As we know, John’s gospel is by far the longest, including lengthy theological passages included in the account of The Last Supper. But after the resurrection it’s as if he can’t wait to get finished. There are only two chapters and one of those seems to have been added as a postscript. There is no account of the Ascension, and no Pentecost as described in the other gospels – the Holy Spirit is passed on directly by Jesus, not in a separate event after Jesus has departed.
John doesn’t seem to feel the need to describe the post-resurrection life in any detail. So what he does say has perhaps special significance – and it’s all included in the one reading we have today. The disciples see the Lord and receive the Holy Spirit from him (as he had explained in those Last Supper discourses). This is a communal experience, shared by all the disciples except Thomas. John then finishes with an amazing story which drives home the point that faith is utterly personal, an individual relationship with Jesus – but a relationship that is available to everyone, especially those that never met him in the flesh.
In John’s description of Thomas we see so clearly how this is a life-changing experience for him. And John leaves it there. Luke, on the other hand, in the Acts of the Apostles, is doing something different. He is describing how things played out in the early days of the Church.
The idea of holding everything in common was certainly not unique to the early church. It happened in other communities before the time of Jesus and in many afterwards, particularly in monasteries and religious orders, and right through to communes in modern times. We may look at this description and it shouts “communist” at us, but that is our perspective not the Gospel. This model of communal living was never considered a necessary or required part of church life, although the principles of sharing and service are certainly a foundation for a Christian life. The point is that life changed in a radical way for those early believers. And the change wasn’t just an “interior” change, as the story of Thomas might lead us to think. That mistake has been common in the life of the church – suggesting that faith is personal and doesn’t, or shouldn’t, determine our social life and our political views.
Luke’s account of the early Church shows us that is not true, as does much of the preaching in Paul’s letters and even more obviously in those of James. The individuals were changed by the experience of Jesus’ resurrection, as John emphasizes, and the community was also changed, as Luke tells us. The disruption of the Resurrection is total. It effects the personal and the social, the individual and the community. Change is uncomfortable, total disruption is terrifying. But following on from death what else should we expect. After death everything is different.