Acts 2:42-47; Ps 117(118):2-4,13-15,22-24; 1 Pet 1:3-9; Jn 20:19-31
Theme: Being an Instrument of God’s Mercy: A Sharing in Christ’s Mission.
Today’s feast of the Divine Mercy celebrates the coming in contact of God himself, God who is mercy, to the human’s misery. The Divine mercy is not just a celebration about God forgiving us, but totally what God is, the Merciful God. It celebrates the mission of Jesus on earth. Jesus himself says that he was not sent to condemn the world, but to save it (cf Jn 3:17). Extending this mercy of the Father to the adulterous woman, Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you” (Jn 8:11). Jesus shows himself, not just to be someone sent by the Father to do the Father’s work of mercy, but more to be himself the fullness of the Father’s mercy towards our misery. This misery of man comes in different ways. Every one of us has a misery that needs an encounter with God’s mercy and love. God comes in contact to our misery, but we need to
make ourselves available to him.
In the gospel reading, the disciples were hiding because of the fear of the Jews. Before now, the Risen Christ has revealed himself only to Mary Magdala (Jn 20:16-17). And we are told that Mary shared this news of the Resurrection with the rest of the disciples (Jn 20:18). Then in the following
verse, we are presented with the disciples s
instru
neither believed Jesus’s
already
encountered the Risen Lord. The fear of the Jews was s l blocking the joy they were to have in
believing in the Resurr . We can as well say that the disciples were looking for something
stronger than the words of a woman to get them out of their fearful hiding. Jesus, seeing the disciples
in this misery, misery of unbelief and fear of mere mortals, came to them in their hiding. Not minding
the close doors and the seclusion of the unbelieved disciples, Jesus s
we are hidden, no ma nature hides us, nothing keeps Jesus, the Mercy of
the Father, from finding us. Jesus showed them his hands and his side. The ques why did Jesus
ma
have to show them his hands and his side? Apart from giving them evidence that it is s
Jesus whose hands were nailed, and sides pierced, Jesus can also be said to be telling the disciples:
‘this is the evidence of God’s work of mercy in/through me’. Jesus shows himself as the totality of God’s
Mercy, which came in contact to man’s misery on the cross. His hands that bore the nails, and his side
that received the piercing of the lance, opened in him the gushing out of God’s mercy for mankind.
And the evangelist said that when the disciples saw the hands and the side of Jesus, they now believed
and their joy resonated. Jesus, by showing them himself, the evidence of his suffering for men, healed
their unbelief and fear, and resonated in them the joy of Christ himself. The ques
are we hiding?’ ‘What is that which is keeping us lukewarm in our exercise of faith and joyful sharing
of God’s great love of mercy?’ ‘In different ways Jesus has con God’s
‘why
mercy, have we been able to recognize him?’ ‘Have we allowed God’s present in our hiding, to
transform our fear into joy?’
It was only when the disciples have been able to recognize Jesus and the mark of God’s love
and mercy imprinted on his body, that Jesus now made them co-sharers and co-administers of God’s
mercy and forgiveness. Jesus said to them: ‘As the Father has sent me, so do I send you’. That means,
‘what the Father has sent me to be, I now send you also to be’. Jesus remains God’s love and mercy in
person. Hence, Jesus cons
on his hands, and his pierced side demonstrates: Eternity of God’s Mercy. Our recogn
mark of nail
’s
mercy and love does not end in resona
’s joy in us. It rather commissions us to extending that
joy and trust in divine mercy to others. Jesus gave the disciples the same Spirit which he himself
received at the beginning of his mission (cf Jn 1:32), thereby making them worthy of con
work of the Father – the work of mercy.
Thomas was not present when Jesus came to his disciples. His demand for evidence of Jesus’s
Resurr
tes
does not make him worse than other disciples. Just as the disciples did not believe the
Mary Magdala un
e to believe based on verbal
tes
Thomas wanted to have a direct experience of Jesus and the marks
that show his extra-ordinary sacrifice on the Cross. In one way or the other, all of us have our own
‘Thomases’ in us. Thomas does not connote someone who doubts everything, rather, someone who
desires a p
personal encounter with him. Thomas simply
wanted what others have been granted: an encounter with the risen Lord. And when Jesus granted
him that, his confession and submission followed. We all have in one way or the other experienced
God’s direct interven
’s mercy. In many occasions, we
have been le
xperience of things, that it was God who acted for
us. In different occasions, we have been le
h a tes
t says: “God really came through for
me”. The ques
hen is: have our lives become a submission to and a confession of God’s ever
presence and his mercy in our lives. Furthermore, Thomas was able to iden fy what his misery was.
The request he made could only be granted by God. So, it was like Thomas was telling Jesus, ‘Grant me
to have an encounter with you. I have a problem, and only you can heal me of that ’. Jesus came and
Thomas’ blockage was removed. Have we iden
and the joy of his salva
what blocks us from given our total YES to Jesus
?
As those who have the similar experience of God’s love and mercy, we are called in the first
reading to be of one mind and heart. We are called to live as one people of God, sharing our lives with
others, being always in communion with one another. We have all one thing in common: God and the
expression of his mercy and love. Let us allow Christ to cast off our fears and fill us with his joy. So that,
by rejoicing in the mercy of the Father for us, we may always be merciful as our heavenly Father is,
thereby share in the mission of Christ, who sends us as the Father has sent him, to be instruments of
his love and forgiveness to men.
Fr. Chukwuezugo wishing you a Happy Divine Mercy Sunday!!!