Reflections on "Unlock the Door" John 20: 19-31; Psalm 133

I loved the idea when I read about it in Journal for Preachers.  Not sure it developed as well as I would have liked.  I had a conclusion about being locked in a parking lot years ago, but it felt like I had reached the stopping point where the text ends below, so I stopped.  If I had been preaching two services, I might have left it in for the first service to see how it felt, but with one service I made the decision in the moment.

I had intended for this to kick of a series on 'Unlock the Door," but I found that the lectionary texts for Eastertide did not lend themselves to that preaching series.  So, through Pentecost I will be preaching lectionary texts without tying them into a series.

“Unlock the Door:   John 20: 19-31; Psalm 133; Easter; April 7, 2024;  SAPC, Denton; Richard B. Culp

John 20: 19-31  ¹⁹When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” ²⁴But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” ²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” ³⁰Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. ³¹But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Move 1:  the disciples are behind locked doors. 

a.   we live in a really different post Easter, post-resurrection world than those first disciples.

1.  We are wondering how we can build on the excitement of our glorious Easter celebration last week with its pageantry and packed pews.

2.  our question - how do we create momentum out of the excitement of Easter?

b.  The first disciples were not worried about building momentum around Christ’s resurrection,

1. they were cowering behind locked doors.

2. Afraid of the world out there.

3. Fearful of what life would now be like. 

4.  And a week later, the disciples are still in the house and the doors are shut.

we do not know if the doors were locked, but they were shut tight.

5.  It is like a reversal of the empty tomb.

Almost as if Jesus, who had been buried behind the stone in tomb is now free,

but the disciples have buried themselves in a room and are locked up, no longer free.

c. Notice, that on both occasions, Jesus has no problem getting through the shut door, lock or not.

1. His presence an inspiring moment, a reassurance to the disciples,

words about the Holy Spirit

words about forgiveness

Jesus breathing on the disciples

Jesus sending the disciples out like his father sent him.

2. but the disciples are still behind shut or locked doors.  

they have to unlock the door and go out into the world.

Move 2:  Unlock the door and go out.

a.  they have to lay claim to the new life and new opportunities that come to them through the risen Christ.

1. Overcome their fears.

2.  Believe that the Holy Spirit will guide them.

3.  Live their lives differently.

4. See the new possibilities on the other side of the door, and go out.

3. Seize the opportunity to join with the God of resurrection.

4. All sorts of possibilities await the disciples, but they cannot live as people of the resurrection behind closed doors.

b.  We have to unlock our doors and go out.

a. I had dinner last night with my youngest daughter and several of her friends - a group of young professionals.

1. I was thinking about the sermon and wondering how they might think about being behind locked doors or shut doors.

2. I didn’t bore them with all the details fo my sermon, but I asked them if they had any experience with opening locked doors to discover something on the other side.

3.  One of them immediately said, “Remember the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?”

“they had to unlock a door to get to Narnia!”

A debate then ensued on whether the door to the wardrobe was locked or unlocked.

As you might expect, the Internet was consulted.

They confirmed that the door was shut, but not actually locked.

(as an aside, CS Lewis goes to great pains to note that they should not close the door to the wardrobe once they enter it - apparently, he was worried about children reading the book and they somehow enclosing themselves in the wardrobe wiht no way to get out!).

But, they all agreed that the entrance to all the mystery and glories of Narnia could only be found when Lucy and her siblings dare to open the door to the wardrobe and enter into the unknown possibilities.

4.  the story rings true in our own lives.

We have to open the door and venture into the world, 

a world full of possibilities because the Risen Christ is on the loose!

the power of the Holy Spirit is unleashed

The God of resurrection is still at work.

c.  But we have to unlock the door and go.

Move 3: Final thought - Jesus does not care if the door is locked or not.

a.  A colleague shared about a friend who decided to boycott Easter one year.

the friend had lost his job

a close family member had died

his world had turned lousy

the friend was very active in his Episcopal church, so he knew what Easter worship would be like:

Glorious brass music

rich, full liturgy

a service full of pageantry.

so he decided to not celebrate Easter,

he would skip the Easter service entirely.

there was no place for the glorious celebration of resurrection in his life.

But then Easter arrived and his wife reminded him his daughter was playing the trumpet that morning.

so he went - sat on the back pew, 

When the congregation stood to sing “Jesus Christ is Risen today,” he did not rise, but stayed seated and scrolled through message on his phone.

Avoided the worship as best he could while sitting through worship.

he went home having made it through Easter while still boycotting Easter.

but then he awakened the next morning to the overwhelming sense that that the God of resurrection whom he had worked hard to avoid on Easter had somehow claimed him.

he could not shake the idea that the Risen Christ offered him hope and promise and new life.

