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!