John 20:19
‘On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”
This is the opening verse in the Gospel reading set for this Second Sunday of Easter if you are involved with a Church that follows the RCL (Revised Comon Lectionary)
Contrast this when forty days later the Spirit fell upon
the disciple as recorded in Acts chapter 2.
Then they flung the doors wide and went out into the marketplace
praising God in languages unknown to them but known to their hearers.
Back to the Gospel set for today and verses 21-22 ‘Again
Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am
sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and
said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
(Note Trinitarian reference here)
What a transformation from locked doors to open
proclamation.
Locked doors and fear are a common and constant factor in
the ministry of Prison Fellowship. You simply cannot ignore it, and it is one
of the aspects of going into a prison that people remember. All the doors and gates
and keys and locks and security measure that are in place.
However, we are also very aware of other ‘locked doors’ borne of fear. I am reading a fabulous book at the moment that in many ways is so much fun. ‘At the Captain’s Table’ by Gervase Phinn. It is the story of a cruise liner and picks up the stories of the guests and the crew. Having been on a cruise it is easy to say, yes, I have met people like he describes them.
At first you find yourself laughing at the foibles of the characters that are introduced. However, with a superb writer’s skill Phinn gives you the back story to the lives of these characters. You begin to understand why some of them are ‘locked in’ and fearful of engagement or maybe even garrulous to the point of being annoying because when they were younger nobody listened to them or took them seriously. Therefore, as adults they have overcompensated and talk to anyone about anything to the point of becoming mind numbingly boring.
What fears might you have that have locked you in and
stopped you being all that God would have you be?
The Bible Project (www.bibleproject.com)
are just completing a set of studies on the overarching narrative of the
exodus. And if you thought that the Exodus was simply a story of the Jews
coming out of slavery in Egypt then if you engage with the Bible Project study
you will discover it is so much more than that. They track the exodus theme
from the way into slavery, the way out of slavery and the way into the promised
land.
This begins not in Egypt but in Eden. When Adam and Eve choose to make their own
choice it leads back into chaos, slavery and death.
And this theme is played out time and time again.
Then we come to Jesus – who has led the captives free by paying
the ransom that has brought us out of slavery, onto the way, through the desert
and out into the promised land. (The early Church was called ‘The Way!)
‘And with that he breathed on them and
said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
This was some days before the day of Pentecost so what was happening. Here is one way you might like to think about this. Jesus' breathing the Holy Spirit was like oil. Then at Pentecost that oil was ignited as the Spirit fell upon them. The Spirit falling upon the disciples at Pentecost was a sign and seal that they had indeed been filled with God’s Spirit. That the disciples were now the living temple filled with God’s Spirit and blazing with God's glory.
‘Do you not know that your bodies are
temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from
God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honour
God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6.19-20
And in this ‘temple’ there are many rooms. It can take a
long time for us to unlock all the rooms because of our fear of what’s in there
and to allow the Holy Spirit into that part of our lives.
Alan Redpath in his book, ‘The Making of a Man of God’
(about King David) wrote,
‘The conversion of a soul is the miracle of the moment; the
manufacture of a saint is the task of a lifetime.’
That journey begins when we look to the resurrected and
exalted Jesus who has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28.18) and
proclaim along with Thomas, ‘My Lord and my God.’
“The Gospel of Easter is very clear: we need to go back
there, to see Jesus risen, and to become witnesses of his Resurrection. This is
not to go back in time; it is not a kind of nostalgia. It is returning to our
first love, in order to receive the fire which Jesus has kindled in the world
and to bring that fire to all people, to the very ends of the earth.” (Pope
Francis, Easter Vigil Homily, 2014)
‘We need another Pentecost; we need to get out from behind the
locked doors of our fears, and so we pray, send the fire today’
https://youtu.be/6kNXZzPX1rw?si=p6Mw_LUR_iR7lMMv
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