Homily – Second Sunday of Easter
David Juniper shares this meditation:
One bright spring morning, I was
sitting at my breakfast table thinking: “I’ve certainly had a lot of problems
lately. Troubles at work, troubles at
home…I really ought to take time to pray about them” But then, all of a sudden,
I sensed that someone had walked into the room behind me. I turned around and gasped.
“Lord Jesus! What are you doing
here?” The Lord himself was standing in
my doorway! I rubbed my eyes – was it
really he? Yes, everything checked
out…from the tip of the white seamless robe to the fait glimmering halo around
his head. I stammered: “That is…errr….it’s not that you shouldn’t be here. I’m just not used to you dropping by in such
a visible form.”
This unexpected visit had unsettled
me, and I vaguely wondered if I had done anything wrong. He smiled and the light in his eyes grew
brighter: “Would you like to go for a
walk?” “Uhmm…why…sure!” And so, we
walked down the little country road that leads past my home. Slowly, the truth began to dawn upon me and I
murmured to myself: “What an incredible
opportunity! He has all the answers to
all my problems – my relationships at work...my worries about the future…my
family problems. All I need to do is
ask.”
We walked quietly for several
minutes, and then I turned to him. “Excuse me, Lord, but I need some advise on
this very difficult problem…”But before I could finish, he had raised his
fingers to his lips” “Shhh…Do you hear
it?”
At first, I didn’t hear a thing. But hen came the faint tumbling of a nearby
brook, crisp and light beneath the budding trees. The Lord signed: “Isn’t that beautiful?”
“Ah..Yes..I suppose so…” I was thoroughly distracted. “He had interrupted my train of
thought.” I waited a few minutes to show
due respect, and then just as we walked past a rolling meadow – I blurted out”
“Lord, I’ve been worried about my prayer life.
Things have been awfully dry. Now, according to the books that I’ve
read…”
He put his arm around my
shoulder: “Hush…Do you hear it?” Children were running through the meadow
grass. Once again, he smiled: “Isn’t it
wonderful?” “uhmm…yes…now that you
mention it.” Then I added irritable: “You know I love children.”
We walked on. A horrible thought loomed in my mind: what if I lost this opportunity? Here were all the answers to all my problems,
right at my elbow! He even knew the
deepest mysteries of the universe:
love..death…Armageddon! As a last resort, I thought I’d talk to him
about religion. After all, that is his
line of work.
“Lord, I was wondering what you think
of the conflict in modern biblical scholarship between…” Again, the friendly
arm came around my shoulder, and I gritted my teeth. The Lord stopped and silently picked up a
roadside pebble. He grinned: “I’ll bet you can’t hit the top of that
telephone pole.” I was bewildered. Why, of all things! And from the Lord! (This was not what I had expected from the
Second Person of the Holy Trinity. If you were God wouldn’t you be a bit more
serious about it?) He casually tossed
his pebble toward the pole: it arched
silently through the air. Hmmmmm..He
missed!
My depression was deepening, but
still I stopped to pick up a pebble. What else could I do? Halfheartedly, I tossed it in the general
direction of the telephone pole: it
arched silently through the air. Hmmmm. I hit it! The Lord looked at me proudly
and chuckled: “Hey, you’re good.”
As we strolled on, the knots in my
stomach grew tighter. Whenever I wanted
to talk about anything of any importance there would always be an
interruption. Some new growth poking
through the ground, a bird lighting on a tree limb.
At last, our walk was finished. I was so upset that I could think of nothing
to say. Beneath his long black beard, the Lord had a playful smile, and as he
turned to leave, the light of his eyes grew brighter. He walked to the door,
and then stopped to glance at me over his shoulder: “Stop trying so hard.”
We can well imagine that that kind of thing would never happen
to us! We would be ready and just bask
in His presence – or do we?
Our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles – which we
will be reading throughout this Easter Season gives us a picture of those early
followers – those who truly experienced the presence of the Lord continually in
their lives – They lived in joy because they knew he was there – they knew he
was among them.
And we have celebrated in this Easter Season that he is in
our midst – can we be filled with the same certainty that they were?
Perhaps the problem with Thomas in the Gospel is not that he
doubted – or questioned. The issue is where was he when the Lord came? Was he
off in fear and hiding? Was he not believing all that had happened? The bottom
line was that he had separated himself from the others – he had detached
himself.
Perhaps like the character in the story we detach ourselves
from the presence of the Lord – we’re too busy – we too worried – we too afraid
– we feel unworthy.
The fact is that Jesus walks with us. We have to notice him.