Submitted by Fr. Peter Ullrich, St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, Tarkio

In the Gospel today in our cycle of readings we heard John 20:19-31. There are two parts to the selection. Part one has Jesus “On the evening of that first day of the week” come to the place where the apostles are locked away in fear and hiding. His greeting: “Peace be with You.” And he says it again – “Peace be with you.” This time he adds: “as the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Then a key point in the Gospel – John tells us “He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven…’ This seemingly simple encounter isn’t simple at all. What happens? The apostles are hiding in fear. A natural response to all that had happened. Then as so often happens in Jesus public ministry, he calmed their fears, this time with the words “Peace be with you.” And again the same greeting. Then something of great importance – “as the Father sent me, so I send you.” He breathed on them imparted his Spirit. “Receive the Holy Spirit.” “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven.” In that brief encounter Jesus revealed and in a way completed his whole purpose in coming to earth as Redeemer and Lord. He came so that sins might be forgiven. This takes us back to the announcement of his approaching birth as the angel instructed Joseph – “you shall name him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.” There we have it – Jesus came for the forgiveness of sins.

Part two is the Doubting Thomas part. Thomas has to see for himself before he’ll believe what everyone is telling him. And he gets his chance the next time Jesus appears in their midst. He touches Jesus and his wounds. He declares “my Lord and my God.” Then as Jesus responds to the moment he points out that many, many people had not seen and yet still believe. Blessed are those, he says. That number includes us. We have not seen Jesus in the way his apostles and companions saw him. They lived with him, ate and drank with him, journeyed with him, heard his teaching, experienced his many healings. We, on the other hand, some 2,000 years later don’t see Jesus that way. We see Jesus through the Church, the Body of Christ. We experience Jesus in a multitude of ways. In the poor, as he once told us. In the assembly of believers. In the sacraments of the Church. People encounter Jesus in their prayer, when moved to do acts of charity and resist the temptation to be unkind.

Have we encountered Jesus lately? Of course we have. Ours is only to open our eyes and ears, the eyes and ears of our hearts to see Him in many different people and situations. Blessed are all who see Him – in all these different ways – who see Him and maybe not recognize him. He comes to set us free.