2 Easter 2023 John 20:19-31, A fresh start with God
During this season of Easter we will be looking at discipleship and this morning, I would like us, if we can, to in our minds put ourselves in the position of the disciples in today’s gospel. Hiding in a house with the doors locked. It is difficult, I think, for us to understand how the eleven remaining disciples felt at this point.
They were filled with the shame of their desertion of Jesus, hiding in abject fear, and totally perplexed at the stories that they had heard; first from the women, then from Peter and John, that the tomb is empty, and Mary Magdalene had told them that Jesus lives! This is all on the one day that we call Easter day.
Our reading starts: “It was evening on the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked…” The big question is: Who were they afraid of? And why?
In John’s Gospel, as we heard last week, Mary Magdalene had been to the tomb and seen it empty. She had run and told the disciples and Peter and John had gone back with her to check it out. The disciples then went back home – but Mary stayed at the tomb crying and that’s when she met the Risen Christ. She then went and told the disciples.
Usually, I fall asleep quickly and deeply, but the other night I found myself wide awake late into the night, thinking about this week’s gospel and my dominant thought was; so why didn’t they go looking for him? Wouldn’t you have gone looking for him? I think I would.
But they didn’t. They stayed behind locked doors… Well, John says in this reading that they had locked the door “for fear of the Jews,” that was certainly part of the reason, but it couldn’t have been all of it.
Perhaps they thought what would Jesus say to them? How would Jesus react if he saw them? Would he be bearing a grudge? Would he be angry with them? Perhaps he would be out for revenge! No, rather than going out searching for Jesus, it would be far safer to lock the door and somehow hope the whole problem will go away!
Perhaps we are more like the disciples than we want to admit! How often have we, I certainly, you, locked the door to keep Jesus out? Maybe some part of my past: something I am particularly ashamed of. Maybe some fear for the future. Sometimes, we are frightened of what Jesus might think, what Jesus might do. So we lock up our heart, try to keep Jesus out. Locking ourselves in, for fear of what might happen.
So let’s look at what Jesus did in today’s gospel, and what he always does when we try to hide from him: “Jesus came and stood among them…” He enters the room – and breaks into their shame.
Jesus takes the initiative. He enters the room and he says to them, “Peace be with you”. These words are the exact opposite of fear and shame and anxiety.
Jesus says to the disciples, as he says to us, “It’s OK…” He’s not out to settle old scores. He’s not angry with us. He knows our failures even before we fail. He knows! He has known all our weaknesses since before the foundation of the world and still loves us so much that he died for us. “Peace be with you”, he says, looking at you right in the eye.
Jesus truly is risen.
There is absolutely no mention of the past. It’s done – it’s finished, by Jesus on the cross. Then, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’”. In both Greek and Hebrew, the word for breath and spirit are the same.
Jesus is inviting us to start completely afresh and go right back to the beginning with him. In fact, what he is doing is taking us right back to the Garden of Eden.
God breathed on Adam, and he began to live. Jesus breathes on his disciples and, in the power of the Holy Spirit, they are re-born.
And here is the incredible truth of the Gospel. That we can hide from God because of our shame, we can hide from him out of shame for our past, we can hide from him because of our bad habits and failures and weakness. But because he loves us so, so much, God will come and seek us out and find us, no matter how many locked doors we try and hide behind.
And he will not bring up the past, he will not make us wallow in shame or guilt, he won’t humiliate us. He will seek us out and he will find us, and he will say, “Peace be with you”. “It’s OK. I know. And it’s OK.”
The Easter story is an act of re-creation. It’s like he takes us back to Eden and says, “It’s OK. Let’s begin again”. It’s not too late – it’s alright – we can start again. One of the most amazing passages in Scripture is Revelation 3:20 where the Risen Christ says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” And Jesus knocks at the door of each of our hearts.
Perhaps because of what we know about ourselves, we don’t want to open the door to Jesus. Perhaps, like the disciples in this passage, we want to hide away and keep the door firmly locked. But that will not prevent the love of God reaching out to us.
More than anything else in the world, Jesus wants to stand before you and say, “Peace be with you”, and to breathe the Holy Spirit on and into you and bring you to new life. To give us a fresh start, a new beginning. Easter is all about new beginnings.
Shortly we will receive the Eucharist, the body of Christ who is the bread of life, a true and real symbol of forgiveness and a new beginning. Let this be the moment when we put it all behind us and we allow Jesus to breathe his Spirit on us and say to each one of us, “Peace be with you…Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Let me pray …