In his mind, he had not gone to Easter worship, 

but the God of resurrection had come to him.

through his locked doors, the Risen Christ has joined with him (Lucinda Isaacs, “A Tale of Two Tombs” Journal for Preachers, Volume XLVII, Number 3, Easter 2024, 39-45)

b.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, God invites us to come out from behind our doors and go back into the world.

1.  in your own life, what is it that seems only possible because you follow the resurrected Christ?

2.  what will it take for you to open the door and go?

Reflections on “Love Rises": Mark 16: 1-13; Easter

One of the challenges of preaching a Lenten series with Easter is the final sermon is that it can create a box for the sermon.  This year, when the sermon preparation did not lend itself to the sermon series, I opted to minimize the connection to the Lenten preaching series and let the sermon flow as it came to me during the week.  I did use the Time with Young Disciples to loosely connect the Lenten series to our Easter worship.  

I had fun with the sermon, at least the opening part of the sermon.  I am grateful for my colleague who quickly reminded me that the point of Easter worship is to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ, not have a good sermon full of good illustrations!

We had two siblings baptized at the second service, which is a wonderful way to punctuare the ongoing claim of the resurrection on our lives.

 “Love Rises:   Mark 16: 1-13; Easter; March 31, 2024;  SAPC, Denton; Richard B. Culp

I Corinthians 15: 1-11

15Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, ²through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. ³For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, ⁴and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. ⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. ⁹For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

Introduction: I was fishing for a good sermon illustration this week and I texted a colleague who has many years of preaching under his belt. I figured he was further along with his sermon than I was and he might have a good story for me.

I texted him with the question:  “What is your favorite resurrection story?”

He quickly replied:  “The one about Jesus.”

Our Easter worship this morning may seem kind of predictable to you.

Whether you are here every week, or have visited on Easter before, or you are here for the first time, I bet this worship seems familiar.

1. Pretty much the same music, 

the same liturgy, 

the same brass 

the same timpani, 

the same “Christ is risen, He is Risen indeed!” (Pause)

2.  The same story - an empty tomb and Jesus raised from the dead.

3.  We keep telling it, every year on Easter, and lots of weeks in between.

4. not because we lack creativity, but because it is a story that bears repeating,

a story that needs to be told again and again.

Move 1: Paul is doing in his letter to the Corinthians?

a. Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters,

1. he has told them this before.

Probably preached it when he was with them.

Written in other correspondence.

2. Paul is telling them what he has already told them

because it is a story worth telling, and telling again

because they need to be reminded

because it is a story that keeps laying claim on him and the Corinthians.

b. we  notice that Paul tells his story a bit differently than the Gospel of Mark does.

1.  When the gospels tell the story, we see more raw data and emotion.

2.  We read in Mark this morning several endings ot the gospel.

the first one ends with the women terrified.

the first added ending ends wiht some type of churchy comment

the longer ending added has Jesus appearing, but in disbelief.

4.  by the time Paul tells the story, he has polished it up.

5. the story of the resurrected Christ that Paul tells no longer evokes fear, but offers hope.

6.  Hope in the love of God that rises to change the world.

c. It is a story that needs to told again and again.

Why?  Because Paul has observed the Corinthians, and he sees in them what we recognize in ourselves 

1. We need to rehearse our hope in the God of resurrection.

2. We need to practice what it means to be people of hope.

3. we have to rehearse and retell the story of resurrection because the other stories in our world keep trying to drown out the story of resurrection.

War in the Ukraine

Israel and Hamas at war with civilians in the Gaza strip suffering and dying in huge numbers.

We live in a divided nation where people have widely divergent world views and aren’t really sure they want to work together.

4. All the stories we read and see in the media,

all the tension we feel in our own lives,

they work to push out the sort of God’s power to resurrect.

So Paul tells the story again and again.

We tell the story again and again.

Move 2:  Paul could easily adapt his letter to social media, or Instagram, or Twitter/X (whatever it goes by these days).

three short phrases:

 “Jesus died for sins”

followed by “Jesus raised from dead”

followed by “witnesses.”

Move 3:  "Jesus died for sins” God has deemed you worthy of dying for.

a.  We cannot earn it.

1.  we do not deserve it.

2.  Paul shares this truth when he writes;  “By the grace of God I am what I am…”

“I worked harder than any of of them - though it was not I, but the grace of God…”

3. We cannot earn the gift of Christ dying for us; 

but we are exhorted to accept the gift.

b.  Accepting that God has given us this gift is not the end, though.

