Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
The Second Sunday of Easter – Lectionary Commentary

The Second Sunday of Easter – Lectionary Commentary

Last updated on: April 21, 2025 at 8:42 am by Bruce Epperly

0 Comments

The Second Sunday of Easter – Lectionary Commentary 2025-04-21T08:42:53-04:00 Bruce Epperly

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Adventurous Lectionary – Second Sunday of Easter – April 27, 2025

Acts 5:22-27; Psalm 150; Revelation 1:4-8; John 20:19-31

On one of the two Sundays of the Christian year, often described as “low Sundays,” (the other being the Sunday after Christmas) let the Easter celebrations continue! Let us sing Easter hymns and even repeat “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.” Let us embrace resurrection along with the challenges that an uncertain, morally ambiguous world presents us. In these troubled times, when the love of power has eclipsed the power of love in many Christian communities and their leaders, we need to proclaim the power of love to transform our lives and social order.

Resurrection is a present and future as well as a past reality just as Christmas is as contemporary as each new experience of divine incarnation. Jesus is born in us and resurrection gives new life! Christ the Lord is risen today, and every day! Resurrection is just a breath away! And, yet these days, we must breathe deeply as we read about the rise of racism, faux culture war issues, and anti-science and anti-democratic movements, often housed – along with government welcomed racism – in Christian churches.

In the wake of Earth Day (April 22), Psalm 150 describes a world of praise in which all creation is attentive and energized by God’s presence and inspiration. There is continuity with human and divine praise. We can dance and sing, play drums and tambourines, hire a piper, and even a synthesizer and orchestra! But, not just us, for humanity is part a larger universe of celebration. The Psalmist proclaims, “Let everything that breathes praise God.” God is in all things; and all things are in God. We live in a dynamic, spirit-filled universe. Value resides in flora and fauna. God’s sighs too deep for words speak through the non-human as well as human world. Whatever praises deserves ethical consideration. The way of Jesus must include the non-human as well as human world. “All nature rings and around us rings the music of the spheres.”

This Sunday, we need to read the gospel in two parts, pausing between each segment, unique yet interdependent. Indeed, there are easily two sermons in today’s gospel readings. We begin with breath, focusing on John 20:19-23. On Easter night, Jesus mysteriously appears, apparently defying the laws of physics, and breathes new life into his followers. Jesus’ followers have heard the message that Christ is risen; yet, they are still stunned and overwhelmed, not knowing the meaning of resurrection. But now the Risen One is with them. He breathes on them, filling them with God’s Spirit and endowing them with power, creativity, and authority. Jesus gives them – and us – spiritual CPR to bring us back to life, restoring bodies, minds, and spirits, and sending us out to revive others.

John’s Pentecost is all about pneumatology. Breath is essential to the Hebraic and Christian visions. Genesis 1 describes God’s initial creative act as breathing over a chaotic void, bringing forth the possibility of the emerging and evolving universe. God breathes into humankind, animating what was before inert. Everything that breathes can praise God. In fact, after Easter, for Jesus’ first followers, every breath is a prayer. With every breath, we can experience a holy word from God.

Jesus breathes God’s Spirit into his followers. Having received the Holy Spirit, they can now go out into the world, living the good news and making every day a Pentecost. Divine revelation includes dramatic mystical moments, not to mention speaking in tongues and healing touch. However, the primary mode of divine revelation, indeed, the most essential revelatory moments are as undramatic as breathing. Revelation is found in sharing breath with creation and taking our role as healers of creation. Let us commit ourselves to God’s resurrection power with every breath.

The passage from John’s gospel now turns to focus on one of the most faithful of disciples, the much-maligned doubting Thomas. This Sunday, I am sure that Thomas will be the object of criticism among many preachers and the focal point of many a bad sermon – or rather a simplistic sermon – that will center on “doubting” Thomas’ inability to believe that Jesus has risen from the dead and counsel us to believe without evidence or encounter with the Risen Jesus. In contrast, I believe that Thomas demonstrates one vision of a healthy faith.

Let’s look at the story once more. When Jesus appears to Jesus’ followers, Thomas is not present. He returns to what an outsider might view as a mass hallucination, brought on by shock and grief. Everyone’s overjoyed except Thomas. No doubt, he felt totally out of place, like a progressive Christian at a jumbotron prosperity gospel church or a social democrat surrounded by people wearing MAGA hats. Yet, Thomas does something amazing. He doesn’t abandon the cause of Jesus, nor does he deny the resurrection. He simply wants to experience Jesus’ presence, to know that Jesus is alive, before he believes.

