Parlor Tricks?

This is the e-message shared with St. Timothy Lutheran Church yesterday. These thoughts are based on John 20:19-23, 26-31.

Jesus' Parlor Tricks 

The disciples had locked themselves into a room because they were afraid. They couldn't go anywhere because of their fear. Fear, of their own making, was the guard that had locked them up in this prison. You have to sympathize with the disciples. Their Master had just been killed and who’s to say they aren't next?

          Look who is here! It's Jesus. Was this some kind of parlor trick? Now you see him; now you don't.  We do not know if Jesus walked through the closed doors or if they opened of their own accord for him or if he just suddenly appeared. 

          What are the locked doors that prevent us from being all God has called us to be? Is it fear or anger or loneliness or fatigue? None of these doors can keep Jesus out. He is raised from the dead and on the loose. 

          There is an old saying, "The enemy we know is better than the friend we don't know." We know our locked doors. As miserable as we may be with them, there's a certain level of comfort because they are known. 

In this gospel reading for Sunday, where Jesus is, there is peace. Why would we want to keep Jesus on the outside? What are we afraid of? Let us allow God to come into those places of our lives behind locked doors that declare, "Do not enter!" 

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