+ Our first reading today speaks of the fulfillment of the great promise, the promise of a certain
and sure salvation that was made to
Abraham and his descendants. And so when Paul comes to Antioch he addresses
descendants of Abraham, and others and tells them that without a doubt that the Jesus who was put to death, when Pilate washed
his hands of him, and who rose from the dead three days later was indeed the
one foretold, and prophesied about; the redeemer and savior of the world.
Great rejoicing occurred among
those people when they heard this message; great rejoicing should occur among
us today as we hear of the dynamic of
“God always fulfills his promises”!
And so we had and still have
Jesus in our world as redeemer, but also the
way, the truth and the life: for the promise had to do with forgiveness of
sin, the imparting of sure and certain truth, and the path which leads to
eternal blessedness in a kingdom that is fulfilled beyond, but which exists
already in seed form here and now, in this time, in this place – where there is
joy!
In the gospel passage then
Jesus tells us to calm ourselves and our hearts, because faith is the key,
faith we have in the God-of-Promises, which includes himself, as the Son of
that God! May we like Thomas let our questions regarding all of this be
answered in a supernatural kind of way: the only way for them to make sense: let our faith tells us, all is so, and
all is well!
This indeed may be a
challenging thing for most Americans to do today, as well as for most in most
countries of the world as we deal with the thus far insurmountable damage done
by the coronavirus just being itself. But we can let our faith tell us that all
IS well – and that believing that it has already been taken care of, and all
the infrastructure of world economies will be restored, differently but in the
long run, better than they were – because it is already so. Jesus said to his
frightened and worried apostles – don’t fear anything in the world because I
HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD. He didn’t say I WILL overcome the world, in the
distant future – he said: IT’S DONE! IT’S DEFEATED! and in todays Gospel
passage he tells us so beautifully and reassuringly: DO NOT LET YOUR HEARTS BE
TROUBLED: you have faith in God, most of you, SO HAVE FAITH IN ME TOO – for the
Father and I are one – and you will have what you need to get through anything
according to God’s plan – and all will be well!
Let us then grab onto that
prescription and that wondrous experience that we are called to: SAFE IN THE HANDS
OF GOD, SAFE IN THE ARMS OF GOD, SAFE IN THE HEART OF GOD! Amen.
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