John 20:19-23 – Let My Love Open the Door
So I’m told of a man who had been visiting a therapist because he had had a fear of monsters living under his bed. The man had been seeing this doctor for months, and every time he would come in, the doctor would ask, "Have you made any progress?" And every time the man would say "no".
The man decided to go and see another doctor. Well, when he went back to his first doctor, and the doctor asked the usual question, "Have you made any progress?", this time the man said, "Yes, I am feeling all better now. I don’t fear monsters under my bed anymore." Well, the doctor asked, "What happened?"
The man said, "I went to another doctor, and he cured me in one session.” The doctor asked, "What did he tell you?" The man said, "He just told me to cut the legs off my bed".
Today we are continuing our series called I Serve a Risen Saviour: Studies in John 20-21. We find ourselves in v19-23, which tells of Jesus, the once-dead Saviour and the alive-forevermore King, showing up to His disciples. They have locked themselves into a room, and they really are confused about what has been happening. Some people had been seeing Jesus – Mary Magdalene, a couple of disciples on the road to town called Emmaus, and even Peter – all had said they had seen the risen Jesus. But rumours and reports of what Jesus has done for others doesn’t compare at all to experiencing Him yourself. Let’s watch this section of scripture from the Gospel of John movie, using the Good News Bible word-for-word. And just to let you know, if any of you are fans of the TV show “Lost”, yes, that’s Desmond playing the role of Jesus.
The passage starts off with the picture of Jesus’ followers hiding out. The doors are locked shut because they are afraid. Now, I want to come back to this thought. It’s the first day; it’s what we call Easter Sunday or Resurrection Day. It’s the 1st day of the week, and Jesus had been killed only 2 days before. Now, something you have to understand about death: it’s usually permanent. The disciples were not expecting Jesus to be seen again. They were in shock about it. No wonder the first words were: “Peace be with you.” As in, it’s OK. Relax. You’re not hallucinating, and you don’t need to be afraid of me. He showed them His hands, and His side where the spear had pierced Him.
And He gives them some directions. In fact, He gives them 3 gifts. The 1st was the gift of peace. Peace, in the mind of Jesus, was not the absence of conflict. He was not offering a struggle-free life. He had said to them earlier, as John 14 tells us, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” That is, in the world, peace is about a lack of wars. The peace that Jesus gives is a sense of well-being in our hearts. It’s a sense that even though we are going through hard times, God is still with us. It’s a deep heart knowledge that no matter what we go through, God’s in control. That’s real, meaningful, lasting peace. That’s the 1st gift Jesus gave them… and us, for that matter.
The 2nd gift was the gift of purpose. “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” Each of us has a purpose, a reason why we are here. At prayer meeting the other night, someone shared about a loved one who just wanted to go be with Jesus in heaven. And she asked her pastor, “Why won’t God just take me yet?” And the pastor said, “Because I love seeing your face looking back at me every Sunday, and I would miss that.” Folks, you are here for a reason. You are here to live for Him in front of your family, your co-workers, your loved ones, and all those around you. You are here because God wants you here… period. Your job, your mission, is to glorify God – to worship, to adore, to lift up, to point people to… God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” That’s why you are here.
Pointing people to God was part of what Jesus meant when He said, “If you forgive people of their sins, they are forgiven; if you don’t, they’re not.” That sounds a lot like we decide if a person is forgiven or not. Not really. It means that we share the good news. We say, if you ask Jesus to forgive you, and you believe that He died and rose again, and you ask Him to give you a new start in life, and you want to live for Him, then you’re forgiven. Not because we say so, but because Jesus said so. It’s not about granting forgiveness – it’s about announcing it. Helping people reach out to God is part of our purpose to bring glory to Him.
The 3rd gift was a gift of His presence. The Holy Spirit, coming and filling and cleansing us. The Holy Spirit, living in the hearts of believers, giving us power to rise above sins, and to live godly lives. The Holy Spirit, giving us the words to say when we need them. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead, living in our hearts, changing us, giving us all the power we need to live for Him. Not just coming upon us as He did to people in the OT when a mission was to be accomplished, but coming into us, making us His home. That's quite a gift.
This is for us today as well, not just for the band of believers huddled together in a room almost 2000 years ago. But our problem is often the same as theirs. Fear. They were afraid they would be taken by the same people who had the Lord crucified. They had the doors locked because of fear. And I wonder… do we lock the doors of our hearts for the same reasons?
We lock our heart’s door for fear of rejection. What if people don’t like who I am? What if people don’t like what I offer to a conversation? What if people don’t want me around? And we don’t try something new because we’re afraid of the consequences.
We lock our heart’s door for fear of what others will say or think. What if they think I’m crazy? What if they think I’ve gone off the deep end? What if they think I’m too radical? What if they try to squash all my hopes and plans?
We lock our heart’s door for fear of getting hurt. What if I step out there, and then get my heart broken? What if I try to make peace, but they reject me? What if I try to fix things, but make things worse? What if I go out on a limb, but fall off the branch?
We lock our heart’s door for fear of realizing we were wrong. What if I come to the conclusion that it was my fault, not someone else’s? What if I feel guilty for my part in the problem? What if I come to realize that I was wrong, I was sinful, I blamed others, but I’m the one who needs forgiveness?
We lock our heart’s door for fear of exposing our own sins. It wasn’t them that messed up; it was me. What if we realize that we have blamed someone else all this time, but it fact, I’m the one to blame? John 3:20 is an interesting verse: “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” Very often, people stay away from church because they don’t want to admit they are wrong, and it’s much easier to put the blame on so-called hypocrites as the reason.
We lock our heart’s door for fear of being humbled. Man, it hurts to realize that we’re not as important as we thought. We’re not as right as we thought. We’re not as talented as we thought. These things hurt. And we’re afraid of finding things out about ourselves.
We lock our heart’s door for fear of being betrayed. Note who was hiding. Jesus’ disciples, who were Jews. Note of whom they were afraid. The Jews. They were afraid of their own people, their own family. Sometimes betrayal from our own hurts the worst. Did I say, “sometimes”? No, betrayal by people we love hurts so much. And we have been burned so many times, that we build walls, and lock the doors, and keep people out.
Fear cripples. Fear strangles. Fear holds us back from doing what God wants for us. We you make decisions based on fear, you’re not acting on faith. Now I don’t mean bungee jumping or skydiving, things that God probably doesn’t care either way. And I don’t mean eating raw bacon or riding on the top of a moving car, things that God would call foolish. I mean, things like serving in the church, or going to share your faith, or beginning to tithe, or lifting your hand when you worship Him, or forgiving someone, or going to someone and asking for forgiveness, or quitting your job because God is leading you elsewhere. I mean, things that you really believe that God is leading you to do.
If you do things, or not do things, based on fear and not faith, you are missing out on what God has in store for you. I have a couple of thoughts for you from this passage. I can say, realize that Jesus is with you. If He called you to do something, be guaranteed that He’ll be with you through. I can also say, remember His example. When He appeared behind the locked doors, He showed them His hands and His side. He said, “Look! I overcame the obstacles set before me. You can too!”
But in the end, it’s up to you. I would say, let Jesus come in. Pray something like this: “Lord, I know and You know about my locked doors, the way I’ve kept people out, the way I’ve tried to keep You out, all because of fear. But I want to let You in. I want to walk in faith, not fear. I want You to come past my closed doors, and set me free from my fears. Bring me the gift of peace. Help me live out my purpose. And help me sense Your presence. Help me, Lord. Amen.”
