April 27, 2025

Easter 2, Year C

John 20:19-31

Epiphany, Winnipeg

1. I’ve been kind of mean to the disciples over the years, you know. They’re in a room and the doors are locked because they’re afraid, and I’ve gone after them with a finely sharpened sarcastic edge for being afraid, and for hiding behind locked doors when the resurrection of their Lord should be inspiring them to leave the room…. And as I’ve made my snarky comments about the disciples, I’ve tried not to think about how often I can just feel afraid to leave the room.

Of course the disiciples are afraid. They’ve heard their friend Mary Magdalene tell them that she has seen Jesus, who just a few hours ago was still dead and in the tomb. How do you just believe that? They’re afraid of the religious leaders because those very leaders turned against Jesus and did what they could to have him handed over to death. What will they do if they find Jesus’ followers? I’m sure they’re afraid of the government and the police and the soldiers, because they all chipped in as well. What will they do if they find Jesus’ followers? They’re afraid of the crowds who wanted Jesus crucified. How could they not be afraid?

They’ve seen the worst that could happen as it happened to Jesus. And they know that it could happen to them too.

Maybe their fear is like the fear any Jew might feel when they step into a neighbourhood where swastikas are sprayed on synagogue doors, or that a Muslim might feel when they’ve been told again to go back home, even when home is Fort Richmond. It’s like the fear of a trans youth going through the school doors or the house doors, or the fear any of us might feel when we know that even a fun family street festival isn’t safe.

Maybe you know your own fears, out there or in here. Why even step out the door?

2. Jesus’ disciples are afraid, so the doors are locked.…And then, suddenly, Jesus is in the room. Now we might imagine Jesus miraculously passing through stone walls or big solid oak doors, but why couldn’t it be like this: you’re with the disciples, and you’re all afraid so you hurry into the room and close the doors and lock the doors before you get discovered. Then you turn around and you’re shocked to see that Jesus was already in the room…waiting for you…before you even got there. And when you see him there you begin to see that your worst fears for Jesus have not been realized, and that death has not won. And it begins to sink in that your worst fears and my worst fears and our worst fears might just not come true. And even if it seems that they do, they won’t win, because death will not win.

Then Jesus speaks peace right into the room, and breathes life and forgiveness into us, just as the breath of God brought life to all creation in the first place. And the fear begins to fade, and you look at the lock and wonder if the door even needs to be locked any more. And just as Jesus maybe started to see light coming through the crack in the door of the tomb as the stone was rolled away, we begin to see light finding its way in as the door of our own frightened and locked room starts to crack open.

It’s all these fears – the really big ones and the ones that might look small; all those fears that might keep us hiding and protected….and in that place where we go for refuge we find that Jesus is already there. And he speaks peace, and we see that death or hate or whatever we most fear will not win. And maybe the doors don’t need to stay locked, and we might be free to live and to act without the locked doors.

Because Jesus is already there, in locked rooms and closets and wide open spaces.

3. Look how all those events fall into place. Just a few days ago Jesus was in a locked room of his own – a tomb - not because he was afraid but because his life was taken from him and he was set down in his final resting place. But then the door was unlocked and he was set free. That very evening he goes to see the disciples who are in a locked room, a tomb of their own, and there’s great fear and all the doors are locked but Jesus is there with them, and he speaks peace and breathes his spirit into them. Eight days later, when he visits them again in the same room, the doors are not locked even if it’s still kind of scary, and Jesus is in the room.

The next time he appears to them – we’ll hear about it next week; stay tuned - there are no doors at all, and nobody is in a room with walls. They’re all at the beach. It’s true!

In the locked room, in the unlocked room, outside the room in the fresh seaside air, Jesus is right there.

4. Back at the start of the story, when Jesus first showed up in the room, there is someone who is not in the room with the others; his name, as we heard, is Thomas. There used to be twelve disciples, and now there are maybe only eleven left. Judas kind of cut himself off from the others, and now Thomas is not there. Why isn’t he there? Maybe he’s been hiding since this whole thing began. He’s in his own locked place with his own fear, all alone at another end of town. Or maybe he tried to get into this room where he knows his friends are, but he was a few minutes late and the fear just grew too strong for them and they closed the doors because they couldn’t wait any more. They couldn’t take the risk, even if it meant locking out an old friend.

Whatever the reason, Thomas isn’t in that frightened and locked room, and their community is incomplete and scattered. But the next time they’re together Thomas is there. Jesus has spoken peace and breathed forgiveness, and this time Thomas is there. Who knows, maybe he arrived late this time too, but the doors are unlocked so he just walked right in. The community is tasting some healing; they are being made one again.

This story is not really just about Thomas and whether he doubts or believes. It’s not about disciples who should really just have more courage.

It’s about the risen Christ who drives out fear: The real fears we have, often for good reason; the fears that we have for reasons we make up all on our own… These fears will not keep us locked up forever. Death won’t win, what we fear the most won’t win. For Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.

It’s about the risen Christ, who heals our communities and makes us whole again. Sometimes the community’s not quite right because someone’s missing – kids move away, mom and dad retire somewhere else, friends make their ways to other places…and something’s missing. But it’s more painful than all that too: Churches split sometimes and countries can come apart at the seams. Families do come apart; friends drift away or run away. Violence comes to a celebration of culture on a city street.. Our religion or our politics or our fears seem to keep us apart and it’s not all going to change overnight. But the risen Christ is always opening the doors and taking us towards healing. What might divide us or separate us or keep us apart – old hurts and fresh conflicts, the fears inside or outside that it’s so hard to let go – these won’t keep us apart forever. Because against all expectations, death will not win. It’s already lost.

6. It’s a long story we’ve been hearing all this time. It started way back at the beginning of Advent, when we started to hear the promise that there is this one who will come and who will bring healing and life to the people, to the world. There was a birth and a baptism as Jesus set off on his path right into the thick of everything that happens in our world. Some healings, some miracles like more wine at the wedding, some conflict and confusion, and lately we’ve heard of this suffering and dying and this rising to new life. Today we hear that this whole story has been told so that you and I and whoever hears this might believe, and that as we believe we will have life in Jesus’ name. Behind locked or unlocked doors, or out there in the open, we place ourselves in the love and the care of this one who breathes life into us and speaks peace to us; we have life in Jesus’ name.

And this is life in Jesus’ name: fear is being cast out. We might still feel it, we do still feel it, but it’s not going to have the last word. Broken community is being healed again, and peace is being breathed everywhere. The abundant life of the risen Christ is given: given for us, given to the world through us, given for all this world that God so dearly loves.

Perfect love of Christ is casting out fear, and the doors will not keep us in.