Locked In
John 20:19-29
Just before our gospel text for today is the resurrection story, in which Mary Magdalene came to Jesus’ tomb and found that the stone was rolled away. Later she is outside the tomb crying—locked in grief, unable to see Jesus, who appears to her. Her tears blur her vision; her despair keeps her from seeing.
Then after she recognizes Jesus, she tells the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” …while they are huddled behind locked doors.
Our reading tells us the it was “…on the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them…”
They are LOCKED IN!
Have you ever met anyone who is locked in?
Well we all know a thing or two about being locked in these days.
But beyond our physical restriction, brought on by our present world crisis, being locked in can look like someone…
Maybe it’s a…
We are talking about being LOCKED IN by…
Have you ever been locked in?
Do you know anyone else who has been?
Fear causes us to live in a perpetual state of anxiety. Fear is exhausting and depressing. Generally, the calamities I expect do not come to pass. So I replace them with new ones. Time and energy that could be used constructively, for prayer, dishwashing, learning to quilt, I sacrifice to cultivate apprehension.
--Any Day a Beautiful Change, Katherine Pershey
But our gospel text makes the point that there is NO wall thick enough to block the entry of the Risen Christ into the inner sanctum: safe room at the center of our fears.
What are the gifts that we might receive if we venture to open up the door or open our eyes to the risen Christ who is in our midst?
The 1st gift is PEACE
Jesus had told his followers in 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
The power to grant peace and forgiveness is rooted in the gift of the Holy Spirit. Hence his gift of peace is the power, the capacity, the ability, and the responsibility that we each have to restore wholeness, integrity, and vitality to broken relationships.
We don’t have to treat others as they deserve, we don’t have to exact our pound of flesh—we have the freedom to let someone off the hook, to offer grace and mercy in the place of revenge!
God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. And because of that gift of peace, we can experience and live in harmony with each other.
The 2nd gift is PURPOSE
Christ…gives the disciples a…gift, a mission. These believers and followers now become apostles … because Christ sends … them into the world. God's sending Christ is the pattern for Christ's sending the disciples. They are sent out of God's love for the world and for the world's redemption.
—Robert Kysar
So the gospel text indicates that Jesus gives his disciples a commission or directive.
Their mission is to continue the Son’s mission; and this requires that the Son must be present to them during this mission, just as the Father had to be present to the Son during his mission.
—Raymond Brown
And now it is the disciples who will demonstrate to the world the presence of Jesus…
Sisters and brothers in Christ, how might the gift of God’s purpose, God’s mission—passed on to us by the risen Christ—influence and direct how we like and behave in these times?
The GREAT antidote to fear is PURPOSE, so we live our lives with the knowledge that God, through Jesus’ resurrection has given us a mandate: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
The 3rd gift is POWER
According to John, Jesus gives the Holy Spirit by breathing on them.
Jesus breathes on them and says, “receive the Holy Spirit.”
In this season of Easter, Jesus offers this peace, purpose and power when people are locked in grief, locked in fear, and locked in darkness.
We are called to leave the rooms we've locked ourselves in…
This morning, this message might sound like it’s for everybody else but you.
The gospel story ends with Thomas who was further left out because he wasn’t there when Jesus first came to the disciples. He missed the spectacle, and he just couldn’t bring himself to accept the words of his colleagues.
So, Jesus made a special appearance for him.
Jesus invitation was for him “not be unbelieving but believing” OR “not to become unbelieving but believing.”
So, if your faith is wearing thin, hear the invitation from Jesus to trust that what you know of him before your present situation is still true. Things might be out of whack, and life might be off balance, but Jesus is still the same trustworthy and dependable friend and saviour! Don’t back away now. Now is the time to touch him, handle him, wrestle with him—so you too might be able to say, My Lord and My God!
