By Fr Francis Gonsalves, SJ –
Second Sunday of Easter – April 11, 2021
Readings: Acts 4:32-35; 1 Jn 5:1-6; Jn 20:19-31
“… Those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private
ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common” (Acts)
Prologue: Christianity has often considered Communism as its antithesis. However, the ideals expressed in the Communist Manifesto and the Acts of the Apostles seem similar: owning property in common, ensuring that nobody is in want, selling of excess property, pooling in resources into a common fund, and finally, distributing surplus wealth to the poor. But, the difference between the two is that the ‘Acts’ are an overflow of God’s love made flesh-and-blood in Jesus Christ.
Three Scriptural Signposts:
1. Christianity is not some esoteric doctrine or timeless truth to be only preached in words, but it is the God-encounter and God-experience that must find flesh-and-blood witness in works of love, mercy, sharing, caring and forgiveness. The Acts of the Apostles describe the life of the newborn Church for a period of approximately thirty years from the Ascension of Our Lord until the year 63 AD. The first twelve chapters deal with the origins of the Church in Jerusalem before it spread outward to other lands. Two passages of the Acts in particular—namely, today’s passage and Acts 2:42-47—describe ideal Christian life. Jesus’ greatest commandment is clearly love (Jn 15:12; 1 Cor 13:13). Jesus did not merely preach this commandment, but he practised it during his lifetime and most powerfully by the gift of himself through his passion and death.
Thus, true Christian love (agape) creates Christian communion (koinonia), which is seen in selfless service (diakonia), leading to Christian witness (marturia) even unto a self-sacrificial death. Their belief in Jesus Christ made Jesus’ first disciples truly “of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common” (v.32). This led to them giving “testimony [witness] to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus” (v.33). Indeed, the fact that “there was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold” (v.34) is not the result of economic expediency or sound financial planning but simply the awareness of being Jesus’ sisters and brothers and children of God. Trusting totally in God’s Providence, “they laid it [the proceeds of the sales of their property] at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need” (v.35). “Great grace was upon them all” (v.33) since their life was now not governed by accumulation of wealth for themselves, but was geared towards the common good. Doesn’t Pope Francis’ encyclical letter titled ‘Fratelli Tutti’ echo today what has long been a precious part of early Catholic Tradition?
- The love (agape) and communion (koinonia) seen in the first reading are developed in the second reading from the first letter of John, where he stresses that Christian faith can “conquer the world” (vvv.4-5). Here, ‘world’ stands for sin, unbelief, darkness and death. By having deep faith in Christ, every Christian is empowered to defeat all these enemies. However, John makes it clear that Christian faith is not intellectual assent to some doctrines about God, but it is a living, trustful relationship with Jesus Christ who is the full and final revelation of God’s saving love. Faith and belief in Christ entail living in love as God’s children, obedient to God’s will. This love has two dimensions: vertical (love of God), the proof of which is seen at the horizontal level (i.e., love of one’s neighbour).
Under the guidance of the Spirit, every believer in Jesus is called to give witness to Him “who came by water and blood” (v.6). Here, ‘water’ refers to baptism, while ‘blood’ refers to the reconciliation that Christ brings through his crucifixion and resurrection. By using this paired term water-and-blood, John combats some Gnostic tendencies and teachings that were slowly emerging in the community towards the end of the first century. Two of these were: (a) that Jesus was a mere man on whom the divine Christ descended at his baptism but left him before the crucifixion; and, (b) that they, the Gnostics, had a special knowledge of God and were sinless and saved even without keeping God’s commandments, prime among which was to love their neighbours. Thus, by stressing: “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments” (v.2), John reiterates the inseparable link between love of God and love of neighbour. Furthermore, he shows that the baptized Christ is the same crucified Christ; thus, much as Jesus’ baptism makes him unleash the streams of salvation, it is his blood on the cross which completes our reconciliation with God: a true sign of God’s self-giving love.
- The gospel reading contains two appearances: (a) to Jesus’ disciples in the absence of Thomas in vv.19-23; and, (b) to all the disciples, with a special focus on Thomas, in vv.24-29. In the first appearance, Jesus gives his disciples the gift of ‘peace’, dispels their fears and commissions them to be witnesses to his resurrection. In the second appearance, Thomas is part of the community. As a personal follower of Jesus, Thomas is somewhat justified in asking for some evidence of Jesus’ resurrection since it was a totally unprecedented and unbelievable event in human history that someone dead should reappear on earth.
Moreover, as a member of the community of apostles: a true “witness to the resurrection” was to be “someone who was present with Jesus all through his lifetime up to the resurrection” (see Acts 1:21-22). Put differently, how could one credibly say: “I am a firsthand witness to the resurrection and therefore I am preaching a risen Christ?” Thus, Thomas’s demand: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe” (v.25) is for an external, flesh-and-blood, empirical-based experience of Jesus. However, from a physical and empirical level of awareness, Thomas is drawn not to touch Jesus externally—for nothing is mentioned in the text whether he touched Jesus or not—rather, he is touched internally by the Risen Lord. Indeed, he comes to a deeper awareness of who Jesus is and exclaims: “My Lord and my God!” (v.28). Jesus pronounces a beatitude: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” (v.29) inviting all his disciples to progress from mere sensual experience to a deeper level of awareness and faith-commitment. Jesus’ commissioning in this passage:
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (v.21) and “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (vv.22-23) is the Pentecost in the Johannine tradition. ‘To forgive’ and ‘to retain’ signify the ministry of reconciliation: uniting people to God and to one another across borders of culture, creed, class, caste, etc. Thomas will eventually be martyred — a ‘blood witness’ upon Indian soil for his crucified-risen Lord.
Pope Francis in Fratelli Tutti, n.239: “Reading other texts of the New Testament, we can see how the early Christian communities, living in a pagan world marked by widespread corruption and aberrations, sought to show unfailing patience, tolerance and understanding…. The Acts of the Apostles notes that the disciples, albeit persecuted by some of the authorities, “had favour with all the people” (2:47; cf. 4:21.33; 5:13). May we, like them, be of one heart and soul.
Fr. Francis Gonsalves, SJ is the Executive Secretary, CCBI Comm. of Theology & Doctrine and President, Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune and former Principal of Vidyajyoti College, Delhi. He is also the Executive Secretary of the CCBI Commission for Theology and Doctrine. He has authored many books and articles and is a columnist with The Asian Age and The Deccan Chronicle national dailies