You Call This A Church?*

Lectionary readings for the Second Sunday of Easter

Acts 5:27-32
Psalm 118:14-29 or Psalm 150
Revelation 1:4-8
John 20:19-31

TEXT: John 20:19-31

LISTENING TO THE TEXT

This text is especially poignant on the Sunday after Easter. Our churches were filled with bright-faced worshipers declaring at the top of their lungs, "He is risen, indeed!" This week will be a little different. There probably won't be the same crowd. There may not be the same energy and excitement. In fact, this second Sunday of Easter has sometimes been called "Low Sunday." I think most pastors understand.

It's amazing that after the announcement of the greatest news the world ever heard, the disciples are found "with the doors locked" (John 20:19). The disciples we see here are really a rather pitiful group. They look like a bunch of frightened rabbits. Some First Church Jerusalem!

But before we get down on them we'd probably better take a close look at us. What are some ways that the contemporary church can also be found "with the doors locked?" The truth is that the North American church has pretty much been stagnant in terms of growth for some years now. We are closing churches faster than we are starting new ones. And it's not just a matter of evangelism. Studies conducted just a year ago indicate that the statistical majority of persons making a first-time decision for Christ are no longer connected to a Christian Church within just eight weeks of that decision.

The power of Almighty God has been unleashed on the world through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The mission of announcing that victory to the world has been given, yet so often we are found hiding out behind locked doors.

Fortunately, the fear in this text is not the end of the story. Jesus comes into that group of anxious disciples and speaks a word of peace. He does not rebuke them because they have been paralyzed by fear. He doesn't even give them a pep talk. Instead, Jesus gives them the only thing that can change this pitiful group of followers into a real church. He "breathes on them" and invites them to receive the Holy Spirit.

ENGAGING THE TEXT
THE NEED

This is an opportunity to overcome one of those congregational blocks we have talked about before. Our people may not be able to see themselves in these frightened disciples, but often the situation described in this text is an accurate picture of today's church. Whenever and wherever we find God's people hunkering down in protective, survival mode we find the basic problem of these disciples; fear has overtaken faith. Too often our churches can be described in just that way. In the midst of a culture that is undergoing tumultuous change, the church often becomes consumed with cosmetic changes that have no real impact on unsaved people.

These disciples were totally focused on "things the way we have always known them." They knew full well that when you pull the beard of the religious establishment you pay the price! They had spent the last three years or so following around a Teacher who did just that. They fully expected retribution. What they did not really expect was resurrection.

GOD'S ANSWER

This text if full of grace. I ask myself, "What would my response be to a group of people that I had poured my whole life into, trying to get them ready for mission, only to find them sitting on their hands?"

I'm afraid that I really don't like the answer to that question. I would probably rebuke and lecture. I notice, however, that Jesus does not rebuke them or lecture them. Rather He speaks a word of peace and the promise of spiritual power that will propel them into the world in the same way that He was sent into the world.

OUR RESPONSE

This story challenges us on a couple of levels. One is to help us take an honest look at the degree to which fear defines our discipleship. That's a hard question to get hold of, but many Christians are keenly aware of how "disconnected" they really are from unsaved persons. The pastoral task here is to raise that question so that it penetrates without producing false guilt. To really hear the gospel of this text we must identify with the situation of the disciples.

The other challenge is to openly consider the degree to which we have surrendered control of our lives to the power of the Holy Spirit. He will always send us into the world with the gospel of peace and forgiveness. We cannot claim to be Spirit-filled if we are not meaningfully and significantly engaging a lost world.

PREACHING THE TEXT

(for a full manuscript of this sermon, go to www.preachersmagazine.org).
The first task of the preacher of this text is to help the congregation to identify with these frightened disciples. This could be done by raising the incredulity of how quickly these disciples could go from grand confessions of faithfulness ("I will lay down my life for you" [John 13:17]) to hiding out behind locked doors in fear. Then, in order to break down the congregational block, one could say something like, "We've come a long way, haven't we? Aren't you glad that we are not afraid like these disciples?" Then we begin to tear down that straw man by showing how often the contemporary church is found, in effect, hiding out "with the doors locked."

Then the gospel must be introduced, as it is in this story. We help our people to see the wonder of God's grace in the response of Jesus to these helpless disciples. We take special and careful note of what Jesus says to them. He offers them peace, which throughout the Scriptures is the way that God comes to His people when they are afraid. He then offers them the gift of the Holy Spirit, the only real hope for these disciples to fulfill the mission that Jesus is giving them.

In response and application, the preacher can then draw particular illustrations of how things might be changed when our church is fully surrendered to the lordship of Jesus. What does a sent church look like? What kinds of things does a sent church do? It's helping our people to remember that when the Spirit of Jesus blows on us and moves us out from the safety of our little group into the world to lay down our lives in love - that's when we have a church. So we pray that the Holy Spirit will breathe on us and that the doors of our local church will be "blown off the hinges" to thrust us into a hurting world.

*Thanks to William Willimon for this title and sermon idea.