For the first time in a year of pandemic isolation, I set the table for five on Easter Sunday. I felt both excited and awkward, unsure that I had enough food, that the house looked okay, that we were, in fact, safe from infecting each other. After a year of restricted contact, we were about to break boundaries set for our own safety.
As each person arrived on Easter Sunday, we hugged for the first time in more than a year. All of us had been vaccinated, but our hugs were a little tentative. It felt like shaky new ground.
Mine was a mild version of how the disciples must have felt after Jesus’ death. Afraid and anxious. Uncertain about what to do next, the disciples were locked inside, afraid for their lives. In the gospel reading for this week, Jesus enters their closed space, and breathes his creative spirit into them.* It is John’s version of Pentecost, and it recalls the Genesis story of creation, where God literally breathes LIFE into all creatures.
The direction that Jesus gives is strong and clear: forgiveness is the key. “What you forgive, will be forgiven.” In other words, they now have the power of forgiveness that Jesus has demonstrated is a healing power. In John’s gospel, forgiveness IS the primary power of the Holy Spirit!
Only then do we read about Thomas, who missed this miraculous encounter and wasn’t about to forgive the others for what they had experienced. But Jesus makes a special appearance for Thomas, the saint of all scientific research and data collection. He provides the physical evidence that Thomas needs to open his closed mind to the possibility that Jesus could be present in a new form, adding grit and dimension to his commandment to “love one another as I have loved you.”
Over dinner on Easter Sunday, five old friends breathed in the air of new life. We have each lost members of our closest circles and wondered whether we would ever see distant family again. To consider forgiveness as the primary power of Jesus’ spirit felt like letting go of what we had planned for in a year spent otherwise. As we left that day, we hugged again, thankful that we are emerging from this long separation — touched by resurrection.
–Marjory Zoet Bankson, InwardOutward Editor
- How have you experienced surprise and release recently?
- Where do you feel bound by unforgiveness? How might you offer that to Christ?