1. It calls us to action.

2.  we remember Dietrich Bonhoeffer who firmly believed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

3. Who understood it as grace given to him, who was unworthy.

4. But also understood the claim God’s grace has on us.

5.  he gave his life in his battle against Nazism and Hitler.

6.  he could not earn God’s grace, but he could respond to it.

God has deemed you worthy of dying for, and it makes a claim on your life.

Move  4:  “Jesus raised from dead” means we live in a  world radically changed forever by the power of God to resurrect.

a. I heard someone say that “Easter is the greatest day of the year.”

2.  I would beg to differ.  

to say Easter is the greatest day of the year suggests it is at the top of some pecking order or wonderful days.

As if the resurrection is on the same scale as things like beautiful sunsets, 

or perfect birthday celebrations

or wonderful weddings.

3. But Easter is not a great day - it is a day unto itself 

Easter is the day God interrupts human history and changes it forever.

3.  Easter is God declaring that no power on earth, no emperor, no king, no governmental authority,  nothing in the world can control or dictate what God can and will do.

4.  Jesus was raised from the dead and the world will never be the same again.

b. We may read the news and know the fears and challenges in our world.

1.  but we also know that the final answer has already been given - God has resurrected.

2.   God cannot be stopped.

3.  Hope lives on and stands in the face of everything else in the world.

4. Love rises and the world is transformed.

move 5:  “There are witnesses” means the truth of the resurrection is found in the presence of the risen Christ among us and the way that transforms lives.

a.  The Gospel of Mark, along with the other gospels, focuses on the empty tomb.

1. But Paul does not mention the empty tomb.  Instead, he lifts up Jesus being raised from the dead and appearing to others.

2.  the proof of Christ’s resurrection for Paul?  

he appears to Cephas , that is Peter,

then he appears to the disciples

then to more than five hundred brothers and sisters.

3. the empty tomb is the first clue, but the witnesses are the proof of Christ’s resurrection.

b.  Paul witnesses to the Corinthians about how the resurrected Christ changed his life.

1. He had been a persecutor of Christians, but because of Christ has been raised from the dead, Paul’s life has been changed.

2.  his new life is a witness to the power of the resurrection.

3.  he calls the Corinthians to recognize the claim the resurrection has on their lives.

c.  As Easter people, what do we have to share as witnesses to the world?

1.  Our hope in the God of resurrection and the way our very own lives have been transformed by the God of resurrection. 

2.   Willam Barber II, African-American Disciples of Christ minister, says that he learned to preach from his minister father, but he learned how to be an Easter Christian from his grandmother.

Barber tells how he moved from Indianapolis to Roper, NC where his father would be a teacher in the newly desegregated school system and minister at a local Disciples of Christ church.  

Barber says that every Sunday afternoon his grandmother would go visit someone who was sick or suffering in some way - financial, trouble.

 she would tell him “We’ve got to go and hope somebody” and invite him to go along with her.

for a long time, he thought she was saying “We've got to go and help somebody,” but her southern accent made it sound like “hope somebody.” 

But, then he learned that she was saying hope because she  believed that by going to visit and care for the sick and those in need she was bringing them hope.”

3.  We are witnesses with a story to tell - Christ is raised from the dead - and lives to live that show forth the God of resurrection.

In a world that desperately needs to hear and see the power of the resurrection, we are the witnesses.

Conclusion:   “What is your favorite resurrection story?”

The one about Jesus.

Go and tell it.

Go and live it.

Mark 16:  When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. ²And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. ³They had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ ⁴When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. ⁵As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. ⁶But he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. ⁷But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’ ⁸So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. 

The Shorter Ending of Mark

[[And all that had been commanded them they told briefly to those around Peter. And afterwards Jesus himself sent out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. ]] 

The Longer Ending of Mark

9 [[Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. ¹⁰She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping. ¹¹But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

12 After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. ¹³And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

Prayer of tahnksgiving :  We give you thanks, O holy and gracious God, for in the beginning your Spirit moved over the water, and you created all that is, seen and unseen.  By the gift of water you sustain all life.  In the time of Moses, you parted the waters and led the Israelites out of slavery into freedom.  In the water of Jordan our Lord was baptized by John and anointed with your Spirit. By the baptism of his death and resurrection, Christ set us free from sin and death and opened the way to eternal life. 

 

By the power of your Spirit, bless this water that it may be a fountain of deliverance and rebirth.  Wash away the sin of all who are cleansed by it.  Raise them to new life and graft them to the body of Christ.  Pour out your Holy Spirit upon them, that they may have the power to do your will, and continue forever in the risen life of Christ, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be all glory and honor, now and forever.  Amen.