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visit us at www.mhbrink.com A4/15/07 Indignation or Graduation John 20:19-31 (NRSV) 19 When 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 for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” 24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah,the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. Have you ever had a meeting planned, but you weren’t exactly sure how the meeting was going to go? You know the type. Maybe your boss said he’d like to meet with you following your lunch, but he gave you no indication as to what type of a meeting it was going to be. You could be getting a promotion or a pink-slip, and you had no idea of know before hand which one it was going to be. Or maybe your spouse sat you down saying, “we need to talk.” You didn’t know if you needed to talk about this year’s summer vacation or something you did last summer which is just now catching up with you. In situations like this, not knowing is often more difficult than knowing. If you know what the topic of the conversation is going to be you can prepare yourself… you can keep yourself from thinking about the worse case scenario. I imagine not knowing is a situation each of us has been in from time to time. It’s an uncomfortable place to be. Sometimes we might prefer just locking ourselves in our room than facing the unknown. Locked away in your room, there’s a sense of security… a sense of protection. I imagine that’s what the disciples had in mind when they found themselves locked up in the house. Our passage picks up on Easter evening. For us, a week has passed since Easter morning, but for the disciples, only a few hours have passed since they first heard that Jesus had risen. It’s Easter evening and the disciples are locked in a house. Locked in a house? Doesn’t that seem a bit odd? Every year at about this time we read of how the disciples were locked up in the house, and every year it strikes me as odd. For me, this year was the first time I really noticed that it was Easter evening that the disciples were locked up, which makes the fact that they were locked all the more startling. For the disciples, it was the first Easter! Peter and John have seen the empty tomb! Mary has even seen the risen Jesus! What are they doing in a locked house… without Jesus? Their beloved friend and teacher who was killed only days ago is now reported to be alive and well. Why are they with him? Why aren’t they looking for him? Why are they doing anything besides locking themselves in a house? Our passage tells us why… Well, at least somewhat why. It tells us they were locked up for fear… fear of the Jews. And if this wasn’t the Bible, I’d have to say, “Now wait a minute. I can see that they were afraid, but I doubt that they were afraid of the Jews.” But this is the Bible, and since this is the Bible I believe they were afraid of the Jews. But no where does it say the only reason they were locked up was for fear of the Jews. So if the disciples were afraid of the Jews, what reasons might they have for this fear, since, if you’ll remember, they were Jews too. Did they have reason to be afraid of their own people? I suppose, when you think about it, they did. Perhaps a modern day example may help to clarify. Several years ago playing cards came out with the 52 people the US government would most like to get their hands on from the Middle East. Saddam Huisane was near the top, if not at the top, of those 52 people. He was one of the ring leaders, so to speak, but now that Saddam has been executed, I doubt those farther down the list, Saddam’s disciples if you will, can rest easy yet. They know the US is still out looking for them. Capturing those farther down the list may not be the US’s prime objective, but they still would if given the chance. Perhaps Jesus’ disciples were in a similar situation. For three years they had been regularly seen with Jesus and were known to consider Jesus as not only a friend, but also a teacher. The Jews had caught and killed Jesus, but if they wanted to make sure his ideas didn’t go any further, they would also have to capture those who agreed with the ideas of Jesus. Jesus’ disciples probably feared not only for their freedom, but even for their life. They had seen how the Jews had handled Jesus when given the chance, and I imagine none of the disciples wanted to find out what the Jews would do to them if given that chance. OK, so maybe the disciples fear of the Jews was well founded, but I have my doubts that fear of the Jews was the only reason the disciples were locked up. Whom else would the disciples have to be afraid of? What about the Romans? They were, after all, the ones who had carried out the order of execution, and now the tomb of the one they executed was empty. The Roman authorities would probably have expected grave robbers much as Mary, Peter, and John probably did, but the Roman’s first suspects of such a robbery probably would have been those people who had something to gain by faking Jesus’ resurrection. The Roman’s fist suspects probably would have been the disciples. I can only imagine that the disciples were afraid that once the Roman authorities found out about the empty grave that the Romans would be coming to them looking for anwers. Given the reputation of the Roman empire, the disciples had reason to be afraid of the possible ramifications of an empty grave meant for an executed criminal. But is there anyone else that the disciples might have been afraid of? Anyone else whom might have given them reason to be locked up in a house instead of looking for their beloved friend and teacher. What about their beloved friend and teacher? Did the disciples have a reason to be