Jesus Walks Through Locked Doors

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

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. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

There’s something striking about the John 20:19-23 story of frightened disciples hiding behind locked doors only to discover the resurrected Jesus in the room.

What were they hiding from? The text suggests these followers of Jesus were guarding their lives from the same people who had put Jesus to death in the week before. They were keeping out ‘The Jews’.

And Jesus appears suddenly, saying to them, “Peace be with you”.

But probably not in the high church sense with a carefully waved hand. I think he was more likely to greet them with a throaty ‘Shalom!’. Like in Shalom – the Neurotrash.com spoof of Budweiser’s Wassup ads. And then he shows them the wounds. This was not likely to be some ghostly mystical experience. From the text it reads more like a jubilant reunion.

Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit into these disciples and tells them they must forgive sins. I think they all would have particular sins and particular people in mind. The people who had put Jesus through all his suffering and ultimate death. Fear and bitterness were threatening to stifle any sense of life. Without the life-giving Spirit of God in them, and without the will to forgive, they would spend the rest of their days behind locked doors.

It strikes me that we still have the potential to spend time behind locked doors. I see it happening when I turn up at some Christian gatherings. I’m treated with suspicion until people are convinced that I have the right language and the right doctrine. If that’s how a Christian of 40 years is regarded then how would a rank outsider be treated? There’s more focus on keeping the gospel pure than giving the gospel away to people who need it most. Usually I find that there’s an experience of hurt behind the attitude of suspicion.

I preached on this passage on Anzac Day back in 2001. I encouraged people to learn the lessons learnt by people in the trenches at Gallipoli. Nationality, at the end of the day, is not our defining mark. It is our inner attitude towards others that changes who we are. The Australians and New Zealanders learned to work with one another – becoming known as one unit, the ANZACs, the Australian New Zealand Armed Corps. It still puzzles me that on this day Australians seem oblivious to the fact that there were New Zealanders involved!

It was at Gallipoli that the British and their southern Colonialists realised that Southern Europeans were just as skilled at soldiery. A mutual respect was developed in the middle of a tragic prolonged battle. The Turkish people have shown an incredible grace and generosity in forgiving the nations who attempted to invade their land. Australians and New Zealanders who travel to Gallipoli in Turkey today will not be treated with harshness. Indeed they are welcomed with warmth and respect. That’s the attitude Jesus came to give his beseiged followers.

At the heart of this is identity. Do we find our identity by naming and keeping out the enemy? Or do we find it in sharing the capacity of Jesus to forgive those who killed him?