Pascha II

The Second Sunday of Easter

_{Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 118; I John5:1-6; John 20:19-31}

Are you caught up in Eclipse Mania? Do you have your solar glasses to protect your eyes? Are you gathering with friends or coworkers?

Some of you I expect are rolling your eyes wondering, what is all the fuss about. All an eclipse is, well, one object coming between us and another object and blocking our view. It’s no different than when we play Peekaboo with a baby. Our hands hide our faces from view. An eclipse is Peekaboo on a vast scale. While such a game can cause great dismay for the baby and then, surprise, we reappear with a smile and laughter. Eclipses caused great fear for our ancestors throughout the millennia who understood such celestial signs as from the gods often heralding great changes and catastrophes.

The Gospel of Mark records that Jesus hung on the cross from mid-morning to mid-afternoon but at midday a darkness came over the whole land. Matthew and Luke concur with Mark except that Luke reveals why darkness fell over the whole land – “because of an eclipse of the sun”.

Now, even if you’re not convinced of the hype, there is reason to get excited. The solar eclipse offers us an opportunity we rarely have these days – an experience of awe and wonder, an experience of a communal act, as people will be gathering as one to engage in a single event.

Wonder is one of the great gifts of the Spirit that children and nature offer us. This experience and feeling of something so vast and greater than ourselves. A feeling that reduces our self-importance and self-focus teaching us humility. Humility before the great act of on-going creation begun by our God with “Let there be light!”  A Big Bang that continues to expand outward to this day. An act of life in which we play only a small part in this vast universe. Our ego causes us to stumble in the spiritual life. It is an obstacle. Wonder and awe diminish that power of our ego. Awe and wonder free our spirit. Thus, people have always sought out transcendent experiences.

Thomas is a good example of this spiritual journey. We see him move from, “I will never believe unless I see, observe, probe, test, and convince myself” to an act of faith, “My Lord and my God”.

What happened in between?

What happened is that the risen Jesus offers Thomas exactly what he requested: “Take you finger and examine my hands. Put your hand into my side. Do not persist in your unbelief, but believe!” What the gospel does not record is that Thomas did any of this.

When you have a transcendent experience, a spiritual encounter, proofs are no longer necessary. In fact, in the spiritual life proofs will never suffice. Thomas is humbled that Jesus meets him were he spiritually is in life – a place of doubt, questions, self-importance, I expect some shame and embarrassment for being absent the previous week. Where was Thomas anyway?

This experience of humility destroys Thomas’ ego, his self-assured arrogance, his self-importance. Thomas experienced someone greater than he experienced himself. Jesus who embraced him as the universe and the arms of our galaxy embrace our small planet that dances with a moon and a star resulting at times in wonder.

This shrinking of the ego may also help us to see other people in a new light. When we have a diminished focus on ourselves, the line between others and us can blur. We can begin to see others as part of the great web of humanity. This experience of humility, wonder, a shrinking ego, silence in the presence of a vast embrace has implications for our experiences of racism, our lack of care for the planet, the violence between peoples, our hatreds, and our self-importance.

Tomorrow, darkness will cover the whole land at mid-afternoon. There will be an eerie silence. We will experience how small we are in the presence of our galaxy.

As we watch through our solar glasses, let us recall Psalm 46: “Be still, be quiet, and know that I am God”.

_{Ideas, quotes and phrases taken from: How the solar eclipse may affect the brain and bring people together by David Robson [BBC]}