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John 20:19-23 Well, we’re in week 5 of 6 in our series about Peter, and while we’ve been talking about the redemption of Peter and how God was shaping and molding him into a great disciple, we hear in our gospel story this morning yet another time when Peter messed up. Only this time, it wasn’t just Peter who screwed up – it was all of the disciples. And it could well include all of us – a multitude of sins, if you will. As the story begins, the disciples are living in fear – fear of the outside world, fear of what the world might do to them, fear of what has already happened, and fear of the future. This kind of fear is the opposite of faith and is not the kind of fear that the Bible talks about when it says to fear and love God above all else. This fear was a prison for the disciples and was paralyzing them and they weren’t accomplishing what God wanted them to. This kind of fear was our congregation’s #1 enemy several years ago, and it’s a testament to God’s grace that it didn’t get the better of us because if it had, we would not be celebrating our grand opening today. Pastor Jack Lawrence was a huge reason why that fear was overcome and is why so many of us were just fine with naming it after a pastor who was with us less than a year. Nonetheless, this kind of fear does often paralyze us as Christians. We often find ourselves scared to step out in faith, scared to risk, scared to commit to a new ministry or write a big check. We are often afraid to trust God with the things that are important to us. The world is indeed a big, mean, scary place, and sometimes we struggle with the idea that God can actually overcome it. This sinful state is where we often find ourselves and this is exactly where the disciples were that evening of the resurrection. They were huddled together, worried and scared because Jesus had died and now his body was missing. Perhaps it is this little scene more than any other that we see a powerful truth in the Bible. We need Jesus. Prior to the coming of Jesus, the world was a mess but they may not really have known how badly they needed him. But now that Jesus had come and made a huge difference in the world, and then was suddenly taken away – even his body was missing – the disciples were trying to wrap their minds around life without Jesus. And look where they ended up – in a locked room, living in fear – like a little child sitting in a corner sucking their thumb. We need Jesus. We need Jesus to come into our lives, to break down the walls that separate us from the world. We need Jesus to take away our fears, to soothe and comfort us, to save us from our shame, our guilt, and ourselves. We need Jesus in our lives and the rest of the world needs Jesus too. CS Lewis has a great quote about this. One day a friend of CS Lewis commented that some of the atheists were some of the very best people he had ever met. Lewis was unimpressed by his friend’s observation of the goodness of atheists. “No wonder atheists are good people,” Lewis said. “They must be good. They have to get everything right. They don’t believe in a God who forgives.” We need Jesus because we’re not perfect. Each of us has a multitude of sins. We need a God who forgives us, who gives us grace and love, who takes away our reasons for fear, and who breaks into the locked rooms in our lives and brings us his peace. And thankfully, God gives us exactly what we need. God gives us Jesus who does all of that and, as the disciples experienced, nothing we can do will ever keep Jesus away from us – not locked doors, not governors or kings or corrupt priests or angry mobs, not our own denials, and not even death. Jesus conquers and breaks through all of that to come to each of us and says, “Peace be with you.” We need Jesus to save us, to bring us his peace and that’s exactly what Jesus does. But there’s something else fascinating about this little gospel story that might take a little getting used to. We need Jesus, but Jesus also needs us. Now, he certainly doesn’t need us to be God or to do any of his God-type things, but in coming to the disciples behind those locked doors and then sending them out, Jesus is telling his disciples that needs them. He needs them to not be hiding or frozen in fear or dwelling on their sins. Jesus needs them to go out there into the world and tell the world about him. And it wasn’t just because they didn’t have good technology back then. Even if Jesus happened to come back into our world with the internet and CNN and all kinds of technology where one person really can speak to the entire world all at once, Jesus would still need us. Jesus needs us because our God is a God of relationships. He is not a far off, impersonal God who has nothing to do with his creation or his people. No – our God is a God of relationships and dialogue and personal contact because it is only through these means that people can understand how much they are loved. Think about why the candidates for president are spending so much time on the road – so they can have personal contact with as many people as possible. And there is great power in this kind of campaigning. In 1988, I was 10 years old and there was also a presidential election that year. I remember I got to go to a campaign rally for the first George Bush while he was running for president. It was a great experience and it was on the power of that one personal experience that I claimed to be a Republican well into my 20s. Clinton, Obama, and McCain could stand in a studio all day making speeches on TV, but the more hands they are out there shaking, the more personal contacts they are making, the more votes they are getting. Jesus needs us to be out there personally campaigning for him – not so that he’ll be elected president, but so that the rest of the world will know how much he loves them. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, we actually become the personal connection to Jesus that the world so desperately needs. In this gospel story, I love how John describes how Jesus gives the Holy Spirit – he breaths on them and they receive the Spirit. You have to be close to someone to breath on them and that means Jesus was incredibly close to the disciples and it was his nearness, his closeness, his intimacy that allowed the disciples to unlock that door of fear and go out into the world and share his message of grace and love. And it is because of Jesus’ closeness to us that we too can go out into the world and do what Jesus needs us to do – form caring relationships with other people, get close to them, share with them the love of Jesus and perhaps even breathe on them the Holy Spirit. But here’s the catch. Jesus needs us, this is true, but what he really needs us to do is to act like Christians. And I think the best way to describe this is to use a geometry term. Jesus needs us to be congruent. In geometry, a congruent shape is something that is the exact same size and shape, just in a different position. Jesus needs to be congruent to him – to have the same message & actions, just in a different time and place. That’s why Christian literally means “little Christ.” This is what Peter discovered after Jesus sent him out of that locked room, filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter discovered that his message and actions had to closely match that of Jesus’. A Christian must be as Christ-like as possible. In 1 Peter 4:1, he writes, “ Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude (congruence), because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, a Christian does not live the rest of their earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.” He goes on, “You’ve spent enough time in the past doing what the pagan chose to do” – all that bad stuff like lust, debauchery, drunkenness, orgies, etc – all that stuff that is inconsistent with Jesus. Instead, we are to do the things of Christ. He says in 4:8, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. (There’s that congruence idea again.) If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.” These aren’t just nice suggestions. Jesus needs us to live like this. He needs us to live congruently with him – to be little Christs, and he gives us the Holy Spirit to make it possible. Hospitality, using our gifts, speaking the words of God, serving others. When our words and our actions align with the Word of God, when our lives are congruent to Jesus, we actually pass on that Holy Spirit to those who we are in relationship with. Peter learned to live a congruent life – filled with grace, love and forgiveness. Pastor Jack lived a congruent life to Jesus and we are thankful for his love and faith today. And that is Jesus’ call to us as well – to live with the same attitude as our Lord – to love above all else. A forgiven and redeemed Peter discovered firsthand, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” Amen. Questions for LIFT Discussion:
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