THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH AND THE MYSTICAL PEACE OF THE RISEN LORD

The Apostle Thomas Witnesses the Wounds of the Glorified and Risen Christ

By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West)

A SERMON FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EASTER: QUASIMODO SUNDAY 

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to St. Alopen’s Church on this first Sunday after Holy Pascha! Today, we gather in the radiant afterglow of the Resurrection, when the triumph of Christ over death shines upon the Church with everlasting light. This Sunday has long been called Quasimodo Sunday, named for the apostolic call in the Epistle, that as "newborn babes" we might "desire the sincere milk of the Word." In our English Patrimony it is called “Low Sunday,” partly because of how exhausted we feel after Holy Week. It is a day when we are invited to enter more deeply into the mystery of Easter, to receive the mystical peace of the risen Lord, and to walk by the victory of faith that overcometh the world. May our hearts be lifted by the breath of the Holy Ghost, as we behold the wounds of Christ made glorious, like the doubting Apostles Thomas, and may we go forth transformed, carrying the light of His Resurrection into the world.

SCRIPTURE 

Exodus 8:20-24

And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be. And the Lord did so; and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants' houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies.

Romans 1:16-25

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

1 John 5:4-12

Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

The Gospel of St. John 20:19-23

Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

SERMON

I will say these things to you all now in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Beloved in Christ, Arise, ye newborn children of the Resurrection, and lift your hearts to the radiant dawn of Easter’s eternal light! As "newborn babes," we are summoned by St. Peter to "desire the sincere milk of the Word" (1 Peter 2:2), that celestial nectar flowing from the heart of the risen Christ. Our lips, trembling with the ecstasy of Paschal joy, cry Alleluia, for we have passed through the dark waters of death and emerged, glistening with the dew of new life. St. John’s voice resounds like a trumpet in the heavens: "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (1 John 5:4). Today, the Gospel unveils the risen Lord, not merely appearing but transfusing His divine peace, breathing the Holy Ghost upon His Apostles, and kindling the flame of eternity within their souls. This is no earthly peace, but the mystical Shalom—the Sabbath-rest of God, a harmony that sings of the cosmos restored.

The Mystical Peace of the Resurrection

Imagine the scene: the disciples, huddled in fear, their hearts quaking behind locked doors. Suddenly, the air shimmers, and Jesus, the Risen One, stands in their midst, His glorified body radiant with the wounds of love. "Peace be unto you," He declares (John 20:19), and the words cascade like a river of light, dispelling the shadows of despair. This is not the fleeting truce of a fallen world, but the eternal reconciliation forged in the crucible of the Cross and unveiled in the Resurrection. "He shewed unto them his hands and his side" (John 20:20)—those sacred wounds, now luminous in His glorified flesh, are the eternal seals of our redemption, testifying that peace was won through the alchemy of suffering, transforming the baser human clay into the gold of the spirit. 

St. Gregory of Nazianzus, with poetic awe, proclaims, "He is called the Lamb because He was sacrificed for us, and the Shepherd because He leads us; a sheep because He was led to the slaughter, and a lion because He rose victorious" (Orations). In those wounds, we glimpse the paradox of divine love: the Lamb slain is the Lion triumphant, and His scars are the portals through which we enter the divine embrace. This peace is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, where the soul, enraptured, rests in the bosom of the Trinity.

Faith: The Celestial Fire of the Spirit

When Christ breathes upon His Apostles, saying, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost" (John 20:22), the moment echoes the primal act of creation: "God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Genesis 2:7). Here is the genesis of the new creation, where "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature" (2 Corinthians 5:17). St. Ephrem the Syrian, his voice trembling with wonder, sings, "The Breath that hovered over the waters now hovers over the Church; and with the Spirit’s descent, the dry bones of Adam’s race live again" (Hymns on the Nativity). This is no mere wind, but the divine Pneuma, the fiery Spirit that kindles the soul into a living flame of love.

Yet, as St. Paul warns, the world remains shrouded in darkness, "holding the truth in unrighteousness" and worshipping the creature above the Creator (Romans 1:18, 25). St. Ephrem laments, "Men, gifted with reason, stooped lower than beasts without reason. The soul which was fashioned to bear the image of God became a habitation of serpents" (Commentary on Romans). This is the tragedy of the fall: humanity, destined to mirror the divine, trades eternity for idols of dust.

Faith, then, is no passive assent but a celestial combat, a victory that "overcometh the world" (1 John 5:4). It is the soul’s ascent, winged by grace, soaring above the delusions of vanity and false wisdom. Bishop Lancelot Andrewes, with sober clarity, reminds us, "Faith is the root of all graces, and the evidence of things not seen; yet it must be proved by works, or else it is dead" (Sermons). This faith is a mystical union with Christ, a dance of the soul with the divine, where every step is a triumph over the shadows.

