No More Locked Doors

“With the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them…”

John 20:19

“On the evening of the first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked...”  That’s how Jesus found them on that first Easter evening… that’s how he found them one week later – hiding in fear behind lock doors.  Those words last Sunday reminded me of all the times I have visited people who were locked up for one reason or another – locked up in a psychiatric ward for trying to commit suicide… locked up in the county jail for stealing… locked up in a nursing home because the person had Alzheimer’s.  Each time my thoughts were the same.  No matter how much the person deserves to be locked up or needs to be locked up, it has got to be hard.  It’s got to be scary. They tell you where you can go and where you can’t go.  You have no control over your life. 

The truth is that all of us have prisons and locked doors in our lives.  For one person it’s a bad marriage.  For another it’s her debts.  I remember one woman who was paralyzed from the waist down.  She felt imprisoned by her bed.   There is the husband imprisoned by his addiction to filthy adult materials and the wife imprisoned by her anger with him.  There is the man imprisoned by his age.  At 55 he lost his job and no one would hire him.  There was the mother trapped by things going on in her daughter’s life.  She was so concerned that she could eat or sleep. What are the prisons in your life?  Whatever they are, most of the locked doors in our lives are doors we have built ourselves.  For the disciples its was their fear of the Jews.   Peter was imprisoned by guilt because he had denied Jesus.  Thomas was imprisoned by his doubts and unbelief.  For the man with all the debt, it was his greed that locked him in that prison.   The lady in the nursing home wasn’t imprisoned by her paralysis.    She was angry with God and full of self-pity.  However we do it, you and I build strong locked doors, doors we are powerless to unlock.

Thank God that there is no prison that can contain Him.  There are no locked doors that can stop Him.  That’s what this first tells us.  On the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews.  Yet, without unlocking a door Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”   In the first chapter of Revelation Jesus explains why no prison, no locked door that stand in His way.  “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.  I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.  Did you hear him?  Jesus holds the keys that unlock the prison doors  of our sin.  He holds those keys because, as He said, I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! 

Indeed the story of our Lord’s life is the story of the greatest jail break ever.  Jesus took on our flesh and blood.  He became like us in every way except one. Sin could not imprison Him for  “he committed no sin nor was any deceit found in his mouth.”  That’s when Jesus did the most amazing thing.  He entered our prison.  He switched places with us.  God made Him who knew no sin to be sin from us… On the cross.  He entered the prison of sin and death for you and me so that that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.  Then Easter morning  He burst His three day prison.  He rose from the dead. 

The jail break didn’t stop there.  The doors were locked for fear of the Jews and Jesus came stood among his disciples.  He unlocked the door of fear. He invited Thomas to see and touch his wounds.  He set his free from the locked doors of doubt.  He set Peter free from his guilt.  He does the same thing for you and me.  At your baptism He raised you up from sin and death.  When you confess your sins, He forgives.  When you cry out, He answers.  That paralyzed woman became a source of encouragement to others.  In Christ there is no prison that can stop Him.   He holds the keys of death and Hades.  In Him there are no more locked doors!  You are truly free.  Amen.  

It's Time to Move On!

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to me?

Tell the Israelites to move on.”

Exodus 14:15

Its one of the most dramatic moments in the Old Testament.  Pharaoh had let the people of Israel go.  Now they were camped by the waters of the Red Sea.  They thought they were free at last.  But then, quite literally their past came back to haunt them.  Pharaoh changed his mind.  The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea…  As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.  Suddenly it seemed to Israel that they would never be able to escape their past.  The enemy that they thought was behind them was pursuing them… They had no place to go.  Behind them were the armies of Egypt.  Ahead of them lay only the Red Sea.  How could they ever escape their past, their slavery in Egypt. 

Does your past ever come back to haunt you?  Do you ever worry that it might?  Do you find yourself plagued by some sinful habit or addiction – alcoholism is one example.  There are other “isms” and addictions.   Maybe you are in recovery.  Maybe you have left it behind.  Yet the temptation is always there.  Like Pharaoh’s armies it pursues you, hoping you will fall again.  Are there thing you have tried to keep hidden in your past… things that you have done, things you don’t want anyone to know about.   I don’t mean to be political but I am pretty sure that President Trump never wanted that recording of his lewd conversation to come out.  Is there anything in your past that you hope no one ever finds out about?    Lies we’ve told are like that.  You tell one lie, then another to cover the first.  Before you know it, your past lies… your first lie comes back to haunt you.  Talk to any family that has been through a divorce. You will learn how the things that led to that divorce keep following them around – in having to still work with other parent as the kids grow up… in the children of divorce who have problems with relationships when they grow up…  The fear of the past can immobilize us. It can stop us from moving forward.    

