Unlocked

The Easter Story Continues

In our gospel reading for this Sunday, it really still is the very first Easter Sunday.  Jesus has just been raised from the dead.  He’s appeared briefly to a few followers in resurrected form.  A few others have heard that his body has disappeared from the tomb. Now it is evening on that first Easter day.  The disciples are in the house where they had previously met.  But this time we hear a unique detail – that the doors of this house are locked due to fear.

The disciples had much to fear at this point.  The Jewish religious leaders of the time, who had a hand in killing Jesus just days ago, will likely seek to put the disciples of Jesus to death now too.  Nearly as dangerous, these disciples could be punished for having been associated with Jesus.  Or, with the news of Jesus’ body no longer in the tomb, the disciples could be accused of stealing his body and be arrested.  So, there’s plenty to fear when you’ve been friends and followers of a man who’s just been crucified. And we all know fear immobilizes – it locks you in.  Have you ever been locked in a place of fear?  Do you know anyone else who is or has been?

We especially live in times where our fears are stirred.  Fears, real or imagined, find us at every turn.  Especially now.  And in some respect, we certainly should be somewhat fearful. There is a deadly virus spreading that, at this point, can’t be stopped or prevented.  Our bodies and minds are telling us there is something to fear.  And that’s ok.

Surprised by Fears

While I don’t know how it’s going for you, I find myself surprised sometimes when I experience flickers of genuine fear in unexpected moments.  When I swipe my debt card somewhere.  When I wash my hands after grocery shopping.  When my husband comes home after seeing patients at urgent care as he heads right to the shower.  Seriously, I’ve never previously had hints of fear about any of those things in the past.  But in this present time, those fleeting fears, that sound quirky when I say them aloud, are like those flickering fears that pass quickly over you too, I’m sure.

It’s when fear completely overwhelms and overtakes us, then our fear has taken an unhealthy turn emotionally and spiritually.  In her book, ANY DAY A BEAUTIFUL CHANGE, Katherine Pershey describes what it’s like to be locked into a prison of fear.  She writes: “Fear is a physiological response to tomorrow.  It is almost always about death.”  She continues, “Fear causes us to live in a perpetual state of anxiety.  Fear is exhausting and depressing.  Generally, the calamities I expect – do not come to pass.  So, I replace them with new ones.  Time and energy that could be used constructively, for prayer, for dishwashing, or for learning to quilt, – I sacrifice to cultivate apprehension (The Christian Century, “High Anxiety: The Terror of the Dark Unknown”, Mar 7, 2012, partial paraphrase).

Even before this current time of uncertainty we are living through, anxiety and fear have been so prevalent in the last decade.  It led one Christian writer to observe, “Sometimes I think we have more faith in our fears than we do in God, in the Risen Christ.

Locked In

So, have you ever been locked in by your fears? Of course, when someone or something is locked in, someone else has to be locked out.” (Locked In and Locked Out: Reflections on John 20, Alyce Mckenzie, April 1, 2013, pathos.com) What else or who else do you lock out because of fear?  People different from yourself?  Ideas that would clash with your own?  Challenges that could cause you to struggle?  Yes, all of these are real possibilities. But, For every person, event, or idea we lock out, we lock ourselves in.  Every time we shut the doors of our life, our mind, or our heart, we imprison ourselves.   We do this individually and we do this together as the church.  That’s what happened to the disciples in today’s gospel.

Yet, it was precisely to these fearful, anxious disciples – that the risen Christ appeared.  The good news – for the disciples – and for us – is that there are no walls thick enough to block the entry of the Risen Christ into the center of our fears.

Jesus moves through locked walls.  He greets his friends with peace 3 times in this gospel.  It’s a peace that doesn’t mean “calm down and stay put.”  Instead, to receive Jesus’ peace is to receive an understanding that affirms that God brings new life -even in the midst of fear and difficulty.  It’s a peace that grounds those who believe in Jesus.  That peace literally comes from the breath of Christ.  It’s the breath that comes to us through the Holy Spirit.  And that breath carries to us a peace that passes all understanding.  A peace that enters so deeply into us that we can move out of the places in which we are locked and even extend Christ’s peace to others.

After Jesus greets his disciples with peace, he shows them his hands and his side.  Jesus’ wounds invite us to think that Jesus should be dead, yet here he stands alive.  So, with His wounds still visible, when the resurrected Jesus says, “Peace be with you”, he shows that his new love and life, don’t remove those circumstances that cause us to be afraid.  But, His peace promises to enter into those fearful circumstances WITH US, to unlock the doors of fear that threaten to hold us back.  “Peace be with you as you continue to grieve.  Peace be with you as you discover what “new life” looks like.  Peace be with you as you learn to curb your anger.  Peace be with you as you open yourself to the possibility of love.  Peace be with you as you courageously look into another person’s eyes.  Peace be with you as you take a deep breath and respond differently.  Peace be with you as you reach out and touch and see — this is how Jesus shows love.  Peace be with you as you practice resurrection.” (Peace Be With You – Sermon Rev. Anna Woofenden 4/3/2016, gardenchurchsp.org)

The resurrected Jesus breathed peace and the Holy Spirit into his disciples.  Then he sent them out of their locked room to be signs of Christ’s peace, forgiveness, and new life in a community that still held danger for these witnesses.  As they slowly emerged to practice resurrection, more people came to faith by what they saw and heard from this small group of individuals who revealed a peace that passed all understanding.

How, as a community of disciples, will we offer Christ’s peace to ALL who have yet to encounter it?

Peace be with You

Two years ago, during Holy Week, I heard from a seminary friend.  He had just received news of a diagnosis of stage 4 non-smoking lung cancer aggressively attacking his middle-aged body.  While I was shocked by his news, I can’t imagine the shock he experienced.  Yet he was a lifelong, faith practicing, church community connected Christian.  He was not unrealistic about his new diagnosis, but he also faced, and still faces, that sobering news by refusing to be locked in fear.

On the eve of a major procedure, two years ago this friend wrote this on his Caringbridge page: “Each morning as I awake, I’m focused on mercy.  An underserved gift awaiting us on arising.  You and I do nothing to get it.  We don’t deserve it.  But it’s there – and given the turn in my life, I grab on to it before anything diverts my attention or energy.  I try to let mercy inform my thoughts, words, actions and responses to people.  And at the end of the day, I reflect back to see how that mercy has been tenaciously holding me in ways I never could have predicted or scripted. Today was one of those days.  I’m reminded of the Bible passage from Lamentations 3:22-23 ‘ The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness!’”  My friend concluded by writing, “I hope tomorrow you are overwhelmed with mercy as your day starts.  I’ll already be down the path …”.  Then he signed his name, Kurt.  (3/26/18)

That’s living with Jesus’ greeting “Peace be with you”.  That’s allowing the breath of Jesus’ life-giving spirit to pulse through you.  That’s sharing Christ’s mercy, peace, life, and hope with others, as a witness and inspiration.

Thanks to the risen Christ, we no longer need be locked behind the doors of fear.  We are released in the peace that only Jesus Christ can bring – so we can share that peace with others.  For Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!  AMEN.