The evening of Easter Day

After Jesus was crucified on Good Friday, the disciples went into hiding because they were afraid that the Jewish rulers would do the same to them if they could lay their hands on them.

The disciples see Jesus again

The evening of Easter Day found them gathered together in the Upper Room in Jerusalem with the door securely bolted.  While they were talking together Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you” (NRSV, John 20:19).  At first they were terrified and thought that he was a ghost.  Then, to convince them that he was no ghost, he showed them his hands and feet and side.  “…a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have”, he said (NRSV, Luke 24:39).  The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the marks made by the nails and the soldier’s spear because they knew it was Jesus.  But although they could see Jesus standing there with them, they still found this wonderful fact difficult to believe.  Jesus knew it was difficult for them to grasp so he helped them by asking if they had anything to eat.  And they gave him a piece of cooked fish which he ate there and then as they watched him (Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19,20).

Apostolic Commission

When they had got over the shock of seeing him, Jesus spoke to them again.  He had come into this world and had died on the Cross in order that we might have the opportunity of being forgiven, and so now that he was risen from the dead he lost no time in giving the Apostles the power to forgive sins in his name.  First he gave them his own authority to act on his behalf, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you”.  This is what is called their Apostolic Commission.  Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (NRSV, John 20:21-23). 

After Jesus had spent the evening talking with his Apostles, he disappeared from their sight.

The Sunday after Easter Day (Low Sunday)

Thomas

On that Easter Sunday evening one of the disciples, named Thomas, was not there when Jesus came.  On his return the rest of the disciples all cried together, “We have seen the Lord”.  Poor Thomas couldn’t believe it.  The whole thing seemed impossible.  So all he said was, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe” (NRSV, John 25). 

A week later, when Thomas and the other disciples were together in the same room, with the door shut as before, Jesus suddenly appeared again.  He stood among them and said, “Peace be with you”.  Then he turned to Thomas.  “Put your finger here and see my hands”, he said.  “Reach out your hand and put it in my side.  Do not doubt but believe”.  That was enough for Thomas.  Looking at Jesus he just said, what all the disciples now knew to be the truth, “My Lord and my God!” (NRSV, John 20:26-28).

The Lake of Galilee

By now the Passover feast, which the disciples had come up to Jerusalem to attend, was all over and they thought they had better go back to their homes in Galilee before their families began to worry about what had become of them.

The huge catch of fish

One evening after they had returned, Simon Peter and six other disciples decided to go out fishing on the Lake of Galilee.  As the sun began to set they rowed their boat out from the shore, but although they fished the whole night long they caught nothing at all.  As the dawn broke in the east they saw someone standing on the beach.  He called out to them “…you have no fish, have you?”  They answered “No” (NRSV, John 21:5).  The stranger told them to cast the net on the right side of the boat, and when they did they found their net was so full of fish they couldn’t haul it in.  It was John who then realised who the stranger was.  “It is the Lord!” he said.  As soon as Peter heard that it was Jesus, he jumped out of the boat into the water and swam to the shore, while the others rowed the boat in pulling the net behind it. 

Breakfast together

When they reached the shore they saw breakfast preparations – a charcoal fire with fish being cooked on it.  There was bread too.  “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught”, said Jesus (NRSV, John 21:10).  Peter hauled the net ashore and they counted the catch.  We happen to know the exact number of fish they caught – 153 and all big ones.  So there by the lakeside Jesus and his disciples enjoyed breakfast together (John 21:1-13).

The Feast of Easter

Ever since those days Easter has been kept as the greatest feast of the Church – “the queen of seasons” and the “royal feast of feasts”. (1)  All people who have been confirmed should make their Communion on that day.  If they are too ill or old to come to church they tell their parish priest so that the Blessed Sacrament can be brought to them at home during Easter week.

Besides keeping Easter as a great yearly festival, we also remember Jesus’ Resurrection, or rising from the dead, every week.  For as the Resurrection happened on a Sunday, so Christians keep Sunday week by week as a special day of worship, joy and rest.

SUMMARY

1. On the evening of Easter Day Jesus appeared to the Apostles and gave them, first their Apostolic Commission (his authority to act on his behalf); and then secondly the power to forgive sins in his name.

2. The next Sunday (Low Sunday) Jesus appeared again and Thomas then realised that he was the Lord God.  Jesus appeared at other times too, and once when they were fishing on the Lake of Galilee.

3. We call his rising again from the dead, his ‘Resurrection’ and because it happened on a Sunday, we keep every Sunday as a special day of worship.

Reference

1. John of Damascus (c. 675-749), trans. Neale, J.M. (1818-1866) Come, ye faithful, raise the strain.  Available from:
http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/c/c341.html (Accessed 14 December 2010) (Internet).