Reading I
Acts 4:32-35

The community of believers was of one heart and mind,
and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own,
but they had everything in common.
With great power the apostles bore witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great favor was accorded them all.
There was no needy person among them,
for those who owned property or houses would sell them,
bring the proceeds of the sale,
and put them at the feet of the apostles,
and they were distributed to each according to need.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24

R. (1) Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let the house of Israel say,
"His mercy endures forever."
Let the house of Aaron say,
"His mercy endures forever."
Let those who fear the LORD say,
"His mercy endures forever."
R. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I was hard pressed and was falling,
but the LORD helped me.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
The joyful shout of victory
in the tents of the just:
R. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
By the LORD has this been done;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us be glad and rejoice in it.
R. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Reading II
1 Jn 5:1-6

Beloved:
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God,
and everyone who loves the Father
loves also the one begotten by him.
In this way we know that we love the children of God
when we love God and obey his commandments.
For the love of God is this,
that we keep his commandments.
And his commandments are not burdensome,
for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world.
And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.
Who indeed is the victor over the world
but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

This is the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ,
not by water alone, but by water and blood.
The Spirit is the one that testifies,
and the Spirit is truth.

Gospel
Jn 20:19-31

On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, "Peace be with you."
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
"Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained."

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord."
But he said to them,
"Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands
and put my finger into the nailmarks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."
Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe."
Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples
that are not written in this book.
But 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.

Commentary:

Today’s first reading offers us a “golden age” impression of the apostolic era, not un related to Hellenistic visions of primal days and political utopias.  However, since the ideal certainly reflects his Gospel’s strong emphasis on Jesus’ commands to renounce possessions (12:33; 14:33; 18:22), Luke (the author of Acts) can hardly be excluding all sense of example for the church of the present. That they had all things in common: The language echoes the Gk proverb about friends (see Plato, Republic 4.424a; 5.449c), which Luke will typically interpret by way of the biblical exclusion of poverty in Israel (v 34a=Deut 15:4).  with great power: That the apostles’ deeds of power marked their “testimony of the resurrection” (cf. 3:12—16) confirms our interpretation of the apostle’s function in terms of the ongoing activity of the risen One.  as any had need: This qualification (2:45) betrays a certain ambivalence over against Jesus’ call for total divestiture.  Luke understands the surrender of goods as voluntary (5:4) and related to need, not mandatory or systematic.

In today’s second reading, faith overcomes the world.  This section links the christological confession Jesus is Son of God (verses 1 & 5) and the love command.  A conventional maxim, loves the parent loves the child, repeats the association between love of God and love of fellow Christians.  the victory that overcomes the world, our faith: The victory over the world was won when Christians were converted.  The word of God or the “anointing” is the source of this victory, a share in the victory won by Jesus.

The affirmation that belief is the source of eternal life is expanded in two directions: First belief must include his coming in water and blood; Second, belief in the Son is grounded in God’s own testimony.  not with water only but with water and blood: In John 1:31-32, the Baptist testified that revelation of Jesus as preexistent Son was linked to the descent of the Spirit and to baptism. (1 John 5:7 refers to the testimony given by the Spirit.) Jesus’ sending is associated with the boundless gift of the Spirit (John 3:34; 7:38—39.). The dissidents might have associated salvation and the coming of the Spirit with water (baptism) and not with blood (crucifixion). John 19:35 may have been added to the Gospel to emphasize that this conviction about the death of Jesus goes back to the beloved disciple.

In today’s Gospel, the Lord appears to his disciples.  The evangelist has taken a traditional account of Jesus’ appearance to the disciples in Jerusalem to show that the promises of Jesus’ return were being fulfilled in the “hour” of his exaltation/glorification.  That the disciples were in fear of the Jews helps to introduce the story.  Jesus’ sudden appearance in the midst of the disciples gathered in the room and the greeting “Peace” are both derived from the tradition.  Demonstration that the risen One is the crucified One was also part of this tradition.  Within the context of the Johannine narrative, this demonstration also answers the question, “Where have they put him?” “They” in this instance may very well mean the Jews.  However, “they” have not put the body of Jesus anywhere. It is taken into the heavenly glory of the exalted Jesus. The disciples’ joy fulfills the promises of renewed joy (14:19; 16:16—24).

