Message: Closed off then Released
Even after the good news of the resurrection reached the disciples, when Mary Magdeline returned from the tomb with the message, ‘I have seen the Lord’ and told them all about what Jesus had said to her (‘I am going to your Father and my Father, your God and my God’), the disciples are behind locked doors in fear. They are closed off to the wider world, except Thomas who was not with them in that moment.
The disciples have been through it. They have seen Jesus teach and heal, challenge and comfort. They saw the Jerusalem entrance on a donkey and the ancient cries of Hosanna (Save us, we pray). They have seen the branches waving. They saw the tables turned over. They heard the religious leaders grumbling and Jesus challenge them. They saw the healings and the crowds. They smelt the costly perfume and city awaiting festival. They felt the water of Jesus washing their feet. They tasted and saw the bread and wine Jesus blessed and shared with them. They looked in the eyes of each other wondering who would betray. They slept in the garden while Jesus prayed. They witnessed his arrest. They fled for fear. They heard the cries of crucify and the torture. Some of them watched Jesus’s suffering and death. Some closed themselves behind locked doors. Some closed themselves behind the barrier of hardened hearts and confusion of what was to come next.
When you are going through something, facing a challenge, adjusting to an upheaval, making sense of the unexpected and unanticipated, what words speak to you, and what phrases do you call to mind in the midst and in the aftermath of such events?
‘This too shall pass’
‘Its not the end of the world.’
‘I got this’
‘I’m stronger than I know.’
‘Everything happens for a reason.’
Some of these phrases along with many others can come from seemingly good places to help us when the world seems to be closing in upon us or life seeks to overwhelm us.
However, many of the phrases we call to mind and may even say to each other in great transitions and upheavals do not speak to the depth of what we sometimes need to help us be released from that which has us hiding behind locked and closed doors. Church speak (the language we sometimes fall into when we don’t know what to say or are uncomfortable) can be detrimental to others around us especially when they are ’going through it’ or facing something or wrestling with challenging times and even wondering about what it means to be a faithful follower of Jesus. I am treading gently today because the words we speak especially in times of stress, strain, and great emotion hold more meaning than sometimes what we intend. Words spoken into times and places have power to comfort and challenge, encourage and enrage, build up and tear down. Our words have power whether we speak them to ourselves or to others. Words spoken to us and by us matter sometimes more than we can ever know or control.
Here is why I appreciate those moments and times when in scripture and through prayer and wrestling, words come to mind that give life where it is needed most and help to refine and discern when a way is not clear, yet.
Jesus’s friends knew many of the phrases from the psalms and teachings passed down through generations. Many present day followers of Jesus also know these phrases and sometimes employ them when a word is needed, but sometime apply them in ways that lock more doors and shut down flourishing. I have had words spoken to me in the way of helping to release and in a way that seeks to destroy. Words I have used have helped heal and have hurt, and I know this.
Here behind locked doors closed off from the outside world, John speaks words into the experience of the disciples who were going through it. John recalls the timing and the scene into which the risen Jesus meets his disciples. Jesus in the garden speaks Mary’s name and sends her with the good news to the disciples and then later he comes to the locked room and speaks these words to them, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I send you.’ John doesn’t record Jesus scolding them (even Thomas who had to wait another week) for hiding away, but gives them a word of release. Jesus sends them out, like Mary had been sent with the good news to them. Additionally, Jesus first gives them a blessing of Peace – wholeness, renewal, strength, presence, comfort, courage. This isn’t the first time Jesus speaks a word of peace over his friends and in their minds, it wasn’t the last time they probably heard his voice say in their hearts, ‘Peace be with you.’ I know these words from Jesus are ones I have recalled many times and were ones that helped me immensely through the Easter of 2020 in the upheaval and strain of change.
While these words have indeed brought comfort, they are only the start and part of the whole message. The peace Jesus shared and continues to share with those who follow is not for peace that is parked behind a closed door hidden away, but a peace that releases us to engage in the sending out into a world that needs the good news of God’s great love that heals and helps, challenges and comforts, brings good news to the poor and release to the captive. Jesus’s peace that comes from God Almighty stirs our hearts from behind the walls we build. As we hear of the disciples and of Thomas having to wait, we remember that words spoken and shared connect us to where we have been and where we are going. Jesus knew the words spoken and shared in different situation and with different people would be heard and received differently and we as his followers are learning each day we seek to be guided in our words and in our actions to be more like Jesus.
May God’s own peace be with us in our facing of the challenges of our days. May God’s peace and presence speaks words into our lives and through our lives so that God’s kingdom would be known. May Jesus’s appearance and words to his disciples inspire and challenge us to seek to welcome our risen saviour into those locked rooms we inhabit in order to be released with ‘peace’ and a calling to share with others what we have seen and known of Christ.
