Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter, April 7, 2024
Acts 4:32-25+Psalm 133+1 John 1:1-2:2+John 20:19-31
Last Sunday, Easter Day, we listened to glorious music, heard the pronouncement of Mary Magdalene that she had seen the risen Lord, hid hundreds of filled plastic eggs to the delight of the children, and welcomed all sorts of people through these doors to worship with us.
This week, the flowers are fading, the brass players are gone, our Easter finery has been stored away, and we are left with...each other.
But, my friends, in the unfolding of the Easter story, we are still on that first day of the week when the frightened and bewildered disciples are not quite sure what is happening. The last thing we heard on Easter Day was this: "Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’" (John 20:18). And today, we opened with: "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 Judean leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you'" (20:19). Oh, to have been a fly on the wall during that long, confusing day.
And then a week passes, and Jesus shows up again. This time, Thomas - the one who refused to believe unless he saw - was with the others and got to see the wounds in Jesus's hands and side. Thomas has come down to us as the doubter, but he's really just a stand in for all of us who won't be able to see the wounds of the crucified One, at least not on this side of eternity.
Or will we?
Hold that thought for just a minute.
Now, y'all know of my fondness for digging into various translations of texts and going back to the Greek to see what's what, and I came across something really significant this time when studying this part of John. In the first appearance to the disciples, Jesus blesses them with peace, gives them the Holy Spirit which confers power on them, and then says a curious thing: "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained'" (20:23). Why would Jesus who throughout John's gospel promises forgiveness of sins, why would he tell these followers of his that they can hold onto the sins of others? It doesn't make any sense!
Well, let's take a look:
"If you forgive the sins of any" - that any is a masculine plural indefinite pronoun.
When he says, "If you retain...any" - that is also masculine plural indefinite.
The word "sins" is a feminine plural noun.
And y'all thought that grammar was so 8th grade, but stick with me here.
The literal Greek says, "If you might forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if any you might retain, they are retained."
What if that any doesn't refer back to the sins because any is masculine, and sins is feminine?
What if Jesus is saying something else?
How about this: "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain anyone, they are retained."
If you hold onto anyone, they are held onto.
Way back in John 6, Jesus says, "And this is the will of [the One] who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day" (6:39).
You are to forgive sins in my name and hold onto everyone so that no one is lost.
If we put this translation - and no, it is not original to me, nor is it, to my knowledge, a widely accepted interpretation, even if I think it is worth considering[1] - in conversation with the passage we read from 1 John, the community which was bound together is now fraying, coming apart, because they don't all agree on the way forward. They argue about what it means to be a follower of Jesus when it's pretty clear that they are going to be in it for the long haul. Jesus's expected return has not happened, and people are starting to get a little testy. The sin he is writing about is the fracturing of the community.
But to this, Jesus would say to forgive the sins and hold onto the people, find a way forward, stay true to the new commandment to love one another as we are loved until reconciliation is possible.
When I look at these two passages together here on the 2nd Sunday of Easter in the Year of Our Lord 20 and 24, what it tells me is that we are to let no one go. If you show up here filled with doubts, welcome to the party. If you aren't sure about all this Church stuff, come explore with us. If you have questions, know that the rest of us probably have questions, too. If the world out there is hard for you for whatever reason, sit down with us and we'll hold onto you.
Earlier, I told you to tuck away the question of whether or not we can see the wounds of Christ or if we have to rely on faith.
I believe we are seeing those wounds in the slaughter in Gaza.
I believe we are seeing those wounds in the mental health crisis among trans youth.
I believe we are seeing those wounds in the number of people who call the streets home.
I believe we are seeing those wounds in the way the Christian faith has been hijacked by so-called "Christian" Nationalism.
I believe we see those wounds wherever people are lonely or suffering or hurting.
And as I read it, Jesus is telling us to hold onto all of them, to not let them go, just as we are not going to let anyone sitting here, or anyone we encounter out there, we are not going to let them go until they have experienced what Mary and those first disciples experienced - an encounter with the Risen Lord.
We are about to baptize three little ones into the household of faith. As we affirm our baptismal promises along with theirs, what we are saying is that we won't let you go. We are your family, no matter what. And to parents and godparents, your welcome here does not depend on your ability to believe or to have perfect attendance or to say all the right things. The welcome is from Christ, and it is unchangeable and irrevocable. We've got you. And even better, God's got you in those everlasting arms.
The celebratory atmosphere of Easter Day may be so last week, but we do still have each other. And the Risen Christ is in our midst.
Thanks be to God.
[1] With gratitude to Mary Hinkle Shore (https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/second-sunday-of-easter-2/commentary-on-john-2019-31-13) and David Lose (https://www.davidlose.net/2018/04/easter-2-b-holding-fast/)