The greeting: Peace is also a promised gift (14:27). Commissioning of the disciples appears in other stories of Jesus’ resurrection appearances (e.g., Luke 24:47-48; Matt 28:19-20a). Here it takes the Johannine form of “sending” the disciples who now represent Jesus to the world (e.g., John 13:16,20; 17:18).  Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins. . . : This instruction appears to be derived from the evangelist’s source, since the words are not used in the Gospel. There the Spirit is one expression of divine indwelling (14:17) and flows from the exalted Jesus as a source of eternal life. The disciples are to be “witnesses,” they’re preaching forgiveness, and the Spirit, which is to be received on Pentecost.  There is evidence that the Johannine tradition did speak of forgiveness of sins (e.g., 1 John 1:9; 2:19), but the Gospel speaks only of the “sin” of disbelief (8:24; 9:41). The double formula parallels the saying on binding and loosing in Matt 18:18; 16:19. Since John uses only the general expression “disciples,” the commissioning in these verses may be intended to apply to the believing community as a whole, not to some specific group within that community such as “the Twelve.” This “power” of forgiveness is probably expressed in the bestowing of the Spirit on those who believe as a result of the disciples’ “mission” and who join the community rather than in a process of dealing with Christians who have committed sin (as in Matt 18:19).

While Luke 24:41—43 lengthened the demonstration of Jesus’ physical identity with the crucified in response to disbelief, John creates a separate story of Jesus’ appearance to Thomas.  Thomas’s confession is the culmination of the Gospel’s christology, since it acknowledges the crucified/exalted Jesus as “Lord and God” (cf. other acclamations in the Gospel, 1:49; 4:42; 6:69; 9:37—38; 11:27; 16:30). Thomas is reprimanded for demanding such a sign before he will believe (v 25; cf. 4:48). He should believe on the basis of the word which has been spoken to him by others (e.g., 17:20).  The concluding blessing “blessed are. . “. insists that all those Christians who have believed without seeing have a faith which is in no way different from that of the first disciples. Their faith is grounded in the presence of the Lord through the Spirit.

In the conclusion of the Gospel we find the Purpose of the Gospel itself.  These verses are similar to the conclusions in John 21:24-25 and 1 John 5:13. They appear to have stood as the conclusion to the Gospel before the edition which appended chap. 21.  many other signs: This verse characterizes the content of the work as “signs,” which has led some to suggest that it was originally the conclusion to the collection of miracles used by the evangelist. In that context Jesus’ resurrection would have been understood as the final “sign” of his relationship with the Father, though the evangelist seems to limit the “signs” to the miracles which structure Jesus’ testimony before the world in the first part of the Gospel (e.g., 12:37). Verse 31 then summarizes the purpose of the Gospel as having faith in Jesus as Messiah and Son of God as the source of eternal life.

Reflection:

What is the purpose of all this we've gone through from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday?  Simply put, we are to be transformed into a new life.  We must share in the life of Christ.  The early Christian Communities understood this.  They were aware that they had to make some life altering decisions and that they were all somehow connected through the risen Christ.  There is no doubt that what we read in the Acts of the Apostles is somewhat of an utopia - it's what should have been.  It might have well been just as Luke describes it, but it probably fell short due to human weakness.  Regardless, the first communities stand as a model of faith for all of us to follow.

These first "followers of the way" as they were called, realized early on that they were members of the risen Christ and that they were therefore all "one" in Christ.  That is why they tried so hard to think as one, to act as one, in essence to live as one.  One body in in Jesus Christ.  They found it much easier than we do in sharing possessions, because they understood that things could not buy what they longed for - to live in Jesus Kingdom.  After the resurrection, they finally understood that the price of entry into the Kingdom was to give all they had even their very lives, just as Jesus did for us.

We are all called to live out the remaining days of our lives - however many or few they may be - as people who see our fellow man through the eyes of Jesus.  We must live our lives as an expression of love just as Jesus still does.  We must walk with the heart of Jesus inside so that we may see each other as a being that has such great value to God that his death on a cross is the price he's willing to pay.  If we can see each other through these eyes, the eyes of Jesus, we too could one day live in such a community as the one described in today's reading.  If we have learned anything at all during this time of death and resurrection it must be to replace our hearts of stone with the one true heart of love which is Jesus Christ.

Biblical Sources:

New American Bible; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Hengel, M., "Acts and the History of Earliest Christianity"; Maddox, R., "The Purpose of Luke-Acts: Studies of the New Testament and its World"; Marshall, I. H., "The Acts of the Apostles"; Cooper, E. J., "The Consciousness of Sin in 1 John"; Grayston, K., "The Johannine Epistles"; Barrett, C. K., “The Gospel According to John”; Brown, R. E., “The Community of the Beloved Disciple”; Schnackenburg, R., “The Gospel According to St. John”; Segovia, F. F., “Love Relationships in the Johannine Tradition”; “The Collegeville Bible Commentary”; Brown, Raymond E., S.S., “Introduction to the New Testament”; Brown, Fitzmyer, and Murphy (ed.) “The New Jerome Biblical Commentary”.

Reflection:

Deacon Lazaro J. Ulloa