Long ago, Jesus’s followers had been through quite a lot and were sent out with Good News. In our days, we may face many challenges and struggles but we too seek to hear Jesus’s words ‘Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I send you.’ May the doors of our lives and our hearts not be locked or filled with throw away comments but released with Good News for others. May we discern and decide how our experiences and our words embody who we have known in Christ and who we are becoming as Jesus followers. May we receive God’s own peace and the gift of the Holy Spirit to live renewed, released and sent as witnesses.
‘Peace be with you.’
Prayers from Roots for Churches:
Here we stand at the door and knock:
open our hearts to your love.
Here we hesitate and doubt:
open our minds to your truth.
Here we hide in fear and pain:
open our spirit to your peace.
Here we gather in doubt and joy:
open our lives to welcome all.
Amen.
A prayer of adoration
Father God, creator of all things, you existed before the world began.
You are with us today. You are the future.
Our hearts adore you.
Jesus, all powerful king, you won the battle of the cross
and swapped your crown of thorns for heaven’s throne.
Now you are exalted and reign in victory.
All glory and power are yours.
Our hearts adore you.
Holy Spirit, breath of God, you are with us,
stirring hearts and opening truth.
Our hearts adore you.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you unlocked our hearts to receive you.
Through you we have life with a capital L.
Our hearts adore you.
Amen.
A prayer of confession
Lord God, you call us to be witnesses for you
but very often fear holds us back –
fear of speaking out and being made to look a fool, or,
even worse, imprisoned, as many are in other countries.
Lord God, we’re sorry when we allow our fears to dominate.
Sometimes, like Thomas,
we need to see evidence of your promises before our fears subside.
Lord God, locked doors mean nothing to you but we often hang on to the key,
not wanting to face what lurks on the other side of the door;
sometimes unable to forgive ourselves for past actions.
Lord God, unlock any areas of our lives that we may not have dealt with.
We’re sorry, Lord. Fling wide the doors.
Breathe on us afresh with your peace, we pray.
Amen.
Prayers of intercession
We think of the saints who have served and shared the faith of God over generations.
So we remember Pope Francis, who died and all who are mourning. We give thanks to you, our God, for his gentleness and humility. We give thanks to you for his calm and wisdom in leading millions of worshippers across the world. We give thanks to you for the ways he worked with other churches to bring Christian unity, and we give thanks to you for his voice speaking out for peace, kindness and love in our world.
Following his example, and knowing the joy of the risen Christ in our hearts, we pray that you will show us how we can follow the example of Pope Francis and other Christian leaders in our daily lives.
May we be your witnesses,
May we unlock your love.
We think of our country and our community, for those in desperation and those in need.
So we remember those who are facing homelessness, poverty and despair. We pray to you, our God, for those who seem on the margins, those who have been forgotten, and those who have not had the chances in life that we enjoy. We pray for those who have given way to addiction, or those who have developed lives of crime. We pray for those who are worried about cuts in benefits or losing their jobs. We pray to you that even those at the end of all hope will find hope in you.
Following the example of Jesus, we pray that you will show each one of us what we can do to help those who seem beyond help, and how we as a church community carrying the name of the risen Christ can make a difference.
May we be your witnesses,
May we unlock your love.
We think of the world and all the countries in it, and we pray for financial calm and for peace.
We remember the difficulties the world is facing as it looks to the future, with money in the hands of the few, financial crises, and worries about savings and investments. We pray to you, our God, for wisdom to be given to those who make the big decisions in our world, that they would fully understand the global consequences of their actions. We pray to you for those continuing conflicts in Sudan, the Middle East and Ukraine, and the attempts to bring calm. We pray to you for all those innocent people caught up in horror and violence, that they would be comforted by the knowledge that Jesus suffered, and you heal.
Following the life of peace that Jesus led, we pray that we would be people of wisdom and peace in our homes, schools, colleges, churches and workplaces, thinking through our decisions and working for the good of all people.
May we be your witnesses,
May we unlock your love.
We think of those known to us who are in need right now, and we bring our own needs to God.
So we remember those in our families and our church family who are sick, lost, or lonely at this time. We pray to you, our God, for your love and comfort to surround them as a good parent protects their children. We pray that they would know the power of your Spirit in bringing healing, and the warmth of your love in bringing comfort. We pray to you that you would help with the decisions that people have to make, the hardships they face, and the mourning they endure.
We remember ourselves, as we reflect on the Easter story and look back a week to the joyous resurrection of Jesus. Now, as we read of how the disciples and others met Jesus afresh and believed in him, we pray to you that we would meet Jesus in a new way. May we all be filled with the Holy Spirit to live and serve others.
May we be your witnesses,
May we unlock your love.
A sending out prayer
Let us go out with laughter
to spread God’s joy.
Let us go out with passion
to spread God’s truth.
Let us go out with compassion
to spread God’s healing.
Let us go out with love
to spread God’s peace.
Amen.