Rev. Thomas E. Myers

March 30, 2008

John 20: 19 – 31

¹⁹ When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

 ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

 ²² When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

    ²⁴ But Thomas (who was called the Twin ), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

    ²⁶ A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” ²⁸ Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

    ³⁰ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. ³¹ But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

“The Closed Door”

The disciples were hiding away behind locked doors on that first day of the week.  No one could get in.  The disciples locked themselves in so that the religious leaders who had Jesus arrested could not locate them and arrest them.  The religious leaders turned Jesus over to the Romans because they were afraid of the people who were following Jesus and the truth they proclaimed.  This corrupt leadership of the temple feared that things might get out of hand.  The disciples were afraid that these corrupt religious leaders might want to come after them, too.

Not only were the disciples distressed and heart broken at the death of Jesus; not only were they fearing for their own lives; but now this woman, Mary Magdalene, was making the most ridiculous claim; she said she had seen Jesus.

Maybe the safest place to be, this week, would be behind closed, locked, secured, doors.  Safely hidden away until things cooled down.  It’s what we would do, hide away, lay low, blend in, don’t be noticed.

The disciples cowered in fear behind locked doors when good news was waiting for them.  Good news came to them anyway, even in their fear it filled them with hope, courage, and assurance.  Jesus stood with them.  They were seeking safety when they should have been seeking God.  They were seeking safety when they should have been seeking truth.  They were hiding when they should have been going out and spreading the Realm of God.

William Sloane Coffin once said: “As I see it, the primary religious task these days is to try to think straight...  You can’t think straight with a heart full of fear, for fear seeks safety, not truth.  If your heart’s a stone, you can’t have decent thoughts – either about personal relations or about international ones.  A heart full of love, on the other hand, has a limbering effect on the mind.”

It is fear that makes us do crazy things, it is fear that drives us out of our right minds.  Fear makes us hide our heads from the suffering of the world, when what we should be doing is embracing the world that is suffering.

Jesus returned to his disciples to help them get back into their right minds.  These scared, cloistered, cowering disciples needed some reassurance.  So Jesus made not just one appearance but many.  He not only revealed himself to the disciples behind locked doors, he also returned a week later when Thomas would be with them.

Thomas told the disciples that he needed visible, tangible, verifiable proof, before he would believe what Mary and the other disciples told him regarding the resurrection.  He needed Jesus’ presence in order to believe.

Jesus was determined to convince Thomas, to offer him what he needed so that he would continue to serve God’s Realm faithfully.  Thomas is set free from his doubt and his fear, as Easter happens.

Easter kept happening during the first few days.  Jesus kept breaking in and set people free from their doubts and their fears.

This isn’t just a resurrection and the breaking down of the doors of fear that limit, stifle, and dampen life, this is the beginning of a ministry of new life, as Jesus sent them out to continue the ministry he had begun.

Last Sunday Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, then he appeared to his disciples and empowered them with the Holy Spirit.  He is on the move because a lot needs to happen if God’s Realm is to continue.  He came back, again and again.  It’s hard to move forward without some kind of reassurance.  It’s hard to overcome our fears.  It would be impossible to overcome a fear like this if it weren’t for the knowledge that the Risen Christ ministers along side us.

So why were the disciples behind locked doors a week later?  They believed, they even received the Holy Spirit, yet they were still paralyzed by fear.  They were still hiding, still laying low, still seeking security.  Jesus’ resurrection appearances finally, over time, gave the disciples the reassurance that they needed.  For Thomas it was in knowing that Jesus stood before him.  It took a bit of convincing for all of the disciples.

John, at the end of our reading today, said that the risen Christ did so many things, performed so many wonders, said so much that there is no way that all the books in the world could fully report on all that he did.  We are prone to building security doors, doors that lock people out, doors that isolate us from one another.  The risen Christ was determined to knock the doors down by reassuring his followers, again and again, so that the ministry might go forth, so that Easter might continue.

The doors that we gather behind today are not designed to keep people out, they are not doors that lock for security.  They are, however, doors of reassurance.  These new doors are doors that remind us of the cross, of Jesus’ sacrificial love and his reassurance through the resurrection.  Our sanctuary door grills not only symbolize the cross, but when you get a chance to look closely at them, even the circle that is at the center of each cross, contains a wood grain cross.  That’s where real security lies.  Not behind locked doors, not behind a strong army or arsenal large enough to destroy all life on earth many times over.  Our security is in God through the claim of Easter - Christ is risen from the dead.

This is so outrageous!  It goes against all conventional thinking.  The whole concept of Easter – the power of God’s love over death and the powers and principalities of might, is subversive.  It challenges us at the point of some of our primal instincts.  It challenges our desires for self-preservation, pushes us beyond our typical way of thinking.  Easter is a counterculture force to be reckoned with.  If we believe in it, if we trust in Jesus’ reassurance, then there would be nothing that could hold it back.

We can proclaim it, we can feel it in our heart, we can hear about it on Sunday morning, we can hang out with others who believe it too.  Question is, are we willing to live it.  When things get really scary will we trust in the power of God’s Realm, or will we let fear control our life?  No one can prove that Easter is true by hiding; we can only show that the power of Easter is true by going forth.

You know what is for me the main proof of Easter?  It’s you!  You are not the Christmas and Easter (CE) United Methodist.  You are those disciples who despite all of the setbacks and disappointments of life, and all of the perfectly good reasons why you should just stay home behind locked doors today; you have chosen to risk, you have chosen to move forward, taking the spirit of resurrection with you where ever you go.

Easter continues! Thanks be to God.

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