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Thought for the
Week 19 April 2009 – Easter 2
During the last year fund raisers around the chaplaincy
have organised quiz evenings, inviting people to come along in teams to enjoy
good food and wine, and to pit their skills against one another. Afterwards, the participants have recalled
their moments of torment when they could give no answer, or the wrong answer
– agonising over their missed chance. Quiz games in this context are not a matter of life or
death. No doubt the participants in
televised contests, where huge sums of money are at stake, would tell a
different story. No second chances for
them. Today we heard about a group of people who were so
frightened for their lives that they weren’t taking any chances – they met
behind locked doors. The closest followers
of Jesus feared that the temple police would come to arrest them – they might
then suffer the same fate as Jesus.
Those who have lived under corrupt and ruthless regimes know well the
terror of being hunted down. Innocence
is no safeguard, and fear causes paralysis. When Jesus came through locked doors his disciples must
have been terrified again! Jesus said:
“Peace be with you” which means “May God give you every good thing.” His friends were suffering as they
reflected on their disloyalty, betrayal and abandonment. Jesus, instead of
heaping recriminations on their heads, said: “May God give you every good
thing.” Jesus gave them a second
chance. Then Jesus gave them the great commission: “Receive the
Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins
of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are
retained.” By the power of the Holy Spirit, God would forgive sins
through the disciples. If the
disciples knew that the sinner was not penitent they were to retain his sins.
The respected Anglican theologian William Barclay wrote: “This sentence lays
down the duty of the Church to convey forgiveness to the penitent in heart
and to warn the impenitent that they are forfeiting the mercy of God.”* Thomas the Twin wasn’t there. Thomas always wanted proof. When Jesus told his friends that he was
going to heaven to prepare a place for them, it was Thomas who complained
that he hadn’t got the message [John 14.5] For Thomas, seeing was believing, and Thomas wanted to
see for himself. He wasn’t prepared to
trust his friends. A week later, Thomas got his second chance and all his
doubts vanished. Thomas the Doubter, whose feast day is 3 July, has been the
patron saint of doubters for 2,000 years - proving that it’s still
permissible to have doubts, and to have those doubts answered. The effect on the disciples was tangible. No longer scared out of their wits they
accepted the commission Jesus had given them.
They began to live as a community.
They shared their belongings and looked after one another. God gives us a second chance many, many times. A second
chance to imitate Thomas and his fellow disciples. A second chance to pray and take action for
those who disappear under corrupt regimes, those who are sold into
prostitution. A second chance to pray and take action for those on Death Row,
or dying of cholera in Never mind agonising over the lost opportunity for a
second chance at the quiz night. Let’s
remember the message of Easter – we have a second chance to believe that God
has the power to forgive and heal each one of us. Amen. June Hutchinson: Assistant Curate,
Anglican Chaplaincy of Midi-Pyrénées & Aude To return to main Thought for the Week page, click X at top right to close this window. |