“It was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked (1) for fear of the Jews. The room they were in was locked for fear of the jews.” For fear of the jews...

"Fear Not" - Pastor Cindy Bullock

I ask you... who killed Jesus? Who nailed him to a cross and watched him die? It was the Romans. The Romans who occupied Jerusalem with their warriors and their war horses. It was the Romans who crucified criminals and troublemakers. It was the Romans who rounded up anyone who was associated with said criminals and troublemakers and got rid of them too.

The disciples should have been afraid of the Romans. But John says they were afraid of the Jews. The Jews were their own people - their peers. The folks they lived with, worked with, saw down at the corner market. The people they saw at church... well, the temple. They were afraid of the Jews. (2) Isn’t that always the way. We’re afraid of the people we know best. Afraid they’ll learn our secrets, afraid they’ll see our weaknesses. We don’t want to disappoint our friends. It’s one thing to fail in front of strangers we’ll never see again, it’s a whole different thing to fail in front of our friends. Or look foolish or seem weak.

Don’t we all hide behind locked doors? Don’t we keep the very center of our being safe and hidden in the presence of our peers. (3) Garrison Keillor said, "We always have a backstage view of ourselves." We let the audience see only the neatly arranged stage. But behind the curtain all kinds of things are lying around: All those parts of ourselves we’re uncomfortable with, ashamed of, or don’t think is good enough we hide... behind the curtain or behind locked doors.

That’s where the disciples were. They had failed. Not because they were Jesus’ disciples and now he was dead... but because they stopped being his disciples there at the end... and now he wasn’t dead. What do you do when you’ve abandoned someone... left him to torture and death... turned away from everything he’d ever taught you... and let him die. And now you hear he’s risen from the dead... what do you do? You lock yourself away and hope he can’t find you.

And then Jesus appears... (4) in the locked room.... Can you just imagine? Can you imagine the sheer terror, the guilt, the shame. And Jesus says “Peace be with you.” Here are men who have failed... but failure is not final. Failure doesn’t end everything. The future can change. The future can be redeemed. You can feel destroyed in the present... but that is not final.

And it’s interesting that Jesus uses the words, “Peace be with you.” Usually in the scriptures when something amazing is happening, you hear (5) “Fear not!” It’s all over the bible....Here are a few:

¥ Luke 2: But the angel said to them, "Fear not. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”

¥ Genesis 15: “After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."

¥ Isaiah 43: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

¥ Jeremiah 46: “Fear not, O Jacob my servant, for I am with you," declares the Lord.

¥ Luke 1: “But the angel said to her, "Fear not, Mary, you have found favor with God.”

All told, the phrases, fear not, do not fear, or do not be afraid appear 101 times throughout the scriptures, from the beginning to the end. That’s not what Jesus said. He said, (6) “Peace be with you.”

“Peace be with you” appears exactly 4 times. All spoken by Jesus. All after he was raised from the dead. All to the disciples. Jesus doesn’t come into this locked room with scared disciples and say, “Don’t be afraid, it will be okay.” Jesus gives them a blessing: “ Peace be with you: Peace, wholeness, completeness, healing. Jesus blesses them and prepares them for what’s next... “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I send you.”

What if Jesus came to you? What if Jesus entered your locked rooms, what if he said, “Peace be with you.” What if he starts a healing in you, moves you away from fear or disappointment, opens up new possibilities, brings you resurrection. What if Jesus entered the locked rooms of your life?

(7) What if he didn’t. Thomas wasn’t there when Jesus came. In one of the saddest, loneliest scenes of scripture, the disciples descend on him with, “We’ve seen the Lord!” How alone he must have been. How disappointed and left out. Why didn’t Jesus wait til he got back? Why was he the one who couldn’t see the Lord?

Thomas cries out in his pain: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, I won’t believe." If Jesus doesn’t know the pain I know. If he doesn’t know what it’s like to want to lock yourself away and never come out. If he never felt the anger and the loneliness and the heartbreak I know. I won’t believe in him.

Don’t we all want God to know what we’re going through? Don’t we want God to know what it’s like to be really human? Easter is full of trumpets and lilies and new clothes and “Alleluia!” Is that all there is to Easter? What does that say to Monday morning? We need a God for the real world. Thomas needed a God for the real world.

A week later, we find the disciples in the house again. Behind closed doors again. (8) In fact they’re locked again. If you look at the original language, the words translated locked and shut are the same word. Somehow, no one’s faith seemed to last. They’re all back behind locked doors. They all needed to see Jesus again. And Jesus came.

And Jesus said (what?) “Peace be with you.” Not, “You guys are hopeless” or “Can’t you guys ever get it right?. “Peace be with you. And he shows them the wounds. Because the wounds are where faith starts. When Jesus comes into the locked rooms of our lives -- into the dark, lonely abandoned places, and says, “I know, I understand. And I can show you the way to resurrection.”

When Thomas touches Jesus wounds and Jesus touches Thomas’ wounds, then Thomas is able to say, “My Lord and My God.”

(9) May we each know what it’s like to have Jesus enter our locked rooms... the hidden and dark places of our lives. May we each hear him say, “Peace be with you.” And may we each know what it means to find the way to resurrection. Amen.

GUIDED BY THE GOSPEL: GATHERING • GROWING • GIVING