Easter 2 C ~ "Mercy Finds Us" ~ Rev. Benjamin Roberts, D.Min.

Last Sunday, we found an empty tomb.  This Sunday, we find mercy.  Perhaps it is better to say that this Sunday, mercy finds us.

The disciples were not looking for mercy. They were not looking for anything. They were locked in a room, trapped by fear and trapped by guilt. They abandoned their master in the hour of his suffering. They betrayed him. They broke the promises that they had made to him. 

But Jesus Christ keeps his promises. He promised that he would rise from the dead. He promised that he would reconcile the world to the Father. He promised that he would see his disciples again. 

The Risen Christ came through the door that was locked. He broke through their fear and their guilt. He found them and he showed them mercy. After his glorious resurrection, the disciples are the first to become sharers in the mercy of God. On the day that they encountered the mercy of the Risen Jesus, he made his disciples the first to become sharers of the mercy of God. He showed them mercy. By his power, his authority, and his command, they would show and extend his mercy.  The gift of mercy that they had received, they would now reveal.

During the weeks of the Easter season, we will hear the stories of the early Christian community as recounted in the book of Acts. It was a community of one faith, but two cultures. It was a community much like our own. They had their troubles, their trials, their triumphs, and so do we. The unity of that early Christian community was found in their life of prayer together, in their sharing of life together, and in the breaking of the bread. Their unity was in the celebration of the Eucharist and under the leadership of the apostles.  

Every celebration of the Eucharist is a celebration of unity. Every celebration of the Eucharist is a celebration of the mercy of God. The community of disciples reflected the mercy of God. The Risen Lord Jesus, in his great mercy, in the preaching of his apostles and by his sacramental presence, broke through their divisions and difficulties just as he had broken through the fear and guilt of his apostles. The apostles received the mercy of God. The apostles revealed the mercy of God.  The apostolic community received and revealed and reflected the mercy of God.

We are a community drawn together by the mercy of God. For most of us, the mercy of God found us and claimed us when we were children, through the waters of baptism. Saint Peter reminds us that we were given a new birth to a living hope through the mercy of God. We gather each Sunday for the celebration of the Eucharist, hearing the teachings of the apostles and under the leadership of one sent by apostolic authority. We gather as a people who stand in need of the mercy of God. We admit this publicly at the beginning of every Mass.  We admit this privately and powerfully and humbly in the sacrament of reconciliation. We gather as a people who have received the mercy of God.

We become a people who reveal the mercy of God and who by our life together reflect the great mercy of God.  In the joy of the resurrection and the glory of Easter day, with one voice we acclaim that we have been found by mercy.

And now, mercy himself, calls us to his table. Here we will find him. Here he will feed us. And from here, Jesus will send us, to radiate the mercy of God.

Amen.