Reflection on the gospel reading
2nd Sunday of Easter (4/15/12)
John 20:19-31
The gifts of Easter continue…
There were two verses from today’s gospel that stood out to me.
“Peace be with you.”
“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
God does want us to have a peaceful heart and mind. Jesus greets the apostles twice in this one reading with the words, “Peace be with you.” Think about how you feel when you do God’s work or when you’ve made a decision based on prayer – we tend to be overcome with a sense of peace or even joy. That is what Jesus is offering to us. That is yet another gift He wants to give us, but we have to be open to receiving it. If we insist on seeing the wounds - the lance in His side - or ask for miracles to happen on demand, we are missing out on the amazing beauty of God’s glory that surrounds us every day. Our hearts are shut off from the peace that can be found in a simple still moment.
If we believe without having seen, we can find the peace that Christ offers. That line in the gospel is speaking to all of US. We are the ones who have not seen and have believed. I feel like this message can be applied even beyond belief in Christ. Even though we cannot see the plan that God has laid out for our personal lives, if we believe that He will sustain us and that He knows what will bring us happiness, then God will bless us in our journeys because we have believed. He will bring us joy. Through our belief and trust, we can learn to hand over our worries and allow Christ to sustain us…to fill us with “life in His name.” I’ll be the first to admit that handing over my worries is not an easy task, but it is one worth striving for. I believe that faith and trust go hand in hand. As I work to build my faith, my trust will also grow, allowing me to depend more fully on Christ and His plan.
This is an amazing post and one that spoke to me during a very difficult time. It reminded me once again that I have to have faith that God is there for me. I have to believe in his plan without knowing why or how. He is truly amazing in that for those who believe in Him will not perish, but have eternal life and be filled with joy in their hearts. I know at times we can through up our fists up and ask "why?," but it is in those moments when God cradles us and whispers peace into our hearts. We have to have faith that in the most darkest of times, that God is there even though we do not see him.
ReplyDelete"Peace be with you" really spoke to me. The apostles were hiding out in a room when Jesus came to them. He could have easily said, "hey, where the heck were you guys when I was dying?!" but rather spoke of peace and forgiveness. How many times have I hid behind a sin, rather than marching straight to confession to receiving His unending mercy and forgiveness.
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