He Is Everywhere

Homily for the Second Sunday of Easter, Year C
Acts 5.12-16 Psalm 118 Revelation 1.9-11a, 12-13, 17-19 John 20.19-31

It was found on the east side of the Temple in Jerusalem. Solomon’s portico formed the gateway from the hustle and bustle of the city into the Temple area itself. It was an area of the Temple where both Jews and gentiles could gather – and they did gather there every day to buy and sell, to catch up on the latest news of the town, to meet friends from other parts of the city. And so it was there, at Solomon’s Portico, that the apostles also gathered, where they would have a captive audience from both the Jewish community and the Roman empire. It was there that they cured the sick, there that they preached the gospel, and it was there that they baptized new followers of Christ. There, at Solomon’s portico on the east side of the Temple.

Not too far away in Jerusalem was the room where the disciples had gathered on the evening of the first day of the week, after the death of their master, when they had discovered that his tomb was empty. In that locked room, a room of fear and questions, the Risen Lord had appeared and breathed the Holy Spirit onto them. In that room in Jerusalem, the Church had its beginning, and the disciples left fear behind as they began to spread the good news of the Resurrection.

Many years later, one of those disciples, a man named John, was sent to a small, rocky island at the far eastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea, an island called Patmos. It was a beautiful place, but a quiet place. At the time, the only people who lived on Patmos were there because they had been exiled for crimes against the Roman Empire. John had been sent there by the Emperor hoping that he would stop preaching about the man named Jesus. But in a small cave on a rocky hill on Patmos, John received a revelation. And he wrote down everything he heard.

From a locked room where peace cast out fear … to the gate of the Temple where Jews and gentiles gathered … to a cave on an island of exiles … the presence of the Risen Christ extended to every place in need of healing, in need of hope, in need of salvation. No place was too remote or too hidden, no place was too crowded or too noisy. Wherever was found a child of God, there too could be found the presence of the Savior, offering the gifts of peace, love, and guidance. So it was in those days, and so it is today. From the waiting room of an intensive care unit at a hospital in Louisville … to the lonely prison cell on death row. From a coal mine in West Virginia … to the site of a plane crash in western Russia. From the tables at a neighborhood coffee shop … to the pews of this church. From the dining room table set for one or twelve … to the car or bus ride to work, to school, to a job interview, to the unemployment office. The location doesn’t matter. When we need him most, the Risen Christ will be with us wherever we are. That is the promise of Easter; that is the promise of the Resurrection. So take comfort and rejoice – he is not among the dead, he is alive; he is not at rest in a tomb, he is here among us. Do not be afraid – look around and know the peace that God is ready to give you, wherever you are.

The Island of Patmos