No one is too late.

Easter 2 - Acts 5:27-32, Revelation 1:4-8, John 20:19-31

In this Sunday’s gospel story, after the anguish and failures of Good Friday, the disciples are doing what Jesus told them to do: caring for one another, praying and eating together. And they are afraid. The doors are closed and locked.

Evidently, Thomas missed dinner one night. Even after the disciples told him the unlikely story about who had shown up, he didn’t go away. He was, after all, one of them — a believer — and they were staying close. The next time the Risen One appeared, Thomas was there and found what he needed.

But then we hear: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet… believe.”

Wait. Was there a cut-off date on visits from the Risen One? Are the rest of us too late? Are we expected to believe based on what happened to someone else? Two thousand years ago? That doesn’t seem right.¹

As it turns out, there was no cut-off date. Lots of people since then have had an experience of the Risen One. I count myself among them even though I have no idea what Jesus of Nazareth looked like.

Maybe some people, like Thomas, recognize the Risen One right away. Other people, like me, don’t figure it out until later. Figuring it out later doesn’t make it less real. The test is whether your encounter turned despair into hope, guilt into forgiveness, death into life.

In our world and in our time, there are good reasons for all of us to keep our doors closed and locked. There is a lot to fear out there. But we are not left to contend with it all alone.

We have one another, so it’s important to stay close to our communities.²

And the Resurrection was not “one and done.” There was no cut-off date and no one is too late. The Risen One keeps showing up and assures us that the powers which we fear did not then, and will not now — or ever — have the last word.

Peace.

---

Photo by Flavie Martin on Unsplash

1. Or as Brenda Leigh said to Sgt. Gabriel in the pilot episode of The Closer: “I do not form my relationships with people based on how they’re treating you. That would be your mother, maybe.”

2. The Risen One almost always appears in community — “when two or three are gathered together in his name.” That may be why the disciples are assured that they have the amazing (godly) power to forgive. Community is about relationships. Without forgiveness, relationships don’t stand a chance.