Second Sunday of Easter Year B 7th April 2024
Lectionary Readings: Acts 4 v32-35; Psalm 133; John 1 1v1-2v2; John 20 v19-31.
Friends re-united.
The reading from John’s gospel relates to events in the evening of what we now call Easter Day. Jesus appears to his disciples, his friends. The shock of his sudden appearance gives way to joy as Jesus reassures them that yes, he really is alive, raised from the dead, just as he said he would be.
Jesus was I’m sure just as happy to see his friends as they were to see him. (John tells of Jesus speaking of his followers as being his friends in chapter 15 v14-16). Their friendship with Jesus, formed during his wandering ministry, is now revived, restored and about to enter a new phase.
Jesus says, “I am sending you, just as the Father has sent me”.
Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”.
Verses 21-23 can be read as a concise summary of all that John has written about in Chapters 13-17.
Jesus is signalling a change in their relationship. Jesus will now be with them at all times and in all places, his spirit will guide their thinking, their speaking and their actions. They are now commissioned to continue his work of reconciling people to God, of ushering in the kingdom of God. As witnesses of the resurrection, his followers know for certain that God’s love is stronger than evil, that ‘death has lost its sting’. They can now be confident that all that Jesus taught them about the kingdom is true.
Implicit in the words “I am sending you, just as the Father sent me” is a challenge to follow in ‘The Way’ modelled by Jesus, to make friends of people who find themselves on the margins of society. Among the many friends of Jesus recorded in the gospels are former tax collectors, healed lepers, forgiven outcasts, all restored to life in community. Jesus welcomed all who came to him. He offered them the gift of friendship.
As followers of Jesus in this generation we are encouraged by the Holy Spirit to mirror God’s love, revealed in Jesus, not only to our established friends, but also to our ‘potential friends’, people that God calls us to befriend, ‘the least the last and the lost’.
In a hymn written by Gary Hopkins, the gift of friendship is celebrated, as a gift from the one who truly loves us. (Singing the Faith No 619).
Thanks for friends who keep on loving,
finding ways to help us grow,
celebrating our achievements,
sharing in our pain and woe.
God is glimpsed where love is faithful:
mirrored here in time and space.
Thanks to God for friends who love us:
Christ revealed in every face.
Other people help to shape us
when they take the time to share
words of wisdom, honest actions
through our journey in God’s care.
In our faithful, honest learning
we discover things unknown.
Thanks to God for friends who teach us:
seeking talent yet ungrown.
When we find our friendships challenged
through mistakes and different views,
we discover deeper living
as the love of God renews.
For in Christ we see forgiveness;
know a strength still to embrace.
Thanks to God for friends who keep us:
making real the gift of grace.
Praise to God for his great gifting
of relationship and friend:
imaging divine relating;
found in heaven with no end.
Bless us Maker, Word and Spirit
as companions on the way.
Thanks to God for friends who help us
to fulfil our lives each day.
Bible quotations are taken from the Contemporary English Version.