Is the mercy of God at work in you?
When, in John’s Gospel, Jesus appears to the disciples on the evening of the Resurrection, they are locked in, and fear dominates their every move. That fear will continue to dominate their existence until the following week when Thomas is also present and Jesus appears yet again to address the disciples’ doubts. Jesus is there to liberate them from their fear, offering them peace and breathing the Holy Spirit upon them, the life-breath of their existence as community. Jesus’ divine mercy helps the disciples to move from fear to hope; the very fact that we can find our identity in his breath, in his dying and rising, is God’s mercy at work.
Community is also a revelation of God’s mercy at work; the early Christian community in Acts devote themselves to the communal life, breaking bread together, gathering together at the temple, sharing their lives in every way. Christ is still at work in them – his promise of eternal life gives them something to hope in and helps to bond the community together. It is as Psalm 118 promises: His mercy endures forever – a celebration of community delivered from peril thanks to God’s mercy.
We have entered into life in Christ through baptism, a new birth to a living hope, as 1 Peter refers to it, but we have not yet fully entered into resurrection, for our ultimate hope is not yet fulfilled. But God’s mercy is being played out constantly, and that mercy will lead to our resurrection, to our ultimate joy at union with God: Although you have not seen him, you love him; even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribably and glorious joy, Peter writes. When we are aware of the mercy of God active in our lives, then joy can fill us, push us out of ourselves, connect us in community with one another, that we might know fully the experience of being sustained in faith and in the hope that is the death and rising of Jesus Christ.
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
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