Two Gospels share the same mission
The two appearances of the risen Jesus both result in sacraments of mercy
March 30, 2008 -- Second Sunday of Easter / Divine Mercy Sunday
By Fr. Mike Stubbs
At the funeral for a 17-year old boy killed in a drive-by shooting, his mother spoke about the need to live in peace and understanding, not violence and death. To do that requires forgiveness. She knew that forgiveness had to start with her, and that was why she forgave the person who murdered her son. Her decision powerfully shows the link between forgiveness and Easter, between the new life we experience through God's mercy and the new life of the resurrection.
Divine Mercy Sunday
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Sunday's Gospel reading describes an appearance by the risen Jesus to the disciples on the first Easter Sunday. During that encounter, he sends them forth on a mission of mercy. First
he tells them, "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." Then he entrusts them with the mission of mercy. "Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." We ordinarily associate this appearance of the risen Jesus with penance.
It is interesting to compare this appearance of the risen Jesus in John's Gospel to a similar appearance of the risen Jesus in Matthew 28:16-20. On one hand, there are some big differences, location to begin with. In John's Gospel, the appearance takes place behind locked doors, in a room in Jerusalem. In contrast, the appearance in Matthew takes place on a hill in Galilee, miles away. Whether there is a difference in timing is uncertain. John's Gospel clearly specifies Easter Sunday evening. Matthew's Gospel situates the appearance some time after Easter Sunday morning.
If there are so many differences between these appearances of the risen Jesus in John and Matthew, why do I suggest that we compare them? Despite the differences, they share important elements. In both accounts, Jesus commissions the disciples: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." (John 20:21) "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations." (Matthew 28:19) He entrusts the disciples with a mission: "Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them." (John 20:23) "Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19) In both cases, the mission involves mercy. In John's Gospel, it is explicit in the wording of the mission. In Matthew's Gospel, the instruction to baptize recalls the words of John the Baptist, who indicated that the purpose of baptism was for repentance from sin. (Matthew 3:11)
The two appearances in John and Matthew result in different sacraments, penance and baptism, but they both are sacraments of mercy. In fact, the Fathers of the Church sometimes called penance "second baptism" because it restores us to the grace of that sacrament.
Both celebrate God's mercy among us.
As a community, we ritualize God's forgiveness through those sacraments, At the same time, we also experience God's mercy in other, less formal ways. When we forgive each other, we live out the words of the "Our Father," "forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." We extend to others the same mercy that we have received from God. In our own way, we carry out the mission entrusted to the disciples on that first Easter evening.
(Fr. Stubbs, a priest of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kan., has a master's degree in theology from Harvard.)
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