The Locked Door

The door was supposed to be locked, but then he came in!

I was at the top of the stairs waiting to see what this guy outside our front door would do next. As I moved to Abby’s room for a better look, he came in! What?! Downstairs Mindy said, “Excuse me,” and I, well, said nothing. I was such a bad husband in that moment.  All I did was believe in hope – hope that it was all just a mistake and not something that was going to end badly.

Hope is a misused word in our society. It makes us think of children and happy faces, but hope is about eternity. The day when Jesus comes back will be the day when my wife won’t worry about some guy who comes into our house. It will be the day when the war with sin and pain is over. I can’t wait for that day.  That is what hope is truly all about.  Easter gives us a glimpse of eternity, but in the meantime, we have to go back to living in this painful and sinful world.

After Jesus’ resurrection the disciples were together in a room behind locked doors when Jesus appeared to them. The door being locked and Jesus coming in wasn’t supposed to be a fearful thing for the disciples, but rather a glimpse of eternity. A glimpse of the very thing He promised them, always to be with them and to never leave, and the very things to come, like when they would celebrate together in heaven. But they were afraid, afraid because, like Mindy and I, they lived in world where bad guys do come into houses. They lived in a world where church leaders had agendas. They lived in a world full of tax collectors stealing. They lived in world where there was a reason, like there is for us, to keep the doors locked.  

Seeing Jesus do amazing things was not foreign to the disciples, but it was shocking nonetheless. When Jesus came in it surprised them tremendously. He surprises us too, because His amazing grace is still shocking – even today.  The disciples remembered that Jesus came to give them eternity, and they fought in a world of darkness to tell others about this great gift of life.  Though at times they may have grown tired of fighting, it became their most important work.

So today we begin, or better yet resume, that fight of celebrating Easter.  Let His amazing grace shock us once again, and motivate us to share the gift of shocking grace and eternal life with the world.