2nd Easter
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| Rembrandt, Wikicommons |
John 20: 19-29
On the evening of the first day after the Sabbath, the
disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the authorities.
Jesus came and stood in their midst and said,
“Peace be with you!”
And while he said this, he showed them his hands and his
side.
Full of joy the disciples recognized the Lord. And again he
said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”
And when he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive
Holy Spirit through which the world will receive healing. From now on you shall
work in human destinies with spiritual power, so that they shall have the
strength to wrest themselves free from the load of sin, and at the same time to
bear the consequences of their offences.”
Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not
there with them when Jesus came. Later the disciples said to him, “We have seen
the Lord.”
But he replied, “If I do not see in his hand the marks of
the nails, and do not put my finger in the place where the nails were, and
place my hand in his side, I cannot believe it.”
Eight days later, the disciples were again gathered in the
inner room and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came
and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Stretch out your finger and see my
hands, and stretch out your hand and put it into my side. Be not rigid in your
heart, but rather feel and trust in my power in your heart.”
Then Thomas said to him, “You are the Lord of my soul; you
are the God whom I serve.”
And Jesus said to him, “Have you found my power in yourself
because you have seen me? Blessed are those who find my power in their hearts,
even when their eye does not yet see me.”
2nd Easter
April 12, 2015
John 20: 19 – 29
A door presupposes a wall. The door frame, the threshold, is
an opening in what is otherwise a barrier between one side and the other. But the door itself can be opened or closed,
even locked. It is a metaphor for choice: Open? Closed? When locked it becomes
like the wall itself – a barrier.
The disciples had kept
the doors lock for fear of the authorities. The locked doors were also
metaphors for state of their hearts locked in fear. But Christ had said of
Himself, “I AM the Door.” He himself
became the entrance to the locked room, to their closed hearts. He enters the
room, enters them, bringing with him a deep atmosphere of peace. And the
disciples recognize and receive His healing spirit.
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| Wm. Holman Hunt, wikicommons |
Eight days later he will show to Thomas other more intimate
doorways. He will show him His own wounds, the doorways through which He was
assaulted. He accepted them, suffered them, so that in His descent into hell, they
too could be transformed into doorways of light. Light, warmth and life now
radiate from His wounds, light that can germinate trust within human hearts,
light for our path forward. And so the poet advises us:
Open the door of your
heartaches.
And step through the door of
your betrayal.
Pass through the hole that is
left in your heart
Pass through because it is a
door.
… Open the door.
….
Anything that needs us, or calls
us to God is a door.
…Open the door.
….
Same old story –all strong souls
all first go to hell
Before they do the healing of
the world they came here for.
Open the door.[1]
