Preparation, Proclamation, Perseverance, and Purpose

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for April 7, 2013 (Sunday of Divine Mercy) | Carl E. Olson

Readings:

• Acts 5:12-16

• Ps 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24

• Rev 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19

• Jn 20:19-31

It is fitting that on this second Sunday of Easter, decreed
in 2000 by Pope John Paul II to be Divine Mercy Sunday, that the readings
provide a biblical blueprint of how divine mercy and grace would spread in the
months and years immediately following the Resurrection.

During the Easter season, leading up to the great Feast of
Pentecost, readings from the Acts of the Apostles take the place of Old
Testament readings. In this way the connection between “all that Jesus did and
taught” (Acts 1:1) and all that the apostles did and taught can be clearly seen
and reflected upon. The Evangelist Luke portrayed Jesus as The Prophet who would
do great signs and wonders (the greatest being His death and resurrection) and
in the Acts of the Apostles he depicted the early Christians—especially the
apostles Peter and Paul—as doing “many signs and wonders among the people”
(Acts 5:12).

The blueprint of mercy can be summed up in four words:
preparation, proclamation, perseverance, and purpose.

The preparation began during the ministry of Jesus, as He
spent countless hours, days, and months with His disciples, teaching them by
both word and example. Christ’s Passion and the Resurrection took that
preparation to a place the disciples could barely begin to fathom prior to
those dramatic events. Today’s Gospel reading highlights, in the well-known
story of doubting Thomas, that the process of preparation was not a quick or
easy one. As the disciples hid behind closed doors, they were often filled with
fear and confusion. But the appearance of the Risen Christ in their midst was a
source of peace and joy. And so they received their instructions: “As the
Father has sent me, so I send you.” Then, later, in response to Thomas’s famous
cry—“My Lord and my God!”—Jesus further prepared the disciples for their divine
mission by pointing them toward the many souls in need of the Gospel: “Blessed
are those who have not seen and have believed.”

The proclamation of that Gospel is seen all through Acts,
including in today’s reading. The signs and wonders performed by Christ were soon
being performed by the leaders of His Body, the Church, and that Body grew quickly.
Luke emphasized the “signs and wonders” throughout his Gospel to present Jesus
as the New Moses. Those marks of prophetic activity are mentioned many times in
Acts, notably in Peter’s sermon on Pentecost and his recitation of the prophet Joel
(2:17-22), and in today’s reading, which describes the proclamation of God’s
word by the apostles (cf., 4:29-30), especially the head apostle, Peter.

In addition to Acts, the readings during Easter include
selections from the final book of the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
One reason is to show the perseverance of the early Christians—including the
author, John—in the face of persecution. John the Revelator referred to both
when he wrote of the “endurance we have in Jesus”; he explained that he had
been exiled to the island of Patmos (about 37 miles southwest of modern Turkey)
“because I proclaimed God’s word and gave testimony to Jesus.” While
celebrating the Lord’s Day—likely in the course of the Liturgy—John saw the
risen and victorious Christ standing among the lamp stands, representing the
Church. The Son of Man, “the first and the last,” assures John that the
perseverance of the saints is not in vain, but will be rewarded by eternal
life: “Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever.”

We return to today’s Gospel to find a perfect summation of
the purpose of these many actions of preparation, proclamation, and
perseverance. John explained that much more could have been written about Jesus
in his Gospel, but that “these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life
in his name.” By God’s mercy and grace, may we believe more deeply and
experience more fully the life of the Risen Lord!

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the April 15, 2007, issue of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)