The Rev. Brandon C. Ashcraft
Trinity Church in the City of Boston
John 20:19-31
The Second Sunday of Easter (April 12, 2026)
Cross-Shaped Resurrection Life
The trumpets are gone, the lilies have wilted, and the crowds of last Sunday are nowhere to be found. In the life of the Church, the Second Sunday of Easter is often nicknamed “Low Sunday.” After all the pomp and circumstance of last Sunday, today can feel “low” by comparison. But every fiber of my being wants to resist this “Low Sunday” mindset! And I invite you to do the same. Easter is not one day. It is a season. And there’s no reason today’s “Alleluias” cannot resound with the same joy and intensity as last Sunday’s.
There’s another defining feature of today’s celebration; we always hear the same Gospel passage. Each year, on this day, we meet a familiar friend: the apostle Thomas, who was absent when the risen Jesus first appears to his followers. And while he certainly merits our attention, a singular focus on Thomas diverts us from another pivotal moment in this story. On that first Easter evening, when he appeared to his frightened followers, the risen Jesus breathed his Spirit upon them. Today is a day to celebrate the Holy Spirit.
You might now be thinking, shouldn’t we wait until Pentecost? The feast that falls on the fiftieth and final day of Easter? And, indeed, that is one version of the story. In the Acts of the Apostles, the risen Jesus ascends into heaven on the fortieth day after his resurrection and sends the Holy Spirit ten days later.1The Acts of the Apostles, Chapters 1 & 2. And that is the more familiar narrative arc: Resurrection, Ascension, and then the coming of the Spirit. It’s an outline we even see depicted in the three stained glass windows of our south transept.2These windows were designed by the Parisian glass artist Eugene Oudinot. More information can be found in this post attributed to a former Trinity Church tour guide: https://www.facebook.com/TrinityBostonShop/posts/guest-post-by-senior-docent-susan-dukess-among-trinitys-glorious-stained-glass-w/677654959667495/ But in the story of Easter from the Gospel of John, Jesus does not wait fifty days to share his Spirit. Instead, on the very evening of his resurrection, Jesus comes to his disciples, huddled behind locked doors, greets them with a message of peace, and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”3John 20:22 (NRSVUE).
Our minds are quick to wonder: if the writers of the Gospels tell the story of the Spirit differently, which story is true? But John’s Gospel is not chiefly concerned with providing a historical timeline. John wants to show us what the resurrection means. And when the risen Jesus breathes his Spirit on the apostles, that Spirit draws them into his risen Life. In the Gospel of John, the Church doesn’t have to wait for the Spirit, as if it were the third act in an extended drama. Instead, the Church shares in the life of the risen Jesus from the very first day.
Importantly for John, the resurrection does not erase Jesus’ wounds. The risen Jesus still bears the marks of his crucifixion. Jesus even invites Thomas to touch them, and Jesus’ wounds become the marker that enables recognition. When Thomas realizes that the risen one is also the crucified one, he can finally say: “My Lord and my God!”4John 20:28 (NRSVUE). By depicting the glorified Christ as the crucified Christ, John binds Easter and Good Friday together. They are not separate events, but part of the same mystery. So when we receive the Spirit of Christ, we are drawn into his risen life, a life shaped by his death.
For John, the cross and glory are inseparable. We heard this on Good Friday, in Jesus’ dying words: “It is finished.”5John 19:30 (NRSVUE). Not an admission of defeat, but a declaration that his death completes his work.6Strong’s Greek: 5055. τελέω (teleó) — to complete, to finish, to fulfill, to accomplish., accessed April 18, 2025, https://biblehub.com/greek/ 10 5055.htm. The life Jesus lived on the cross, the life poured out, freely offered, is the life he breathes onto his disciples today. A life that has passed through death, so that death has no power over it. This is the meaning of Easter for John. The life that was “finished” on the cross, the life that was raised in glory, is the life we now share. Not someday in the future, but now.
This life, however, doesn’t shield us from danger, just as it did not shield the disciples.
The disciples had plenty of reasons to be fearful and to barricade themselves and lock the doors. The authorities who crucified Jesus could have come for them next, and it was frightening for them to imagine a future without Jesus. Yet, neither their fear nor the locked doors could keep the risen Jesus out. He came to them, stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”7John 20:19 (NRSVUE) & John 20:21 (NRSVUE) Peace be with you. Offering them not comfort, not mere assurance, but peace. Along with this peace, he gave them his Spirit, drew them into his very life, and formed them into his body.
Like the disciples, we could become immobilized by fear. The chaos in our world could drive us to despair, persuade us the suffering is too great, and convince us that God has given up on the world. After all, our daily headlines depict leaders of warring nations trading threats of total destruction.8On April 7, 2026, amid a conflict between the United States and Iran, the President of the United States posted a message on Truth Social, stating that, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.” The post can be read in full here: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116363336033995961 And as much as this might feel like an unprecedented moment, power-obsessed despots exist in every age. But because we share in the life of the risen Christ, power-obsessed despots have no ultimate power over us. For we live under the banner of the Prince of Peace. The One who bears the marks of the nails, not as wounds of defeat, but as signs of glory. The One who gives us his Spirit., his very life – today. Amen.