That’s how it was for Israel, trapped between Pharaoh and the Red Sea.  But then the Lord speaks to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.” How could they move on?  Because our God makes a way where there is no way!  The Angel of the Lord positions Himself between Israel and Pharaoh.  At God’s command Moses lifts his staff.  God parts the waters of the Sea.  The people of Israel walk through on dry ground.  Oh the Egyptians followed them into the sea.  But then Moses lifted his staff again.  “The water flowed back and covered the entire army of Pharaoh… Not one of them survived.”  In those waters of the Red Sea, God washed away their past.  He delivered the Israelites.  He brought Israel through the water and set them on a new shore.   

God has done the same for the whole world.  He has made a way to escape the past where before there was no way.  That way is the cross and empty tomb of His Son Jesus.  Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification.  By His death Jesus paid sin’s debt for the whole world.  By His death He destroyed him who holds the power of death, that is the devil.  He conquered death itself.  Then on Easter morning Jesus rose again.  He reached the far shore… the shore where sin is no longer master… the shore where death has lost its sting… where the enemy greater than Pharaoh –  where Satan has lost all power to threaten us. 

Thus God would say to you and me today, what He once said to Moses.  “It’s time to Move on!”    You need not fear your past any more. God has opened the way to a new shore.  That way leads through the cross and tomb of Jesus.  That path was opened when the angel announced, “He is not here!  He is risen!”  That path became your path at baptism.  There “we died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.   As in the waters of the Red Sea, even so in the waters of Holy Baptism He washes away your past.  He raises you up with Christ… He takes you to a new short – safe and free.  Your past can threaten you no more.  He’s made a way where there was no way.  Now He says to us, “Do not fear.  It’s time to move on!”  For Christ is risen!  And in Him We also are risen indeed!  Amen!

The Blessing of Being Hungry

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they shall be filled"

Matthew 5:6

Has this ever happened in your home?  One of you searches the refrigerator, and then complains to everyone, “There’s nothing in here to eat.”   “Sure there is,” comes the answer.  We have apples, oranges, grapes, bananas, carrots and broccoli.  We’ve got leftovers from dinner.”  “Ok,” you answer, “I mean there is nothing good to eat in here”  The problem isn’t that there’s nothing to eat.  It’s the fact that you aren’t hungry for healthy food. You want junk food – candy, cakes, and cookies.

Is that ever the case in life?   Do you ever look at the life God has given you and complain, “There’s nothing good here.  Nothing good ever happens to me!  God has forgotten me! God doesn’t love me… doesn’t care about me!”  Yet in truth God has given you plenty of good.  Physically He has given you your daily bread, all that you need to support this this body and life, your family, your friends.   Spiritually He has given you  His love, His forgiveness, His family, His Son, His Spirit, a home in heaven.  The problem is with us not him.  We’re just not all that concerned about hungering and thirsting for righteousness.  We look at ourselves and think, “I’m pretty good. God can’t be too unhappy with me.  That’s enough for now.  Anyway what good will righteousness do for me?  Oh it will get me into heaven but that’s a long way off.”  Our hungers are more immediate.  We think, “if only I could get that promotion…”  We think, “If only I had a new car or home or made more money.” If only I had a new spouse…” “If only more people liked me…” If only… If only… If only… The list of what we think we’re hungry for is as long.  

Have you ever noticed that when all you do is snack on junk food you never really get full?  By the next commercial you going back for another snack.  In the same way trying to satisfy these hungers will never satisfy.  Your real  hunger is not for a new job and your enemy is not the other guy up for a promotion.  Your hunger is not for a new spouse and your enemy is not the one you are married to.  Your enemy is the devil and your own sinful flesh.  They have convinced you that you are just fine spiritually...  that its all these other things that will make your life full.  that unless you chase after all these things, you’ll never be happy.  That’s a lie.  The truth is as long as these are the hungers that drive your everyday existence you will never be satisfied.  Enough will always be more than you have.

The real hunger of your life is for God.  The real hunger is to know that He is pleased with you.  All those other things will never give you that assurance.  You will always be left hungry. You’ll be left with the suspicion God is not happy.  Only faith can overcome that suspicion.  Today’s beatitude is the very definition of what faith is.  Faith is to hunger and thirst for righteousness…  Faith is to look to God for that which we can not achieve ourselves – to be made right with Him… Faith is the desire for the assurance that He loves us… Faith is to find joy, peace, security and dignity in know beyond doubt that you and I are His Son’s and daughters.  So Jesus promises us,  “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

Don’t get me wrong.  Faith is not the big thing.  Jesus compares it to a very tiny thing – a small mustard seed.  The person invited to a friend’s house for dinner doesn’t say to him, “Aren’t you glad I came?”  He says, “Thanks for inviting me.”  After all, the big thing is not that you accepted the invitation. That’s faith. The big thing is that you were invited.  That’s grace, God’s  undeserved love for us.  The big thing is what God did – that His Son was given… that Jesus lived the life we can not live – a life that was fully pleasing to God… The big thing is that on the cross Jesus then offered that life in your place and mine… as payment for our sins and failures… as the sacrifice to make us right with His Father in heaven. The big thing is that on Easter morning Jesus rose from the dead opening the way to a whole new life... life as God’s Sons and Daughters… life lived with the eternal purpose of serving and praising Him… lives bound for heaven!