afraid of Jesus himself? Maybe he was the one Jew they were most afraid of. Why? Well, they had not been examples of true friendship over the last 3 or 4 days. Peter most notably, but every last disciple had deserted Jesus when he was taken into custody, abused, and finally killed. So long as Jesus was dead, the disciples only had to deal with the guilt that each one was placing on themselves. But if Jesus was risen from the dead as had been reported, a new level of guilt had to be dealt with. If the disciples are afraid of Jesus, it not only explains why they were locked up in a house, but it also explains why they’re not out looking for Jesus. Why would you go out looking for someone whom you’re afraid will find you? You wouldn’t. You’d take measures to make sure that person didn’t find you. Measures like locking yourself up in a house. The disciples may very well have been afraid of the Jews. The disciples may very well have been afraid of the Romans. But their fear of the Jews and the Romans wasn’t enough to keep them locked up when they first heard that the tomb was empty. Peter and John rushed immediately to see if it could really be true. But now that they know it is true, and Mary has reported that she had seen the risen Jesus, they have locked themselves away to try to prevent the encounter that I can only imagine the disciples knew would happen at one point or another. What would that encounter be like. Like that boss that would like to see you after lunch or the spouse who thinks you need to talk, I imagine each disciple had an idea in their mind as to what their encounter was with Jesus was going to be like… an encounter that none of them was much looking forward to. They had deserted their friend and teacher. They had deserted the one who had called them from being tax collectors and fishermen to being students under a great teacher. They had deserted the one who had given so much for them. When Jesus needed them most, they were no where to be found. They had been the definition or fair-weather-friends. Jesus had every reason to lay into them when he found them. He had every reason to all his indignation loose upon them. The disciples had the option of being faithful friend, but they had chosen the coward’s way out… now, I’m sure each one figured, they were going to get what was coming to them. While Jesus was often patient and loving, he also knew how to show his righteous anger toward those who should have known better. Those like the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And after 3 years of being with Jesus, the disciples probably fit into that list of people who should have known better too. And what about you and me. Are we in the group of people who should know better? Most of us have been Christians for many years, if not our whole life. We’ve been to countless church services and Bible studies. We went to Sunday School and Vacation Bible School when we were young. Most, if not all, of us know what sin is. We know that sin is anything that is contrary to the will of God. And most, if not all, of us know that we sin… we all sin much more than any of us want to or would like to admit. We can probably all relate to the disciples because we’ve been in their shoes. Much like the disciples knew that they should have stayed by Jesus’ side, we know that we should stay by Jesus’ side, but each of us at times leaves the side of Jesus to do our own thing. Each of us leave Jesus’ side at times and sin. And our reaction may often be like the reaction of the disciples. We lock ourselves up for fear of what Jesus’ reaction may be. Have you been their. You’ve sinned, you feel remorse for the sin, and you’re afraid to come back to Jesus. You’re afraid that Jesus has forgiven you so many times that he just couldn’t forgive you again. You’re afraid of what an encounter with Jesus is going to look like, so you lock up your soul and avoid him at all costs. But eventually, Christ always breaks through. For the disciples, he broke through a locked door. For you he may have to break through the doors of your heart. We’re all children of God. He loves us too much to give up on any of us that easily. He breaks in, and even though we may be expecting words of indignation, he speaks words of graduation. What do I mean? Look at this morning’s passage. Jesus first speaks words to put their fears at ease. He says “Peace be with you.” But then he moves on to a graduation ceremony of sorts (graduation as a beginning, not an end). Jesus has been the disciples’ teacher, and they have been the students, but with the words, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you,” they no longer have a teacher/student relationship, but rather the relationship of peers. Or in the words of John 15:15, we’re no longer servants, but friends. Jesus was sent into the world, the disciples were sent into the world, and you and I are sent into the world. We’ve messed up in the past, we’ve sinned, but that’s been paid for. Jesus doesn’t even mention instead. Instead he sends them and us to be his hands, mouth, and feet in the world. Our time learning about Jesus and his life, death, and resurrection has been time of training, but now we have graduated and we can take what we’ve learned out into the world. It can be hard coming to God and admitting our failures. But the fact is, he already knows what they are. He knows each and every sin you’ve ever committed, no matter how large or how small, but if you’re willing to simply agree with him that you have sinned, he’s eager to forgive and graduate you on to doing his work in the world. We may expect indignation, but God offers graduation to a life lived in service to him. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.