There’s an old church joke that goes something like this: Jesus dies, and the angels welcome him to heaven. But an archangel asks him: “Lord, what will happen to people now, without you there?” Jesus answers, “No problem. My disciples will carry on my work on earth.” After a rather lengthy pause the archangel asks, “Is there another plan?”
This Gospel today reminds me of that joke. John the Evangelist is writing around the year 100 of the Christian era. He first quotes Jesus’ words that commissioned the disciples, through the Holy Spirit, to exercise the power to forgive sins. These words are considered the divine authorization or spiritual foundation of the Catholic Church. They are words of authorization passed from Jesus through the succession of popes and bishops and priests unto this day. But then, the next part of this same Gospel is the story of “the doubting Thomas.” I don’t know why John juxtaposed these two passages. But the doubting Thomas story reads like a commentary on the divinely instituted Church. It is a Church made up of bumbling and sinful humans. The Risen Christ, who appears to Thomas, carries wounds on his risen body. Today, the U.S. Church is having a “U.S. pope-inspired moment” with good press and many converts. But we are a Church whose body is scarred from the wounds of the sexual abuse scandal, and other wounds from its older history. Like Thomas, we need to embrace the wounds if we are to find the Risen Christ in our Church. We need the mercy of the Lord to flow through us if our Church is to heal. Our world needs the Church. There is no other plan.
— Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia
The post April 12, Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy: a Sunday Scriptures blog first appeared on Sisters of the Precious Blood.