St Mary's

Todays sermon from Rev'd Samuel

12th April 2026

“May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you O Lord my refuge and my Redeemer. Amen.” 

Today is the second Sunday after Easter, and I hope you all had a blessed Easter season. If I ask you what Easter means to you, or what comes to mind when you hear or think about Easter, I am sure I will get great, but at the same time different, answers from different people. According to Micheal Sadgrove, who was a Church of England priest, author, and theological educator, wrote in the Canterbury Preacher’s Companion 2025 that, 

“It is sunrise and springtime, a fest and dance; music and song; best wine and a wedding; perfume and paradise, eyes wide open; names known; souls with wings; ashes tor fire; a palette of colours; a garden of flowers, endless holiday… It is the first day of the week, the beginning of a new creation. It is the first fruit of the harvest of the earth. It is our own resurrection foretold, last things first here and now. It is the death of death, the last enemy. It is the banquet of God’s Messiah. It is the last Adam’s triumph in which our humanity is restored. It is glory, salvation and love; joy and life and crown.” 

For us on the personal, family, church and social life this list can go on and on, but if we recall today’s Gospel reading in our minds, we could say that this was not the case for the disciples. On the first ever Easter, the disciples were confused and fearful. They were terrified and at the same time they were in doubt. 

The Gospel reading we just heard was taken from the Gospel according to John, which was written by John who was one of Jesus’ disciples, and he wrote this Gospel account sometimes between 80 to 90 AD, although some scholars argue about the date. And if we look at the immediate context of today’s Gospel reading, we could see that this passage almost at the end of 20^th chapter, which starts with the resurrection of Jesus, where Mary Magdalene went to tomb, found it empty, then she tells the disciples, who also went there to see that by themselves, and then at the same morning, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene. 

And from today’s Gospel reading we come to know that, when the disciples were behind locked doors, Jesus appears to them. This was the first time, when after his resurrection Jesus appears to his disciples, and we could imagine that at that time the disciples were not in a very strong state of mind, they were, as I said, confused, fearful and uncertain, and when Jesus appeared to them, he showed them his hands and side to calm them down as well as so they will believe that he is risen from the dead. But at that time, when Jesus appeared to his disciples, Thomas was not there, but when Jesus appeared to his disciples again, he did not speak to anyone else but only to Thomas and dispelled his doubt. 

If we ponder on our lives, there may have been a time in our lives, or we may still be going through one, when we start to doubt God for so many reasons, whether He is even listening to our prayers. We start to doubt when our prayers are not answered in the way we want, or we may start to doubt God for some other reason. But the reality is that if we look at our lives, we can see that in our daily personal, family, church, and social lives, God seems to give us many signs that He is in control of all things. 

But as humans, we are unable to understand and comprehend these signals and signs. As humans, we always look for more. More love, more money, more time, more space, and obviously more proof, more clarity, more signs, more guarantee before we are ready to trust. But the passage we just heard from the Gospel according to John, as well the reading from the book of Acts, these passages remind us that faith does not grow from having everything explained rather the faith develops from what has always been given to us. 

The reading we just heard from the book of Acts is very well known one, it is taken from the event of the Pentecost, but if we recall it we could see that Peter is also talking to the people gathered there about the sings of the resurrection of Jesus and clearing their doubts. He was talking to the people the signs that God showed them during those days, and he was also encouraging them, but he is also doing the same to us so that we trust on God, and the work that he had done through his Son Jesus Christ. 

If we recall today’s Gospel reading in our minds, in the end it says that ‘Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. ³¹But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.’ While I was reading from one of my devotional mobile applications that, 

“This line carries a quiet humility. It acknowledges that not everything Jesus did was recorded. There were many more moments, conversations, and signs that were never written down. Yet what we have is not lacking.” 

Which means that the disciples who were with Jesus during his earthly life saw far more that what was written by them. They saw far more but still from today’s Gospel reading we come to know that they wrestled with doubt and fear, when Jesus appeared to them. In the same way we as a follower of Jesus, sometimes, or may-be most of the time in our lives we are not asked to have complete comprehending before we believe. As a Christian, we are encouraged to respond to God’s call with a big or small faith we have. 

But the question is how we are responding towards God’s call, are we responding like the disciples who were locked in a room, or are we responding like Thomas when he heard about God, or are we responding like Peter and proclaiming the word of God through our lives. We need to reflect and ponder on our lives, and we need to answer this question to ourselves. 

May God bless you all. 

Amen.