DOORS OF FEAR OR DOORS OF PEACE?
a sermon based on John 20:19-31
by Rev. Rick Thompson

     Doors.  How many doors do you suppose you walk through every day?  Why are those doors there?  To protect from weather?  To keep the people inside safe?  Are they inviting or intimidating?  Locked or unlocked?  Do the doors you pass through make you feel frightened and uneasy, or peaceful and secure?

     What about the doors of the church?  What message do they convey?  Are they open and inviting, or closed and threatening?  Are they closed to keep the world out of the church, or open to send the church out into the world?

     In today’s gospel story, we read another report of the risen Jesus appearing to his followers, on two consecutive Sundays.  At the beginning of the story, though—both times—we find the church behind closed doors.  They are afraid.  There have been rumors that Jesus’ body was not in its tomb, reports that some had seen the Lord, but these disciples just aren’t convinced.  They are more convinced of the danger they’re in, from the ones who killed Jesus.  They’re more convinced that there’s nothing left to live for, now that Jesus is gone.  So they’ve shut themselves in, shut the world out, and gathered together because there’s nothing else to do.

     They’re locked behind the doors of fear and despair.  That fear and despair is solid, seemingly impenetrable.  In the words of preacher Tom Long, that assembly of disciples is “the church with nothing”[i]—no musicians or preacher, no hope, no purpose, no joy.  Even if they had great music and preaching, elaborate worship, a marvelous building, a dynamic youth ministry, and a presence in the community, their fear would reduce them to nothing.  A church stuck in fear, a church lost in despair, a church that’s convinced it’s powerless locks itself behind its doors of fear.

     The story of 5-year-old Johnny highlights the paralyzing power of fear.  Johnny was in the kitchen while his mother was cooking supper.  Mom asked Johnny to go into the pantry and get her a can of tomato soup, but he didn’t want to go in alone.  “It’s dark in there, and I’m scared,” Johnny lamented.  Mom asked again, and Johnny continued to resist.  Finally she said, “It’s OK—Jesus will be in there with you.”  So Johnny walked reluctantly to the door, and opened it ever so slooooooooowwwwly.  He peeked inside, saw it was dark, and started to leave.  Then he had an idea: “Jesus, if you’re in there,” Johnny requested, “would you please hand me that can of tomato soup?”[ii]

     Fear kept Johnny from completing his mission.

     Fear also does that to the church—the church of John’s gospel, and the church of today.

     When, as leaders of one church I served acknowledged, “We know what we need to do, but we’re afraid to do it,” we keep ourselves locked behind doors of fear.

     When we fear danger and death because we live as if Jesus is still dead and powerless, we keep ourselves locked behind doors of fear.

     When we shut ourselves off from the world around us, trying to keep the church a safe and cozy place, we have locked ourselves behind doors of fear.

     But Jesus won’t let us stay there.  No, Jesus won’t allow us to keep ourselves behind closed doors.  He didn’t come to dwell among us so that we could go and hide.  Jesus didn’t heal the sick and raise the dead and change water into wine so that we would think he’s weak and irrelevant.  Jesus didn’t love unconditionally just because there was nothing better to do.  Jesus didn’t die for no reason, and Jesus didn’t stay dead.  And he didn’t rise from the dead just to escape this world and leave us stuck, trapped in our fear and hopelessness.

     No, Jesus had a purpose for everything he did!  And what was that purpose?  To give us life and peace, and empower us to share his life and his peace with the world!

     And the doors we shut to keep the world out, to keep ourselves safe and secure—those doors can’t keep Jesus out!  That’s what the first disciples learned!  If Jesus is strong enough to conquer death, he’s certainly capable of passing through a locked door!  And that’s what he does, entering into the disciples’ midst, breathing on them, declaring the peace of God, and sending them out into the world to continue his life-giving mission!

     No, we can’t keep Jesus out!  He’s going to slip in, somehow, and set us free from fear and death.  He’s alive, and he’s going to live in his followers!  And when Jesus is determined to do something, he simply CANNOT be stopped!

