April 7, 2013: Divine Mercy Sunday (2nd Sunday of Easter C)
Have you ever heard of the Zipper Club? It’s not a club related to clothing nor to a Harley Davidson biker club. Earlier this week, I met the newest member of the Zipper Club. He was in much pain and was connected to all sorts of tubes and machines in a hospital. This club was named for people who have had open heart surgery. The name was chosen because the scar looks much like a zipper. Most people who have had the procedure commented how much suffering was involved immediately after the surgery and months after the procedure. In the end, they said, the suffering was necessary because in essence they received a new heart.
The image of open heart surgery brings to mind a great passage from the Prophet Ezekiel: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27) How does God intend to give us a new heart to replace our old, stony hearts? First, He invites us to contemplate the pierced side of the Crucified Jesus.
On Calvary a soldier pierced the side of Jesus with a lance and blood and water gushed down from his pierced side. After the Resurrection, Jesus bore the wounds of the crucifixion, and Jesus did not hide these wounds. By these very wounds, his disciples recognized him when he appeared to them. When Thomas learned that Jesus appeared to the disciples, he made no attempt to hide his doubts. Doubt is often looked on as a sign of weakness. We tend to feel guilty about having doubts, but doubt can be a growing point, a stepping stone to a deeper understanding. On the second occasion that Jesus appeared to the disciples, He showed the wounds to Thomas and invited him to touch them. At the sight of the wounds of Jesus, Thomas’ doubts vanished, and his faith was re-born: ‘My Lord and my God.’
By his wounds we are healed. We are healed by his sacrifice. We are healed because he paid the price for our sins. Do you have doubts because you feel you can’t be loved for who you are? Do you have doubts because you’ve done things that you feel can’t be forgiven? The blood and water which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus continues to wash and make us clean. A forgiven heart that trusts in Jesus is no longer a stony heart. A forgiven heart is humble; it knows that it was not by its own merits but only by God’s sheer gift that it lives anew. When we trust Jesus, we come to terms with our own wounds. We are healed of self-pity and the sense of victimhood.
With this trust in Jesus, we are called to bear witness to others. Our task is to make Christ and His mercy ‘visible’ in the world. That’s the way it was with the first disciples. Upon seeing Christ and experiencing his forgiveness, they felt compelled to make him known to others. When we allow others to see that our trust in Jesus enabled us to live through our struggles, we become a message of hope to others.
The world today is full of doubters and unbelievers. The only way they will be converted to believers is if they ‘see’ Jesus and ‘touch’ him in his followers. But if his followers have no wounds of love to show them, if his followers do not experience Jesus’ forgiveness and in turn forgive others, the unbelievers are not likely to be convinced. May we deserve to be numbered among those whom Jesus declared blessed, namely, ‘those who have not seen and yet have believed.’ Jesus, I trust in you!
On Calvary a soldier pierced the side of Jesus with a lance and blood and water gushed down from his pierced side. After the Resurrection, Jesus bore the wounds of the crucifixion, and Jesus did not hide these wounds. By these very wounds, his disciples recognized him when he appeared to them. When Thomas learned that Jesus appeared to the disciples, he made no attempt to hide his doubts. Doubt is often looked on as a sign of weakness. We tend to feel guilty about having doubts, but doubt can be a growing point, a stepping stone to a deeper understanding. On the second occasion that Jesus appeared to the disciples, He showed the wounds to Thomas and invited him to touch them. At the sight of the wounds of Jesus, Thomas’ doubts vanished, and his faith was re-born: ‘My Lord and my God.’
By his wounds we are healed. We are healed by his sacrifice. We are healed because he paid the price for our sins. Do you have doubts because you feel you can’t be loved for who you are? Do you have doubts because you’ve done things that you feel can’t be forgiven? The blood and water which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus continues to wash and make us clean. A forgiven heart that trusts in Jesus is no longer a stony heart. A forgiven heart is humble; it knows that it was not by its own merits but only by God’s sheer gift that it lives anew. When we trust Jesus, we come to terms with our own wounds. We are healed of self-pity and the sense of victimhood.
With this trust in Jesus, we are called to bear witness to others. Our task is to make Christ and His mercy ‘visible’ in the world. That’s the way it was with the first disciples. Upon seeing Christ and experiencing his forgiveness, they felt compelled to make him known to others. When we allow others to see that our trust in Jesus enabled us to live through our struggles, we become a message of hope to others.
The world today is full of doubters and unbelievers. The only way they will be converted to believers is if they ‘see’ Jesus and ‘touch’ him in his followers. But if his followers have no wounds of love to show them, if his followers do not experience Jesus’ forgiveness and in turn forgive others, the unbelievers are not likely to be convinced. May we deserve to be numbered among those whom Jesus declared blessed, namely, ‘those who have not seen and yet have believed.’ Jesus, I trust in you!
