There's Something to be Said for that Locked Door: Sermon on John 20:19-31

Grace and Peace to you from God our Creator, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, Amen

“Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner.  Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to.  Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

Mind!  I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail.  I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade.  But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for.  You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.”

That’s how Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Story starts. Dickens writes that to begin the story, so you know, without a doubt, that Marley was dead. As a door-nail. Allow me to then remind you that just like Marley was dead, Jesus was dead.

The disciples saw him die. His mother watched him die. A roman soldier watched him die, and because of his death, the soldier came to believe. Jesus was dead. As a door-nail. The disciples knew this to be true, and fearing for their own lives, they hid in the upper room, where they shared their last meal together.

So, knowing that Jesus was dead… knowing that the door was locked… There was Jesus, staring at them. From beyond the grave, through the locked door… There was Jesus. No knocking, no ding-dong ditching, no doorbell, heck, not even broken door-nails… But a living, breathing Messiah in their midst.

The disciples, fearing the worst from anyone who would come through that door… knowing that their friend was dead, their Messiah… came in through the door and said, Peace be with you. Don’t worry. There is nothing to fear. See, even my hands and side have holes in them. I’m the real deal.

He gave them peace again, then breathed the Holy Spirit on them. But someone was late getting to the party. Thomas, dear Thomas… didn’t believe the disciples when he finally arrived. No way could Jesus appear again. So, a week later, he did exactly that. Thomas stuck his fingers in the holes in Jesus, and cried out, “My Lord and my God”...

Jesus replied, “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have come to believe…”

We have a tradition in the Lutheran church, and we continued in that tradition today. We generally baptize infants. Infants, with no capacity to understand the death and resurrection and the saving grace of God… are welcomed into God’s family, called and named children of God. The parents and sponsors make promises on behalf of the child to raise them in the Christian faith, so that may come to believe. And being a pastor’s kid… Who knows what’ll happen.

The disciples hid in fear of their lives… Fear that if they were caught, having hung around with the man who did all the amazing things, they might lose their lives.

I think we still do that. We still hide away, whether behind locked doors, or in homes far away from the dangerous places, so as to avoid the danger. We avoid the dark places of life, because we fear it.

And what’s not to fear? We watch the news, and we have to turn away because of all the horrible things that happen to people every day. We fear what’s out there. We fear who’s out there. We fear the direction our country is headed into. Fear - is a powerful emotion.

Jesus comes through the locked door and says, “Peace be with you…” A black man, Jamar Clark was shot and killed by police last fall in Minneapolis, and the courts found no fault with the police officers who shot him… and the people rally to protest. The black community fears for their lives because of institutional and systemic racism.

We fear the other. We fear the unknown. We fear the truth. There are legislative bills across the country, including in Minnesota, trying to outlaw the use of bathrooms for people who identify as transgender, because the lawmakers writing these bills fear an unknown fear. They fear incidents that have never happened before… because they need to fear something. Never mind that transgender folks now have to fear for their lives if they wish to use a restroom in these states that actually pass these bills.

Jesus comes through the locked door and says, “Peace be with you…” There’s something to be said for that locked door. Both times Jesus appears to the disciples, the doors are closed and locked. Jesus transcends the barrier between the disciples and the real world. Jesus comes in, and tells the disciples to have peace, show peace, and give peace to those who sin. Peace in forgiving the sins of any and all.

When we baptize, we believe that the sin of the world, the sin that we all are born with, the sin that all of us deal with, is washed away in the waters of baptism. God forgives us of all of our sins. In the bread and wine in which we share, communally, we are reminded of the grace that God freely bestows on all of us. The grace that saves us all from ourselves. The grace of God that was poured out from God in Jesus’ death on the cross, and the resurrection of our Savior three days later… Grace. Forgiveness. Love. Hope. Peace.

Jesus came through the locked door and said, “Peace be with you…”

There was a box outside my office during Lent, in which Zion was asked to find the darkness in this community and shine a light on it. Find some goodness that we can spread. Find something to do about the darkness that we see. Find the voices that we’re missing.

Three responded, which is better than no responses at all. One was someone felt a ‘lack of respect’. Another pointed out the need to focus on the population of differently-abled folks that have a 30% rate of poverty, three times the state’s average of the general population. The last response I received was a suggestion that in serving our Battle Lake neighbors, rather than serving Lenten soup suppers ourselves, we look to serving all of Battle Lake with suppers that welcome the rest of the community, other than our members. The note adds that a missing voice in this congregation… is that of the poor. The people with lower incomes. The message points out that the income disparity in this county is a significant factor, certainly in the vicinity of Zion.

            Lastly, the note adds that we talk about working with the poor, but do very little with or for them. That the people that populate our pews, are mostly those who wouldn’t consider themselves poor.

            Of the three responses, all of which are equally valid, the last one kinda ties them all together. Serving our neighbor shows respect for those we serve, and that includes our differently-abled and poverty-stricken neighbors. When called upon, Zion has served our neighbors beautifully, and you can see that in the response to Mission Jamaica and the Jamaican family that recently relocated to Fargo. Zion responds and serves our neighbor when called upon. And we do a mighty fine job of it.

            And, believe it or not, I believe that is because Zion turns the fear, and turns it on itself. When Wadena had it’s tornado, we feared for the wellbeing of our neighbors, and Zion stepped in and helped. When Pastor Jim started taking trips with Mission Jamaica, Zion members feared for the wellbeing of the Jamaicans they served, and made the area a better place for those they served. When the family from Jamaica relocated to Fargo in need of better employment, Zion feared they would be without furniture and furnishings, so Zion responded well, and the family had a completely furnished apartment to come home to. Zion does well when we see the fear, name the fear, and respond to it with the generosity and overflowing love we have for each other.

            When we fear and do nothing, we stay behind locked doors waiting for the fear to go away on it’s own. When we fear and name that fear, grasp that fear and work to conquer that fear together, so there is nothing left to fear… Jesus comes in through the locked doors, beyond what we feel is safe… and says, “Peace be with you…”.

            When we go beyond the locked doors, when we embrace the fear, conquer it, we make the world a better place, just as Ebenezer Scrooge did in A Christmas Carol. Fear is a powerful emotion, someone said it’s the mind-killer. Someone said that fear itself… is the only thing we need to fear.

            If we let our lives be run by fear, we won’t do anything. However, if we conquer our fears, let Jesus break through our locked doors of our own potential, then maybe Peace will truly be with us all. Maybe the Peace of God, which passes all understanding, that is with us in our baptism, will be with us until the end. Imagine the peace infants feel, not knowing anything to fear except the lack of their parents existence when they leave the room…

            May Jesus walk through our locked doors, open our minds to new possibilities, and help us all to conquer our fears to live with each other in love, as God names us all, in the waters of our baptisms, calls us God’s own. Amen.