Scripture readings for April 12, 2026, Second Sunday of Easter
Acts 2:42-47 Ps 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24 1 Pt 1:3-9 Jn 20:19-31
So, just where was Thomas? When we hear this reading from St. John’s Gospel, we can’t help but wonder.
After the crucifixion, the disciples were terrified and kept themselves locked away — as the gospel puts it — “for fear of the Jews.” But Thomas, alone among the apostles, was conspicuously absent. Why? Did he have someplace else to be? The Gospel says this scene occurred in the evening; did he have a dinner date? Family obligations? What could possibly have pulled him away? Why did he venture out into Jerusalem at this moment, leaving a place of relative safety at a time when the followers of Jesus were literally scared for their lives?
We just can’t know. Scripture doesn’t offer us an answer — but on this Second Sunday of Easter, we might ask ourselves: Where are we? Have we left the room already?
It’s tempting right now to think of Easter in the past tense. Holy Week is history. The fresh flowers of last Sunday have begun to sag. We’re working our way through the last jelly beans from the Easter basket. We’ve had our fill of chocolate eggs and we may feel it’s time to move on. There are bulbs to plant and trips to plan — graduations, weddings, vacations. Another holiday is done.
But hold on. Are we over Easter so quickly? Have we started to check out and think about what’s next on the calendar?
This Sunday, take time to remember: Easter continues! Life goes on, yes, but Easter goes on, too — the season lasts for 50 days, in fact. Our joy should continue, too. Our sense of the impossible becoming possible should still leave us thunderstruck. Are we missing that?
Well, maybe we need help. And maybe we need others to remind us of what these days are really about.
The readings this Sunday underscore something we might easily forget. We need to celebrate the ongoing miracle and the mystery of Easter, and we shouldn’t do it alone. We are part of a community of believers.
The first reading from Acts brings us this vivid description of life among the first Christians: “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common.”
In other words: they got it.
They realized that nothing was more important, more treasured, more valuable than sharing in their common belief and their common hope. Their lives had been changed, and they were suddenly collaborators with Christ, writing the next chapter of salvation history. And they were doing it together.
It’s worth noting that Thomas needed to be with the other disciples to experience the risen Lord. The Christian experience isn’t solitary. It is lived among others, with others, in a community of believers who share a common belief — and cannot help but pass that on to others.
That was a vitally important lesson for Thomas — and for us. And it takes us back to the question: Where are we?
Do we realize that Easter is far from over? Are we aware of what it means to be part of a body of believers — welcoming one another, uplifting one another, serving one another? Or have we already left the building?
Like Thomas, we may need to rediscover that part of living as a follower of Christ involves more than just being aware.
It’s also about being there — being with one another in solidarity, in fellowship, in community, in faith.
Deacon Greg Kandra is an award-winning author and journalist, and creator of the blog “The Deacon’s Bench.”
