Second Sunday of Easter - Sunday of Divine Mercy

First Reading

Reading I

Acts 5:12-16

Many signs and wonders were done among the people
at the hands of the apostles.
They were all together in Solomon’s portico.
None of the others dared to join them, but the people esteemed them.
Yet more than ever, believers in the Lord,
great numbers of men and women, were added to them.
Thus they even carried the sick out into the streets
and laid them on cots and mats
so that when Peter came by,
at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them.
A large number of people from the towns
in the vicinity of Jerusalem also gathered,
bringing the sick and those disturbed by unclean spirits,
and they were all cured.

Second reading

Revelation 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19

I, John, your brother, who share with you
the distress, the kingdom, and the endurance we have in Jesus,
found myself on the island called Patmos
because I proclaimed God’s word and gave testimony to Jesus.
I was caught up in spirit on the Lord’s day
and heard behind me a voice as loud as a trumpet, which said,
“Write on a scroll what you see.”
Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me,
and when I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands
and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man,
wearing an ankle-length robe, with a gold sash around his chest.

When I caught sight of him, I fell down at his feet as though dead.
He touched me with his right hand and said, “Do not be afraid.
I am the first and the last, the one who lives.
Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever.
I hold the keys to death and the netherworld.
Write down, therefore, what you have seen,
and what is happening, and what will happen afterwards.”

Gospel

John 20:19-31

On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.”

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
But he said to them,
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands
and put my finger into the nailmarks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples
that are not written in this book.
But these are written that you may come to believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

Sermon

Dear sisters and brothers in faith!

The other disciples said to him: “We have seen the Lord.” He replied to them: “If I do not see the marks on his hands and do not put my hands in his side, then I cannot believe!” Yes, then he will not come to believe...

Dear congregation, this is probably how the story of unbelieving Thomas would have ended if he - Jesus - had not intervened. If Jesus himself had not taken the initiative eight days later. Then this Thomas - as things stand - would probably never have become a believing Thomas! He would have remained the unbelieving apostle.

Fortunately, Jesus appeared once again. This Thomas was lucky! Jesus was literally touched by him and his questions about death and resurrection. And that was the only way Thomas could believe. This Thomas was really lucky.

What happens to those who simply no longer buy what is told and reported about Jesus Christ, who, like Thomas, say: everything is unproven, and what is not proven I cannot believe? Who can convince the many doubters today?

Ultimately, there is only one convincing answer to this: in order for people to find faith today, Jesus Christ needs us, whether we want to admit it or not! After all, the times of which the Gospel tells us are over. The times when Jesus Christ walked bodily through closed doors and allowed his wounds to be touched are - as sorry as we may be - over once and for all. No one today is likely to find faith in this way. It has become our task to show other people a way to faith, to convince Thomas, who cannot believe today.

We all feel that! But if you are now asking yourself how this is supposed to work in practice, how we can win people for faith in Jesus Christ, then I can only give you one piece of advice: please don't just look at me now! At the moment, I am the worst possible example of how a person who doubts can be helped! Because talking at length and using a lot of words is not a good way to convince someone of something. At best, words and sentences describe something - convincing or even leading to faith is something else!

A plethora of scholars and great thinkers have written thick books on the path to faith. Most of you will not even know their names. But you all know St. Elizabeth, for example, who spent her whole life helping the poor and the sick. Words and sentences describe at best - convincing is something else.

Countless treatises and books have been written about charity - and they usually gather dust on the shelves. But almost every child knows the simple soldier Martin, who cut off his coat because someone was sitting in the snow and had nothing.

And then, of course, there is Pope Francis. He went to the people on the margins of society and stood up for refugees. His first trip took him to the Mediterranean, where he threw a wreath into the sea for the many nameless dead.

People who bring their faith to life, people like Elisabeth, Martin and Pope Francis make us sit up and take notice; they make Thomas, who cannot believe, feel that there might be something to this Jesus Christ! Words and sentences describe something - but a life shaped by faith can be convincing.

Seen in this way, the real opponent of faith is not doubt, but indifference.

Dear congregation, if someone today lives as a Christian in this world, in a world that is anything but peaceful and just, then that is anything but indifferent. Those who live like this are an opportunity for all those who can no longer believe themselves - an opportunity for the modern Thomas of today, an opportunity to feel that there could be something to this Jesus Christ and his liberating message.

Today, Christ no longer walks through closed doors in the flesh to convince people of himself. In order for others to believe in him, he needs people today. People who bear witness to this Jesus Christ with their lives, who put into practice in their lives what it means to be a Christian - with all the consequences. Simply living as a Christian. Such a life that convinces.

We saw proof of this yesterday with the pictures from Rome of the requiem and funeral of Pope Francis: Hundreds of thousands of people who were touched and impressed by his life testimony, because they sensed that Christ lives in and through us humans today. His words and deeds inspire us to live and act in his spirit. In this way, we are and will become ever more pilgrims of hope, as the late Pope Francis particularly invited us to do in this Holy Year 2025. This is now his legacy to us all, so to speak - not indifference, but carrying hope into the world!