The Sacred Witnesses: Water, Blood, and Spirit

St. John testifies that Christ came "by water and blood" (1 John 5:6)—the waters of His Baptism, where the heavens opened, and the blood of His Passion, where the veil was torn. The Spirit, too, bears witness, for "the Spirit is truth." In the holy sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist, these witnesses abide in the Church, radiant channels of divine life. St. Isaac the Syrian, his heart ablaze, writes, "By the mysteries of the Church, we touch the burning coals from the altar of heaven; through faith, the flame doth not consume us, but purifies" (Ascetical Homilies). In these sacred rites, we are caught up into the divine liturgy of heaven, united to Christ, our Paschal Lamb and eternal High Priest.

The Scottish Nonjuror Bishop Alexander Jolly, with reverent awe, declares, "The sacraments are not bare signs, but effectual means of grace, wherein by the power of the Spirit, we are made partakers of the death and resurrection of Christ" (The Christian Sacrifice). Through water, we are reborn; through blood, we are redeemed; through the Spirit, we are transfigured into bearers of divine light. This is the mystical alchemy of grace, where mortal flesh is woven into the eternal tapestry of God’s glory.

The Cosmic Division: Light from Darkness

In the Old Testament lesson, the Lord severs the land of Goshen from Egypt, shielding His people from the plagues (Exodus 8:22). So too, through the waters of Baptism and the outpouring of the Spirit, God sets apart His Church as a luminous beacon amidst the world’s darkness. "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (1 Peter 2:9). The Cappadocian Fathers, especially St. Basil the Great, beheld this as a call to divine transformation: "We are called to be temples of the Holy Ghost, not defiled with the passions of Egypt, but adorned with the virtues of Zion" (On the Holy Spirit).

Beloved, let us cast off the old leaven of malice and wickedness, as our Collect implores, and become new leaven, radiating the fragrance of Christ (2 Corinthians 2:15). Like St. George, the martyr whose feast crowns this week, let us wield the sword of faith, slaying the dragons of doubt and despair. Like St. Mark, the Evangelist, let us proclaim the Gospel with unwavering fidelity, our hearts anchored in the "faith once delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3). As Bishop John Skinner of Aberdeen, a Scottish Nonjuror, wrote, "We live in a world that would shape our faith to its fancies; but we must rather shape our lives to the faith once delivered" (Theological Works).

The Eucharistic Call to Mission

The risen Christ, standing in the upper room, declares, "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you" (John 20:21). This is no mere commission but a divine mandate, a summons to bear the light of resurrection into the world. Richard Hooker, the Caroline Divine, meditates, "The breath of Christ upon His disciples was the earnest of that unction from above whereby they, and after them the Church for all ages, are made partakers of the divine life" (Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity). Empowered by the Spirit, we are sent forth as apostles of peace, ambassadors of forgiveness, and heralds of the new creation.

This mission is both mystical and practical. It calls us to the Eucharistic table, where we partake of the Lamb’s body and blood, and to the streets, where we embody His love. St. Cyril of Jerusalem exhorts, "Ye are called Christians after Christ; and are made worthy of the name by regeneration... Therefore bear ye that name worthily, and love Him who made you worthy of so great a title" (Catechetical Lectures, I). Let us go forth, our hearts ablaze, to overcome the world with the victory of faith.

A Poetic Vision

The priest-poet Fr. George Herbert captures this mystical ascent in his works Easter Wings and Easter:

O let me rise, 

As larks, harmoniously, 

And sing this day thy victories: 

Then shall the fall further the flight in me. 

Rise heart; thy Lord is risen. Sing His praise 

Without delays, 

Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise 

With Him mayst rise. 

Fr. Herbert’s words sing of the soul’s resurrection, where our fallenness, surrendered to Christ, becomes the very wings of our ascent. The deeper our wounds, the more radiant our rising in Him who triumphed over the tomb. In this Paschal mystery, we are not merely healed but transfigured, our hearts soaring like larks into the eternal day.

Final Word

Beloved, the risen Christ calls us to a life radiant with divine possibility. With newborn hearts, nourished by Word and Sacrament, let us ascend to the Table of the Lord, where heaven kisses earth. From there, let us go forth, bearing His peace, His breath, His forgiveness, and His life, until the world is ablaze with the glory of the Resurrection. To Him, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all honor and praise, now and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

COLLECT

Let us pray…

O Almighty and Everlasting God, who by the glorious Resurrection of thy Son Jesus Christ hast opened unto us the gates of eternal life: breathe upon us, we beseech thee, the fiery Spirit of thy love, that we, drinking deeply of the sincere milk of thy Word, may rise with wings of faith to overcome the world. Grant us to abide in the mystical peace of thy risen Son, bearing His wounds as our glory, His breath as our life, and His mission as our joy; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.