     Jesus is going to show.  Oh, we won’t see him face-to-face like those privileged first follower did, but he’ll be here!  He’ll be here when water is poured over new children of God in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Yes, Jesus will be here.  He’ll be here when the story of God’s love and forgiveness and mercy is told and retold.  Jesus will be here when bread is broken and eaten, when wine is poured out and consumed.  Jesus will be here!  He’ll be here as we sing his praises, and offer our prayers for his people and his world.  Jesus will be here, just as he promises, to encourage and empower and send his church out of the doors and into the world to announce and live the peace of God.

     And when Jesus comes to us, we have all that we really need.  When Jesus, the crucified and risen one, comes into our midst, we become the church with everything!  Though more pews are empty than we would wish, and we’re older and less energetic than we used to be, and death and sin still haunt us, and we wish we could do more and do it more effectively—we still have everything we need because Jesus is in our midst. 

     Jesus is here!  Jesus has walked right through the doors of fear, trampled down the doors of death, and dwells with us for all eternity!  So we are NOT powerless, and we CAN move forward boldly in faith, and we DO have reason to hope!

     Why?  Because, when Jesus comes, he breathes on us his Spirit, grants us God’s peace as a gift, and empowers us to go out and share God’s peace and God’s forgiveness in the world!

     Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and now dwells with us!  The doors of the church are unlocked!  So we open the doors, and welcome the world in, and go out boldly to proclaim and live the wonderful story of Jesus!  By the power of Jesus, the doors of fear become doors to peace—peace with God, and peace with each other IN God!

     Outstanding preacher Tom Long tells a wonderful story about a worship experience that he was invited to lead.  A congregation had decided to hold an intergenerational, hands-on Communion service.  The activity was to begin in the sanctuary, with Long explaining the meaning of Holy Communion.  Then, all would move to the fellowship hall for the service itself.  There the people at each table would be provided with the ingredients and instructions for baking a loaf of Communion bread.  While they were preparing the bread and while it baked in the kitchen, each table was given questions and activities designed to stimulate sharing about each one’s faith experience.

     It was a great idea, but the actual experience was something else again!  There were delays in the kitchen, and the baking took forever.  Children got restless, began playing in the flour, and produced a white cloud that coated everyone and everything in the room.  People ran out of faith experiences to talk about.  Even the adults got restless and all were weary and exhausted, rather than energized and renewed, by the time the service ended.

     Dr. Long, with a great deal of relief himself, stood to pronounce the benediction upon the congregation.  Finally the service was over!  “The peace of Christ be with you all,” he intoned.

     And then, when it appeared that all was lost, the evening and the worship a total disaster, a small child responded from somewhere in the room: “It already is!”[iii]

     And that’s the good news of Easter, isn’t it?—the news which breaks into the gloom and fear.  The peace of Christ we long for and hope for?  “It already is!”

     It already is.  And it opens the doors of the church.  It opens the doors so that the people of God can stream out and boldly announce to the troubled world that there is peace, that Christ is risen, and that we can live with hope.  That’ our message to those who are at odds with God and with each other.  That’s our message when the road-side bombs explode and familes are shatterd by grief and devastated by terror and war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kenya, and all the other hot-spots in the world. 

     That’s our message: the peace of God—in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen—IT ALREADY IS!  IT ALREADY IS!!

     Jesus has opened the doors of the church.  They are no longer doors of fear, locked and intimidating.  Rather, they are doors to peace, open and inviting.

     And, now, in the peace and power of Christ, we go through those doors to announce God’s peace to the world!

                                                                                                AMEN.

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[i] Long, Thomas, Whispering the Lyrics: Sermons for Lent and Easter, “The Church with Nothing,” CSS Publishing, Lima, OH, 1995, p. 89

[ii] Source unknown

[iii] Long, op. cit., pp. 93-94