Sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Easter

"When it was evening…and the doors were locked…Jesus stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.'"(John 20:19)

Why were the doors locked? They had heard the greatest possible news from Mary Magdalene. Jesus is alive! He has conquered death! What can we possibly have to fear? And yet they were still afraid? Perhaps the Romans were looking for any of Jesus’ followers to deal with them in the same way they had dealt with Jesus. Maybe the Jewish leaders would assume that they had broken into the tomb and taken Jesus’ body. After all, Mary’s first assumption had been that the body had been moved. It would only be natural for suspicion to fall on those closest to Jesus.

And assume for a brief moment that what Mary has said is true. She’s a woman. Her testimony is worthless in any legal or otherwise public context. And who’s going to believe something so outrageous?! Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. And what was the response? The chief priests made plans to out Lazarus to death as well. Whatever had happened to Jesus, nothing else in his disciples’ world seems to have changed. Not the resistance of the Jewish leaders, not the willingness of the Romans to crucify anyone daring to challenge their absolute authority.
And so there they are, still fearing for their fate, a fate over which they have no control.

And how does Jesus respond to this timidity and fear. How does he respond to their closing the door in Mary's, and by extension, his face? Does he satisfy himself with Mary’s faithful response? Does he wash his hands of the rest of them? No. He breaks through the doors of their fear and hopelessness. He opens the doors of their fearful hearts and gives them “Peace.”

Jesus does not promise his disciples, then or now, security or control over their fate. “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33). What he promises is peace. Peace that frees us from fear and the need to control. With the peace of Christ, we can open the doors to the risen Christ in whatever way and form he comes in. We can venture out beyond these doors and try new things. And every success, every cause for joy, as well as every conflict and every failure will be lifted up by Jesus just as he himself was lifted up on the cross, so that nothing would be beyond God’s power of redemption.

Control and fear equal closed doors. Open doors equal Peace.

Our first mission as a Parish is to “respond to God by becoming a visible and outward sign of Christ.” We become that visible and outward sign through our beautiful and timeless liturgy. But then we have to open the doors so that others can see the light of Christ shining from the holy place.

And we must look for Jesus beyond the open door. Jesus is here, every Sunday, just as he was with his first disciples. But he is also in our community in ways that may not seem obvious to us, just as his appearance to Mary was not obvious. We will not determine our mission by fashioning an agenda, or a to-do list, or by waiting for someone to give us orders. We must look for what God is already doing in our midst, and then jump in to help.

The mission of this Parish is not for us to decide. Just as Jesus sent his disciples then, so he sends his disciples today. Our task is to discern which way God is blowing. Open the doors so that Christ may come in. Open the doors so that Christ can get out.