Just before our gospel text for today is the resurrection story, in which Mary Magdalene came to Jesus’ tomb and found that the stone was rolled away. Later she is outside the tomb crying—locked in grief, unable to see Jesus, who appears to her. Her tears blur her vision; her despair keeps her from seeing.
Then after she recognizes Jesus, she tells the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” …while they are huddled behind locked doors.
Our reading tells us the it was “…on the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them…”
They are LOCKED IN!
Have you ever met anyone who is locked in?
Well we all know a thing or two about being locked in these days.
But beyond our physical restriction, brought on by our present world crisis, being locked in can look like someone…
- who is trapped in an addiction or in an unhealthy relationship
- who is stifled by a job situation they can't break free of or sort out
- who faces uncertainty in a situation over which they have little or no control—loss of income, new/flare up of an existing diagnosis
- who works hard but never feels it’s enough… or they are enough
- who is filled with guilt and self-loathing—maybe over past [or ongoing] failure
- who is pressed down by poverty, joblessness, or ill health
- who feels discriminated against: because things that are open to others are NOT available to them
Maybe it’s a…
- woman who is being OR has been abused by her partner
- man who hasn’t achieved the expectations he set for himself/set for him
- young person who finds success unattainable: who tries but it’s never good enough, so he/she has stopped trying OR maybe he/she excels in school work but is just never able to fit
We are talking about being LOCKED IN by…
- grief, anxiety, rejection, fear OR the exposing of our vulnerabilities…
Have you ever been locked in?
Do you know anyone else who has been?
Fear causes us to live in a perpetual state of anxiety. Fear is exhausting and depressing. Generally, the calamities I expect do not come to pass. So I replace them with new ones. Time and energy that could be used constructively, for prayer, dishwashing, learning to quilt, I sacrifice to cultivate apprehension.
--Any Day a Beautiful Change, Katherine Pershey
- Sometimes we have more faith in our fears than in God [or the Risen Christ].
- That’s because, when someone/something is locked in, someone else is locked out.
- No space for the victorious Christ because what locks us in, locks him out!
But our gospel text makes the point that there is NO wall thick enough to block the entry of the Risen Christ into the inner sanctum: safe room at the center of our fears.
- He has come into our locked rooms.
- He comes bearing gifts that can heal a hurting heart and rectify a hostile world.
What are the gifts that we might receive if we venture to open up the door or open our eyes to the risen Christ who is in our midst?
The 1st gift is PEACE
Jesus had told his followers in 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
- And now he honours his promise.
- There are 3 times in passage he makes the assertion, “Peace be with you.”
- At one and the same time it is both an ordinary greeting as well as an extraordinary greeting!
- The wish of peace was an everyday salutation—hence it was just like any other greeting—like, “take care” or “all the best.”
- Yet his wish for peace was tied to his desire for & expectation of them as those who are gifted with the Holy Spirit who would enable them to live whole lives, lives characterized by forgiveness.
- Jesus says to them, “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
The power to grant peace and forgiveness is rooted in the gift of the Holy Spirit. Hence his gift of peace is the power, the capacity, the ability, and the responsibility that we each have to restore wholeness, integrity, and vitality to broken relationships.
We don’t have to treat others as they deserve, we don’t have to exact our pound of flesh—we have the freedom to let someone off the hook, to offer grace and mercy in the place of revenge!
God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. And because of that gift of peace, we can experience and live in harmony with each other.
The 2nd gift is PURPOSE
Christ…gives the disciples a…gift, a mission. These believers and followers now become apostles … because Christ sends … them into the world. God's sending Christ is the pattern for Christ's sending the disciples. They are sent out of God's love for the world and for the world's redemption.
—Robert Kysar
So the gospel text indicates that Jesus gives his disciples a commission or directive.
- even as the Father had sent him, so he sends them.
- disciples connected to God via X: God sends, X gathers, X sends.
- mission of the disciples is the continuation of the mission of Jesus.
Their mission is to continue the Son’s mission; and this requires that the Son must be present to them during this mission, just as the Father had to be present to the Son during his mission.
—Raymond Brown
And now it is the disciples who will demonstrate to the world the presence of Jesus…
- …even as Jesus in life demonstrated the presence of the Father.
- So then, it is our purpose to reveal/show the presence of God in the world.
- We do this only when we live by the gospel that Jesus learned from the Father and passed on to us.
- We make the risen Christ present whenever we seek out the world’s broken places and, trusting in the Spirit who is already at work, we speak of the love of God and point people to Jesus Christ.
Sisters and brothers in Christ, how might the gift of God’s purpose, God’s mission—passed on to us by the risen Christ—influence and direct how we like and behave in these times?
The GREAT antidote to fear is PURPOSE, so we live our lives with the knowledge that God, through Jesus’ resurrection has given us a mandate: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
The 3rd gift is POWER
According to John, Jesus gives the Holy Spirit by breathing on them.
- In Acts the Holy Spirit comes accompanied by speaking in tongues.
- Both John and Luke (who also wrote Acts) experienced the same events.
- Yet while Luke and Acts separate Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost, John brings them together.
- This is John’s Pentecost experience which is important for him to put here as his account tells of the empowerment for mission.
Jesus breathes on them and says, “receive the Holy Spirit.”
- The reference to breath is important.
- Both the Old Testament and New Testament words for Spirit, ruach and pneuma, bear the connotation of breath.
- Breath is needed for life:
- In Genesis 2’s account of creation, God breathed into Adam and he became a living being.
- And in Ezekiel’s story of new creation (Ezekiel 37) it is the breath of God that brought about new life.
- Here in this passage, the life breath that God provided [in creation & re-creation] is now again enlivening a new creation, a new community…
- A people who are joined together—not by blood, nor kinship nor country—but by the work of Jesus in the cross and resurrection.
- A people who exist together even though apart from each other
- A family that is not defined by a building or denomination but by our association with Christ
- Our community, though unable to gather, is NOT locked in, but is active in faith, hope, and service.
- We belong to a community that has the accompaniment and power of God’s Spirit for the work of sharing God’s love.
In this season of Easter, Jesus offers this peace, purpose and power when people are locked in grief, locked in fear, and locked in darkness.
We are called to leave the rooms we've locked ourselves in…
- Even in this period—OR especially in this period—when life doesn’t yet look like Easter has come as yet.
- We are called to leave behind the fear that paralyzes and prevents us from living the resurrected life.
- And that is possible only because we have the gifts of peace, purpose and power from the one who can pass through any walls that lock us in or out.
This morning, this message might sound like it’s for everybody else but you.
- Maybe you might be thinking “I don’t have the faith right now”
- Or “I can’t see what others see”
- Maybe your experience is so challenging that it’s hard to see God’s gifts of peace, purpose and power!
The gospel story ends with Thomas who was further left out because he wasn’t there when Jesus first came to the disciples. He missed the spectacle, and he just couldn’t bring himself to accept the words of his colleagues.
So, Jesus made a special appearance for him.
- He wasn’t reprimanded for his inability to accept what others were telling him
- He wasn’t chastised for wanting the experience for himself
- Instead, Jesus invited him: “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”
Jesus invitation was for him “not be unbelieving but believing” OR “not to become unbelieving but believing.”
- Jesus was inviting him to look past his situation—because sometimes what you see and experience might lead you to doubt.
- Jesus gave him a little “taste” of what he was yearning to see, enough to remind him that he, Jesus, was still there for him
So, if your faith is wearing thin, hear the invitation from Jesus to trust that what you know of him before your present situation is still true. Things might be out of whack, and life might be off balance, but Jesus is still the same trustworthy and dependable friend and saviour! Don’t back away now. Now is the time to touch him, handle him, wrestle with him—so you too might be able to say, My Lord and My God!
—Donovan Myers
United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands