SUNDAY, EASTER SUNDAY
Acts 2: 42-47 Ps 118: 2-4, 13-15, 22-24 1 Pt 1: 3-9 Jn 20: 19-31
ENCOUNTERING THE GOD OF MERCY
After Jesus’ resurrection, the early Christians began to break away from the dominant religious mindset of their time. Their religious culture sincerely sought to honour God, but emphasized external observance over interior transformation. Jewish religious life placed great importance on strict fidelity to the Mosaic Law, and literal compliance with commandments and ritual prescriptions. Faithfulness was frequently evaluated by visible behaviour and measurable acts of obedience. In this framework, God was often perceived through the lens of reward and punishment, seen at times as a divine judge who blessed the obedient and corrected or punished those who failed.
Obedience was expected to bring tangible blessings: long life, good health, material prosperity, fertility, and social honour. Conversely, suffering, illness, poverty, exclusion, infertility, or even natural disasters were commonly interpreted as signs of divine displeasure or punishment for sin. Fear of God’s wrath and anxiety about personal failure shaped religious motivation. Such an outlook tended to centre faith on self-interest, survival, and security rather than on a free, loving, and trusting relationship with God. Religion risked becoming a spiritual transaction rather than a covenant of grace.
The encounter of the risen Lord shattered these narrow categories through which God had been understood and manifested true divine love. Through Jesus Christ, God revealed himself not as a distant lawgiver or strict accountant of human deeds, but as a loving Father whose goodness precedes all human effort. The risen Jesus made it unmistakably clear that God’s love is not earned, negotiated, or deserved; it is freely given. The repentant sinner who chooses to follow Jesus is restored because of humble surrender and trusting faith. Salvation, therefore, is not experienced as a reward for achievement but as a gift flowing entirely from God’s initiative. This divine initiative reaches its fullest and most decisive expression in the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus. On the Cross, God does not distance himself from human suffering; instead, he enters it completely. What once appeared to be a sign of divine rejection becomes the ultimate revelation of divine closeness.
Yet this truth did not dawn easily on the apostles and early disciples. The brutal and humiliating death of Jesus deeply confused them. That God’s chosen one could be rejected, tortured, and crucified by his own people shattered their expectations. Fear overtook them that they too might suffer the same fate. They locked themselves behind closed doors, tempted to abandon the way of Jesus and return to the safety of their former lives. It is precisely into this fear-filled situation that the risen Jesus enters. He does not wait for courage or understanding from his disciples. He comes uninvited into their closed rooms and, more importantly, into their closed and frozen hearts. His first word to them is “Peace.” This peace (shalom) signifies wholeness, well-being, harmony, and restored relationship with God. By his presence, Jesus heals their fear, forgives their failures, and restores their broken trust. The disciples are not reprimanded; they are re-created.
This encounter changes them: those who were once frightened now become fearless witnesses. They are so transformed by the living presence of Jesus that they are willing even to die for him. They proclaim boldly that the crucified one is truly alive and active, that he is God’s real and abiding presence among humanity. Through the Paschal Mystery, God reveals his deepest identity as ‘Mercy’ itself. In Jesus, the true name of God is unveiled as forgiving, healing, and life-giving love. The Spirit of Jesus continues this work in the hearts of believers. The Spirit purifies us, awakens true repentance, and enables us to entrust our lives completely to God. Such faith gives birth to a new mindset which no longer revolves around self-preservation, fear, or personal gain, but around God’s loving will. Gradually, this faith loosens our attachment to wealth, possessions, fame, power, domination, unhealthy ambition, and anxious self-concern. We are freed from every form of slavery that diminishes our humanity.
A believer shaped by this faith becomes, like Jesus, a universal brother or sister to all. Trusting fully in God’s providence, such a person embraces a life of generosity, acceptance, and compassion. This is a life committed to sharing, promoting, and defending the dignity of every human being especially the poor, the forgotten, the least, and the last in society. Mercy received becomes mercy shared.
Response: Give praise to the Lord, for he is good;
his mercy endures forever.
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