One of the most pivotal books in my theological and spiritual journey involved reading Paul Tillich’s “Dynamics of Faith.” From Tillich, I learned that doubt was an essential part of faith and not a sign of infidelity. We entertain doubts related to the most important things because our life depends on them and because they involve what ultimately lies beyond the circle of verification and falsification.

Doubt reflects the seriousness with which we take our faith. Thomas’ doubt is a quest for faith. It is not doubt for doubt’s sake. When he finally encounters the Risen Jesus, he is transformed and eventually journeys to the East to share the Gospel in India. Yet, the Jesus he encounters is still amazing to us. In a world where God is identified with power, and some see Christ as coming down from heaven to destroy the earth, the Jesus Thomas discovers is known by his wounds. God in Christ suffers and still suffers the pain of crucifixion. God in Christ is still wounded. God identifies with the pain of Jesus, indeed, God feels Jesus’ pain intimately, and God also identifies with our pain. How can the One who embraces our world’s joy and suffering imagine destroying the world? How can the One who felt Jesus’ pain on the Cross, and every child’s cry – the cry of starving child, the hopelessness of a parent whose child is gunned down on a city street, the refugee family – have any desire to inflict more suffering on the earth and its peoples? God is in the concentration camp in El Salvador, the anxious undocumented worker and legal resident of the US, the worried senior concerned about social security, the unemployed government worker, and the starving child in South Sudan.

If anything, the church needs to be more critical regarding theological and ethical issues. Uncritical thinking – along with intellectual and ethical dishonesty – has led to a significant number of Christians embracing conspiracy theories, anti-science rhetoric, immigrant hate, racism, and dishonesty routinely served from the highest levels of government.

God loves doubters, agnostics, and strugglers as well as those who perceive themselves as certain of their faith. All are invited as equals to God’s Table of Love.

Easter is embodied. It is known by God’s breathing in us. It is known by embracing the pain of our world. In God’s love for the world, God enables us to have the stature to become God’s partners in healing the world, practicing resurrection with each new day. Breathing deeply, we can face our doubts, knowing that we are never outside the scope of inspiration. We can embrace the truth – whether in terms of the environment, our nation’s history, or political prevarication – knowing that love is stronger than death, and God’s new life has the final word for persons and nations.
+++

+++

Bruce Epperly is Theologian in Residence at Westmoreland Congregational United Church of Christ, Bethesda, MD (https://www.westmorelanducc.org/) and a professor in theology and spirituality at Wesley Theological Seminary. He is the author of over 80 books including: “Homegrown Mystics: Restoring the Soul of Our Nation through the Healing Wisdom of America’s Mystics” (Amazon.com: Homegrown Mystics: Restoring Our Nation with the Healing Wisdom of America’s Visionaries: 9781625249142: Epperly, Bruce: Books) “Jesus: Mystic, Healer, and Prophet “(Jesus: Mystic, Healer, and Prophet: Epperly, Bruce: 9781625248732: Amazon.com: Books), Saving Progressive Christianity to Save the Planet”( Saving Progressive Christianity to Save the Planet: Epperly, Bruce G: 9781631999215: Amazon.com: Books), and his most recent book, “God of the Growing Edge: Whitehead and Thurman on Theology, Spiritu

Previous Post

April 20, 2025

Embracing Resurrection without Supernaturalism

Next Post

April 27, 2025 Mysticism that Moves the World - May 4 Lectionary Commentary

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"https://www.antalyaescortsi... siz siz olun gelin"

antalyaescortsizin.com

Caesar or Jesus: A Palm Sunday ..."

"https://www.antalyaescortsi... harikalar diyarı"

antalyaescortsizin.com

Palm Sunday’s Tragic Beauty – March ..."

"Power of love is far more beautiful and effective than the love of power. "The ..."

Dr.Cajetan Coelho

Palm Sunday’s Tragic Beauty – March ..."

"Ash Wednesday, 2026The 40 Days and Three Tests of Jesus in the DesertThe joy these ..."

Joris Heise

The First Sunday in Lent – ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Book Reviews The Adventurous Lectionary Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 December 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz