Easter Sunday, 21st April 2019

The core of Peter’s speech in the first reading is a message about Christ — God gave the good news through Jesus Christ; Jesus is the Lord of all; Jesus died, rose from the dead and communicated with the apostles; the prophets themselves gave witness to Christ; those who believe will receive forgiveness in his name. The second reading emphasises the type of life believers of Christ must live. They must not be concerned about matters related to the worldly life because they have died to this in baptism. Instead, they have to be concerned about the spiritual life where Christ has the place of honour next to God.

The gospel presents two key ideas for believers: Jesus, the Risen Lord “comes” to his disciples and the disciples “respond” to him in faith. They “believe” that is, they commit and attach themselves to their risen Lord in faith, and they “see” him, that is, they become aware of his presence and grasp the mystery that he is the risen Lord. However, this faith does not happen suddenly. It grows through the three experiences of the disciples. Firstly, they sense the “absence” of the Lord. Secondly, they “see” when Jesus comes to them. Thirdly, they “believe” when Jesus comes to Thomas. It is a movement from a sense of his absence, fear and doubt to “seeing” and “believing” in the Risen Lord with the exclamation “My Lord and my God”.

Jesus, my Lord and my God.