Christ is Risen!
The Sunday after Pascha is known as the 2nd Sunday after Pascha. This Sunday is dedicated to St. Thomas the Apostle. This Sunday is also known as Antipascha. The Gospel lesson for this Sunday is from St. John the Evangelist chapter 20 verses 19-31.
We know the story very well, when on the first day of the week the disciples were gathered behind locked doors for fear of the Jewish leaders. Then Jesus appeared to them and said Peace be unto You, and he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side, then he breathed on them saying receive the Holy Spirit: if you forgive anyone’s sins they are forgiven and whosoever sins you do not forgive they are not forgiven.
The abiding peace which Christ gives and which the world cannot give, is peace with God in Jesus Christ through faith, repentance and forgiveness.
It is also the peace of God in our hearts, for it goes far beyond human understanding, keeping your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus. True peace is a gift of God experienced when His presence was felt in the land: “Love and faithfulness will meet righteousness and peace will embrace”. The Old Testament envisioned a future time of perfect peace established by the Messiah, the Prince of Peace.
The essence of this Gospel Lesson is when the Apostle Thomas, because he wasn’t present when Christ appeared to the disciples on the first day of the week, again appeared to the disciples with Thomas the doubter present this time. You see, he didn’t believe unless he put his hand into the wounds of the crucified Christ. When Jesus appeared this time in their midst, he said to Thomas put your finger into my hands and into my side so you would believe. Then the Apostle Thomas proclaimed “My Lord and My God” and then He believed. But Jesus then said, ‘Blessed are those who have not seen but yet believe!
Therefore Christ blesses us, for even though we have not seen His wounds, we have believed throughout the centuries bringing the triumphal message of Christ’s Resurrection to all mankind.
Christ is Risen!
