our deeds
so pure that you may see than;
Make all our
thoughts and desires so pure that they may bear your scrutiny.
And so grant that we
being pure in heart may see you.
Help us to live in
truth.
Grant That we may
never speak or act a lie;
That we may never be
misled by false or mistaken beliefs;
That we may never
evade the truth, even when we do not want to see it.
Grant to us at all
times To seek and to find;
To know and to love;
To obey and to live the truth.
This we ask for the
sake of him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, even for the sake
of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
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