Easter Was Not a Quick Fix

You do not need this reminder to know that it is true in your own experience. “Christ is risen. He is risen indeed!” we said. So what now, when Monday’s challenges after Easter Sunday look a lot like they did on Saturday? This is where Jesus’ post-resurrection appearance to the disciples and the famous “doubting Thomas” is helpful in John 20.

Thomas resists believing that Jesus is risen until the risen Christ invites him: “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side” (John 20:27). There is an intimacy and careful consideration here by both Thomas and Jesus. Out of Fr. Richard Rohr’s devotional of April 8 (see cac.org), womanist theologian Yolanda Pierce reminds us that “by sharing his wounds, Jesus reveals that our wounds are places for God’s healing presence and love.”

She goes on to say: “This is a theology for the wounded, for those who are still healing, and even for those who aren’t quite ready for healing. The risen Savior insistently welcomes the doubting, the uncertain, and the grieving to touch and see that he is real and present and here for us. As wounded people encased in the frailties of human flesh, can we, too, summon enough grace and kindness to acknowledge that our own very human wounds need time to heal?”

I was so grateful to celebrate Holy Communion on Easter—with my son and wife, but also with you as the body of Christ. I could not stop smiling, seeing us all there with God and there with one another, on our knees, side by side, communing with Christ and one another in all our woundedness, knowing anew that there is strength in weakness and indeed a resurrection that prevails. Hallelujah!

Connecting God and Grace to Self and Community,

Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor