From Out Behind Closed Doors

When it was evening on that day… and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear… Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace, be with you!"  As the father has sent me so I send you."  - John 20:19-21

 P: He has risen!  C: He has risen indeed!  Are you sure?  Would you risk embarrassment for it? Would you wager your reputation on it?  Would you bet your faith on it?  Stake your life on it? 

 There are a great many people who think that our gathering here this morning is a glorious and futile exercise in deluded thinking; that we are the pathetic victims of the greatest deception in history.  And, perhaps we are.  I cannot stand before you this morning and unequivocally prove to you, with irrefutable scientific evidence that Jesus actually rose from death 2000 years ago. There is a possibility that this day and this event may be based on fraudulent beginnings.  If it were not so, it would not be about faith, would it?

 But, even though I cannot stand here and prove it, I do stand before you, and with every fiber that is within me, and with every ounce of assurance I can muster, and with monumental certainty that wells up from deep within my being, I do declare with all conviction, “He has risen!”  Now, I will tell you why!

 There is something that strikes me about the first resurrection day, something that intrigues and captures me.  Despite all that the disciples had seen Jesus do from healing the sick, calming the storms, raising the dead, and his repeated predictions about how he would be killed and on the third day be raised, not one of them, after he was sealed in the tomb, not a one of them expected or anticipated they would ever see Jesus again – alive!

 Not one of them camped out and kept a vigil of expectation at the tomb waiting to see if Jesus would rise as he had predicted.  When Jesus died their hopes died. When Jesus died their convictions died, indeed their faith died!  Instead of being anticipatory, they were huddled together behind locked doors terrified that they would be hunted down and perhaps suffer the same horrible fate as Jesus.

 What is striking to me is that the resurrection is first discovered, not by Peter, James or John or even Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from death, but by the women. The thing about that is that these women did not go to the tomb to see if the Lord had risen, but Luke tells us, in his gospel, they went to finish the job of burying him, bringing their sweet spices and perfumes to do nothing more than cover over the stench of death.

 Despite the miraculous things they had seen him do, the astounding things they had heard him say,  the incredible things they had experienced, and the precise forecast Jesus had made, no one, not even one expected the resurrection.

 It strikes me that the way the gospel writers describe it as happening is not at all the way the early Christian community would have written it if they were attempting to put-one-over on the world.  They surely could have written a better script than this!

 First, they would have had Jesus busting out of the tomb in some glorious and pretentious way that lit up the sky and mesmerized everyone, especially the enemies of Israel.

 Second, they would have had him marching up steps the High Priest’s or into Pilate’s courtyard snorting blazing words of judgment upon the enemies of Israel because that’s what just about everyone expected the messiah of Israel was going to do in the first place – not die on a cross.

 Third, given to their own script writing, they most certainly would not have made themselves look so pathetic: overcome by fear, guilt and sorrow – cowering behind closed doors. 

 It’s easy and tragic to end up hiding behind closed and locked doors, especially after a day like Friday, a day when hate and hurt and fear were out of control and death had the final word.

 It strikes me that this is not the way the early church would have scripted the story, but exactly the way God would have it unfold, because it’s just exactly the way life is.  Let’s face it, Friday rules all too often in our world and in our lives.   Like those disciples, I know how easy it is to find myself retreating, cowering and hiding behind closed and locked doors after Friday occurs.  Friday rules when we end up behind doors of fear and resentment; despair and sorrow; intolerance and pettiness.  I know how quickly my spirit can be wounded.  I know the haste at which I surrender and cave in to the dark forces of Friday in my life.  

 This week somebody said something to me that was hurtful and unfair, and what did I do but retreat behind my door of anger to do a slow burn.  What are the doors you live behind?  What locked door might you be behind right now - at this moment?  How long have you been there?

John reports in his gospel that the first thing Jesus did after he was raised was go to the disciples hiding out behind their locked door. I love this story! I can picture this little group huddled together, confused and wondering what to do next, securely locked behind what I’m sure was a formidable door, thinking they were at least temporarily safe.  And then, there he was, the risen Lord right in their midst. Can you imagine? To see the expressions that must have been on their faces!

 The first ministry of the resurrected Christ was a healing and empowering ministry he did behind locked doors. You see, the only thing that can really get through the barriers behind which we barricade ourselves is love. Love can walk right on in, because love means no harm. Love intends only to heal and restore. Now we just might attempt to resist love because we cling and clutch to our toxic stuff as if it gives life, even though it is poisoning us to death.

 The risen Jesus lovingly passed through the locked door and breathed new life to their dead convictions, infused new hope into their dark despair. He took their cowering and converted it to courage; he took their muted voices and opened their lips with bold proclamation.

 Think for a moment what happened to those first disciples.  Think for a moment what happened to that frightened little community.  In just a matter of days, weeks and months after their encounter with the risen Christ they came out from behind closed doors of fear, and they began a courageous journey that took them to the ends of the earth with the Good News of the living Lord Jesus Christ. 

People don’t do things like that based on a contrived story or a glorious hoax.  This was no joke.  This was the real thing!  Nothing or nobody else could have done it.

 Congregations of believers were established across the Mediterranean world despite the efforts of emperors and kings to stamp them out of existence, just as they tried to stamp Jesus out of existence by nailing him to a cross.

 They went from being people afraid of dying, to being people who willingly offered their lives so that others could know the hope, joy, and love they had experienced in the gospel.

 So much of our living is about Friday-like days, days that we find ourselves victimized by the world’s dirty tricks and we end up hiding behind locked doors.   The cross of Jesus Christ acknowledges that all is not well in the world; crucifixions of all sorts and kinds happen; that sometimes the bad guys win; that evil is up to dirty tricks thwarting God’s good intention for the world; that our dreams sometimes turn to ashes; that fear sometimes grips our hearts; that we sometimes cave in to hostility and grudge; that our best laid plans sometimes fall flat; that death intrudes and wreaks havoc.

 But the risen Christ came to them behind their locked door and said, “Peace be with you... As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

 I promised I would tell you why I believe with a soul deep conviction that “he is risen.”  The front door of our home in Buena Vista is a custom made solid hardwood door about three inches thick.  The think must weigh 200 lbs.  When that door is closed and locked I get a distinct feeling of security and isolation.  I feel safe from any outside intruders who would disturb my world of retreat.

 After the crucifixion on Friday the disciples had stuffed themselves behind a formidable door, licking their wounds and stewing in their despair. The risen Jesus surprised them with his presence and then empowered them out of there and back into the world with a new attitude and purpose, no longer trapped and bound by their fears and troubles, but to be about His resurrection work.  

 This is the precise place that confirms it and seals it for me, for I too, have stuffed myself behind locked doors stewing in my dead dreams, dashed hopes and wounded soul.  I am an Olympic Champion when it comes to licking my wounds behind locked doors for which I have thrown away the key.  But more times than I can count the Lord has surprised me and seemingly just passed right on through my 200 pound carefully crafted door, metaphorically speaking.  He comes in and sits down next to me and (sometimes with a wry smile) says something like, “Well, Joe, here we are again!”  Then he extends his open hand of grace and invitation and says, “Come on Joe, this place has the stench of death.  It’s beginning to smell too much like a tomb in here. Let’s go outside and risk some real living.”

 I am convinced that so often our public witness to Christ is only lukewarm and uninspired at best because we try to be Christians from behind our closed and locked doors.  My dear friends, it can’t be done.  It is not enough to celebrate Easter this day and say, "Christ is risen!"  It is useless to proclaim it unless at the same time we receive the Lord who comes to us behind our locked doors, and allow him to lead us out to new life in bold courage.  More than anything the risen Lord desires to take your hand and empower you out from behind whatever suffocating door of death you are half-living behind that is smelling a lot like a tomb, to be about his resurrection work in the world. 

 The risen Lord Jesus Christ comes into our midst and desires to lead us out in bold courage.  The risen Lord desires to take your hand, and empower you out from behind whatever suffocating door you are half living behind that is smelling like a tomb, to be about his resurrection work in the world.

 So, what are we waiting for?  Let’s get going!    

  He is risen!

 He is risen indeed!  

 Amen.