Listen to the Sermon or the Entire Service
April 12:
Call: 1 John 1: 1-5 Reading: W&S #187 Text: John 20: 19-31 Closing: Acts 4: 32-33 Closed Doors Today, we hear the story first. [Read John 20: 19-31] There are two major reasons for the inclusion of this story. Both are pretty obvious But I'll mention them anyway. The first: is to show one of the many appearances That Jesus made Between Easter and His Ascension AFTER His well witnessed Death and burial And thus is testimony and evidence that Jesus was indeed raised from the dead. Because of the several recorded post resurrection appearances His resurrection is confirmed And because the resurrection was confirmed The fact that he was and is the Christ was confirmed And because he was and is the Christ The authority and credibility of his teachings Were also confirmed This scripture and the other appearance scriptures Are incredibly important to our faith. The second major reason is that with something as remarkable and miraculous as resurrection there are bound to be questions, skepticism, and doubt. And this scripture points out the need for faith and trust. While acknowledging our questioning human nature As we observe Thomas' skepticism in the story itself, We can see how easy it was even for one of the original disciples - to become skeptical of such a story and so in processing our own doubts and our own questions as well as the doubts and questions of others, we don't simply reject them by dismissing anyone who has them but rather by taking another look and by understanding why we should and do believe Thomas knew and worked with Jesus of Nazareth. Thomas knew and worked with the other disciples. But despite having heard what Jesus had said And knowing what Jesus had done; And despite having worked with the other disciples And learning to rely on the truth of what they said, Thomas still couldn't accept the fact Or at least could not wrap his mind around the fact That Jesus had risen And had appeared to his colleagues and companions. Then Then Then he encountered Jesus himself And was mortified at his disbelief And he received his lesson And we received ours When Jesus said, "Happy are those who don't see and yet believe." That is what we call faith. But I see a pair of other messages tucked in this scripture Often overlooked because of the importance of The evidence of resurrection And The message of faith. These other messages come from the fact that both of the appearances To the disciples without Thomas And To the disciples including Thomas Involved Christ visiting them even though The doors to their room were Closed and/or locked. There are only two reasons to close doors One is to keep something out The other is to keep something in Often we close doors for both reasons at the same time. In this case, John tells us why the doors were closed "because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities." Thus they were closed to keep those authorities out Out Physically: Jesus had just been crucified Would they be next? Out of the sight line: They would be in considerably less danger If they were not noticed by the authorities. If the doors were open It would be for the authorities like it was for the wolf in "Little Red Riding Hood" "the better to see you with, my dear." And like the old cliché, the disciples were convinced: "Out of sight, Out of mind." But for those gathered in that room, The closed - perhaps even locked - doors Did not render them out of the sight of Christ Or out of Christ's mind either. That being the case, One lesson that we take from the closed doors Is that we can't hide from Christ. But there is a second, less obvious lesson from the doors, A lesson that did not occur to me until yesterday afternoon It was around 4:00. I was back at the church trying to figure out what I was supposed to be saying today Although I knew that I was supposed to be talking about the closed doors, and I knew that not being able to hide from Christ was so accepted that it did not need mentioning I was far less certain about what else it was that I was to say about the closed doors. For it had became apparent to me early in the week That what I thought I was going to say Back when I selected the text for today Wasn't going to work. And thus I had been grasping for direction ever since. Finally, yesterday afternoon, I was reading Bishop Flint's biography of Charles Wesley This was a book that Bruce Lee Clark had given to me after his father had passed away. A book that I used when we, a year ago, built a series of worship services around Charles' hymns a book that is important to me because I am fascinated by Methodist history and even more so, because it had belonged to my friend Russell who had received it at annual conference in 1959 some 56 years ago. Now Charles Wesley and his big brother John, Traveled so much That they might well have been Willie Nelson's inspiration For "On The Road Again." [Of course, I am not betting that Nelson was an active Methodist although he and his sister Bobbie did while growing up sing gospel songs in a local church in Abbott, TX] Thus Charles was often away from his wife but consistently kept in touch with her by letter And so, late yesterday afternoon, I read about the content of some of those letters. Flint wrote, "Constant solicitude in her illness and her physical welfare is mingled with concern for her spiritual growth: and then he shared some of Charles' advice to her if 'necessary,' Wesley wrote his wife, she should shut the door against company to keep inviolate the trysting hour with God." [p. 174] It was then that I realized the message of the closed doors. They were not closed just to make Jesus' appearance more dramatic or even just because of the need for physical safety They were closed to keep out threats of distractions That might interfere with, or disrupt, prayers and devotions, - the disciples' time to be alone with Christ So, like the disciples and like Sally Wesley There are time we need to literally or figuratively Close our doors, in order to focus on Christ And isn't this a great way to finish our understanding of this passage? You see, This passage is evidence of Christ's resurrection. This passage is recognition that we will have doubts And that faith can overcome those doubts And this passage provides us with a tool to strengthen our faith By enabling us to get "alone time" with the resurrected Christ. And to think it took me until late yesterday afternoon To finish figuring this out!