The hunger for such a life… for such a relationship with God is the deepest hunger of our souls.  It is the hunger of faith.  Jesus here promises that hunger “will be filled!”  That hunger after all is satisfied in Him.  It is the hunger He has filled in us when He made His death and resurrection to be our death and resurrection in Holy Baptism… Its a hunger He satisfies here tonight, at this table.  Every time we come to His supper, He fills us once more, assures us of His love for us by feeding us with His body and blood “given and shed for the forgiveness of sin!”  What a gift!   In answer to every accusation of guilt or doubt or unworthiness that screens across our minds, God has given us this answer – I am baptized into Christ Jesus.  I am invited to feast at His dinner table.  Because of His forgiveness I am His child!  Every day, even on the most difficult days,  He sets a table for you and me, a table that overflows with His good gifts. That’s the blessing of faith… That’s what Jesus promises here.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.  Amen!

The Blessing of "Like Father, Like Son"

"Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the sons of God"

Matthew 5:9

In America we have saying – “Like father, like son.”  It means that you see the parent reflected in the child.  I can look at Linda and her sister and see they are sisters.   Sometimes Linda or Kari will get a look on their face and I would swear I was looking at their mother.  In one of my previous parishes there was a staff member and his son who were like that.  They looked alike.  They walked alike.  They often sounded alike. They had similar mannerisms. You could just see the father reflected in the son. In other words – “Like Father, like son.”

Understand that and you will understand this week’s Beatitude.  “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the sons of God.”  To be a peacemaker in this world is clear reflection of our Father in heaven.  To make peace is why He gave His Son. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting men’s sins against them.”  To be a peacemaker is to reflect in our lives our elder brother Jesus.  After all Paul writes about Jesus that “He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…”  The wall of hostility he refers to is the wall in the temple of Jerusalem that separated the court of the Gentiles from the part of the Temple only Jews were allowed to enter.  That wall came to represent the hatred Jews and Gentiles held for one another.  Jesus came to destroy that wall “by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.”  Reconciled to God in Christ… adopted to be sons and daughters of God – our lives can not help but reflect Him.  Like Father, like son… like daughter. 

Can you think of any place in this world where peacemakers are not needed right now?  I can’t.  War in the Middle East.  Terrorists blowing up trains in St. Petersburg.  Nuclear danger on the Korean Peninsula.  Politicians at war with each other in Washington, in Britain, in every capital… animosity between friendsover politics.  Or what about in the home - Divorce.  Kids and parents, husbands and wives who can’t figure out how to talk to one another.  Even here at Church.  Trinity is a miracle to me because of all the different cultures that worship together in this place – 15 different countries, 4 continents, multiple languages and cultures.  Yes we get along!  This is the place where God intends do His peacemaking work.  Yet because we are sinners, we clash.  Some times its cultural.  One person being very direct… because that is her culture.  Another being offended because that’s not the way it works in her culture.  The point is – everywhere peacemakers are needed  . 

But how?  The reason that young man was so like his dad, is that he was watching his dad.  What can we learn from our Father?  How did our brother Jesus make peace?  He didn’t manipulate.  He didn’t coerce.  He didn’t force.  He didn’t demand.  Jesus did not seek to impose Himself on them.  Instead He surrendered Himself to them.  He refused to answer their false charges.  He wouldn’t fight when they arrested Him.  He didn’t call for reinforcements when they whipped Him, beat Him and crowned Him with thorns.  He simply went to that cross to suffer and die for the sins of the world.  St. Paul said it so well in His letter to the Philippians.  Jesus, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! 

That’s how you make peace.  You listen.  You serve.  You love – do all that even for those who only want to hate, or get angry or lash out.  I will give you one example – a husband whose wife wanted him out of her life.  She booted him out the door.  She divorced him.  What did he do?  He kept on loving her.  He didn’t force himself on her.  He didn’t try to coerce her into staying.  He honored her wish even though it hurt.  |Yet whenever she needed him, he was there.  He got her car fixed for her.  He picked up the kids whenever she needed him.  He listened when she wanted to talk.  When she didn’t want to talk… or she didn’t want his help… he backed off.  Believe it or not those actions made for peace – Loving, listening, serving. One day after 3 hard years they got back together.  She even started back to church. He made peace by offering to serve, not wanting to be served. Sound like anyone you know?   Like I said - “Like Father, like Son.”  Or in the words of Jesus, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the sons of God.”  Amen!