Second Sunday of Easter

Acts 2:14a,22-32; Psalm 16; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31

The story of Thomas is so powerful and rich that it’s easy to neglect the other readings.  I love Thomas: I love his love for Jesus, his integrity, his refusal to settle for other people’s faith.  And I love that Jesus loves him enough to come back and show him what he needs.  But, as John wants us to get, we don't all get that privilege.  What of us who (try to) believe without seeing?  Jesus doesn’t say that we are “more” blessed than Thomas and his empiricist friends; he merely says that we are blessed.  The blessing comes from the faith we receive and live in.  It is not a preference on God’s part, not a special favor or ticket to heaven.  It is simply the way things work in God’s realm; the “outcome of your faith” is “the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:9).  

Why?  Why is salvation the outcome of faith?  And what is salvation, anyway?  (Warning: unauthorized theology follows.  May be hazardous.  Just guessing, really.)

The letter attributed to Peter gives us an answer, though it’s more suggestive than systematic.  (And that’s a virtue!)  “Peter” refers to the “new birth into a living hope” that is accomplished through Jesus’ resurrection.  Here are the nouns that stand out in this poetic cascade: birth, hope, inheritance, salvation; faith, trials, praise, glory, honor, joy. 

Salvation isn’t for an afterlife.  It’s in how we live here and now.  It’s in the details: the praise, the joy, the trials, the hope.  It’s in the faith that enables us to wait.  It’s in the resilience and the endurance that faith makes possible.  It’s in the love that we experience and the love we share as a result of knowing ourselves to be loved.  

When Thomas believes, his response is “praise, glory and honor”: “My Lord and my God!”  When I believe, when I really believe and God’s love and power are present to me, my response is the same: “Thank you!  Blessed are you, Amazing and Holy One!”  And my soul is healed, is made whole.

May you believe, and be blessed.  However you get there, however many times you have to claw your way back to faith, you will receive salvation as for the first time.