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?
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