JESUS CAME CALLING

A sermon by the Rev. Dr. James G. Kirk

Harundale Presbyterian Church

Glen Burnie, Maryland

April 18, 2004

Text: “Jesus came and stood among them.” (John 20:19)

First Reading: Acts 5:27-32

Second Reading: Revelation 1:4-8

Living in New York City is an experience in living behind locked doors. Most every apartment I’ve been in had at least three locks on the front door. When people went in for the night you would hear “Click, Click, Click.” The people say that it’s a safety feature. They feel more secure knowing that anyone wanting to get in would have to break through three rather than just one lock.

There are a lot of people like that who don’t live in New York City. They have locks on their hearts. In marriage counseling you would be amazed at how many people are afraid of entering into a long-term relationship. They’ve been hurt in the past and they don’t want to get hurt again. They’re willing to get married, but at the first sign of anything challenging the relationship you will hear the “click” of the lock on their heart, which makes negotiating through the rough times in any relationship very difficult.

You can imagine the disciples huddled together behind locked doors. What were they afraid of? Would the same crowds that had crucified Jesus now come looking for them? Were they ashamed of their behavior, at how they’d deserted their teacher and denied their allegiance to him? Why, they’d been so willing to take the credit when Jesus was healing and teaching his way through Galilee. But once they got to Jerusalem and the crowds began to get unruly they pulled away and at the eleventh hour of the crucifixion not one was to be found at Jesus’ side.

When we’re ashamed for whatever reason we do likewise. We keep our hearts locked up tightly and don’t let people in, because once they’re in they’ll find out the truth about us and the truth is we’re not who we want to be or who we pretend to be. 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: old failures, hurts, guilt and shame…Nothing is more crippling to our souls than working at hiding shame. We lock up more and more doors, sealing off more and more rooms of the heart to prevent our true selves from being discovered. We think we are keeping the world out, but in fact we are keeping ourselves locked in.” (M.Craig Barnes, “Crying Shame,” The Christian Century, April 6, 2004, Page 19)

Then Jesus came calling. Locked doors couldn’t keep him out, just as our locked hearts can’t keep Jesus out today. He walks right into the disciple’s world again, and this time shows them the marks of the cross which are the marks of their forgiveness and proclaims to them, “Peace be with you.” Jesus not only came calling but also delivered what he’d promised when he was still with them. You’ll remember earlier when he was teaching them, “These things I have spoken while I’m still with you, but the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. And now peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give it unto you. Let not your hearts be troubled and neither let them be afraid.”(John 14:25-27) In other words, now the risen Christ took out his keys and unlocked the doors of their hearts. They would not need to be ashamed ever again. Christ gave them his peace.

He then goes on to give them a commission, “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” He even announces what the terms of their commission will be. “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” M. Craig Barnes makes an interesting observation. “If we do not forgive those who hurt us, the only alternative is to retain the sins. To retain means to hold, and to hold onto hurt is to lock ourselves into the identity of victim. In the words of Lewis Smedes, ‘When you forgive you set a prisoner free. And then you discover that the prisoner was you.’” (Ibid. page 19)

What Barnes is saying is, we have two choices in life, either we can be priests to one another or we can be victims. To be priests to one another is to follow Paul’s teaching that we are to become the priesthood of all believers, and as he goes on to teach, we are to be agents of reconciliation. That’s what Jesus intended for his disciples when he unlocked the shame in their hearts and breathed on them the Holy Spirit; they were to become reconciling agents. That would also be the peace he promised them when he gave them the peace “not as the world gives.”

To accept the choice of victim is to imply that someone is willing to remain imprisoned forever with the hurt, the humiliation, and the betrayal that someone caused. Jesus wasn’t willing to do that with his disciples. When he went calling it was with one intention in mind, to become the priest God intended him to be and not the victim his disciples’ betrayal caused him.

But the commission implied that they were now to go and do likewise and so are we. Barnes goes on to say: “What you cannot do is just forget about the hurt, or deny it or store it up to use later. To be a priest is to free others of shame and yourself of hurt. To be a victim is to hold onto hurt, which is like holding onto a disease. It will eat up your soul. It doesn’t matter what you do, or how hard you try—you are never going to have a better past.” (Ibid.)

But we can have a better future, and that’s what Easter is all about, God’s

guarantee to us in the risen Christ that we will have a better future. Remember, we don’t need to produce forgiveness. God’s already produced forgiveness and it came in the form of a cross. When Jesus unlocked the door of the disciples’ hearts he showed them the marks of the nails and then breathed on them the Holy Spirit. That was his commission to take the cross’ forgiveness and become the agents of reconciliation in a world that loves to hold on to past hurts, humiliations and betrayals.

Now the peace he promised them can come through us as we begin to practice the better future during this season of Easter. It was obvious that Margaret had some unresolved issues when her father died this past week. She knelt at the casket sobbing uncontrollably. I knelt beside her to see if I could offer her any comfort. She told me that over twenty years ago her father had told her that he would never consider her four children his grandchildren since they were all illegitimate. And to his death he never did. So, here was Margaret not only grieving the shame she must have caused her father, but also the regret that her four children had been denied a grandfather. I asked her if she could ever forgive her father and she said she wished she’d told him before he died. Now she would have to do it posthumously. Also, I kept thinking that her father would have some work to do before he met the risen Christ. We can’t keep being the victim forever. At some point either in this life or the next we’re going to have to accept Christ’s commission to forgive.

Also this week the Center for Christian Jewish Studies announced that a Jewish philanthropist from Boston had given $100,000 to launch a student essay contest designed to improve Christian-Jewish relations. The contest, called “Reaching Common Ground,” will solicit religious-themed essays that illuminate the common origins and spiritual bonds of the two faiths. The philanthropist said that her parents’ deaths gave the contest a certain urgency. “There is nothing positive about losing your parents when you’re 24,” she said. “You realize in the end, it’s too short to not talk about what we share.” It seems as though she might have been behind locked doors when Jesus came calling.

And what about you? Are you ready to accept Jesus’ commission to unlock the shame in your heart? Are you ready to stop being the victim and assume Jesus’ challenge to the priesthood of all believers? Remember, “to be a priest is to free others of shame and yourself of hurt. To be a victim is to hold onto hurt, which is like holding onto a disease.” You’re never going to have a better past, but you can have a better future, and that’s the future of Easter when Jesus will breathe on you the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Thanks be to God,

Amen