May 28, Pentecost (John 20:19-23)

Most folk who trot off to church faithfully on a Sunday don’t realize what they’re missing when a lector or celebrant proclaims a biblical text. Because frequently there’s only so much time anyone, whether clerical or lay, can devote to a Sunday service, it’s neither possible nor practical to proclaim an entire book or chapter or even a whole segment of John or Numbers, for instance. Many biblical stories do, however, offer tantalizing clues to those who are curious enough to probe a bit in their leisure time.

Such phrases as “After these things” (Gen. 22:1) or “On the third day” (John 2:1) at the beginning of a reading immediately invite the careful listener to ask “What things, pray tell?” or “What happened on days one and two, I wonder?”

Less blatant, but also suggestive, are the “Now” and “on the evening of the first day” that begin this week’s Gospel reading. The Greek oun (now) is the writer’s nudge inviting us to recall the previous “then.” We’re near the end of the Fourth Gospel’s telling of the Jesus story, and the immediate “then” here is the report of the resurrection with the accompanying appearance to and witness by Mary Magdalene (John 20:1–2, 11–18). And since we’re still, according to John’s reckoning, on that same day, the great glad news is fresh and ought to serve as an enormous and welcome relief to the rest of Jesus’ intimates.