Jesus the Door – Being a Pilgrim

“That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord!”
John 20:19-20 NLT

The eleven remaining disciples had called a meeting, and to make sure they were not disturbed, they locked the doors. In those days door locks were very basic and may have consisted of little more than a wooden bolt. Doors were ubiquitous though and the disciples took steps to prevent unauthorised people from entering. John recorded that they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, with good reason because they were now on a roll and would do anything to stamp out Jesus’ influence on Jewish religious society. But I wonder what the disciples were discussing? Obviously, the report from Mary Magdalene would have been at the top of the agenda, and they must have discussed how valid and reliable her feedback was because women were not exactly well considered in those days. They would also have been discussing what to do next, now that their Leader and Master, Jesus, was no longer with them. But then, Jesus suddenly appeared. John’s language in his account was very factual and unemotional, but to be sitting or standing around in a group, and then to suddenly see a person appear before them, must have been a significant and even fearful situation. “Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them!”. This was no gradual “beam me up” moment, with a figure gradually appearing before them. It all happened suddenly, and the first words that Jesus spoke were, “Peace be with you”. The disciples were a superstitious lot, and they were already in an advanced state of fear, hence the locked door. So Jesus’ greeting about peace would have gone some way to allaying their nervous states, and after He had showed them His crucifixion wounds we read that “They were filled with joy”. Of course they were! What else could they be? But the initial joy would have been accompanied by the thought that something was happening here far beyond their experience and understanding. People just do not walk through locked doors. As an aside, if Jesus was able to pass through locked doors, then He would have been able to exit the tomb without removing the stone, which must therefore have been rolled away for the benefit of the disciples, so that they could see it was empty.

Sometimes people lock the door to their hearts, for a number of reasons including previous hurts and disappointments. They put up a barrier to prevent more pain in the future and that applies to their contact with God as well. Perhaps they had a bad experience in a Sunday school as a child. Or a church experience turned sour and they left, never to return. But in Revelation 3:20 we read, “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends“. A poignant invitation from Jesus to everyone, including us pilgrims. We must be sensitive to hear Jesus’ knock at the door of our hearts. Once allowed in, He will bring His message, “Peace be with you”, and our troubled thoughts and situations will take on a different perspective in His presence.

We also remember that Jesus said He was the door. John 10:7, 9, “So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. … I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture”. Jesus’ door is never locked and all can enter into eternal life if they believe in Him.

Dear Lord Jesus. You are the Way into Your Father’s presence. There is no other way – please help us to communicate with those who have chosen the wrong way, so that they too can find the Door. Amen.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognise his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”
John 10:1-5 NLT

Jesus continues to tell His listeners a bit more about who He was, why He had come and what His message to His immediate world was. To do this He used another illustration that would have been very familiar and relevant to the people of His day. As He described it, the life of sheep and shepherds was accurately portrayed, but in a later blog we will find out the spiritual meaning behind His story. The people of His society knew all about sheep and shepherds so we can almost see them nodding and hearing their words of approval at what Jesus described.

If Jesus came in to 21st Century Western societies, what illustration would he have been able to use? Our society seems so much more complex and there are so many professions and lifestyles, and then some only apply to certain age groups. But throughout His ministry, Jesus related the everyday life of the Jewish people to spiritual equivalents. Sheep, fields, shepherds, farmers, family life, all relevant to the generation in that place at that time. God’s timing for when He sent His Son was perfect.

Today, we pilgrims have a challenge in finding something relevant to those around us. Urban city dwellers are unaware of the lives of sheep and shepherds, so how can we reach them with the Gospel message appropriate to them, and then present it in a way that connects them with the Master Himself? Perhaps we can use an analogy of Jesus being the door to God’s house. The people around us may not relate easily to the professions we find in our societies, but we can imagine and describe a house, and to most people it offers a degree of security, much like the sheepfold described in this parable.

We share the Gospel message across a relational bridge to those around us and God will help us as we allow His love and grace to flow into the lives of those we know and love. There are so many needy people in our societies and God’s message is just as relevant today as it was two thousand years ago. The sheep in Jesus’ day knew the voice of their shepherd, and that was the person they followed. Jesus is still calling out the ones He knows and who are yet to know Him today. People who would otherwise be lost in their sinful lives. As Jesus’ hands and feet today, we deliver that message, and the Holy Spirit will provide us with the keys, the illustrations, even intimate details, to unlock the door into their hearts. We pray too for God to provide us with the words we need to derive a spiritual meaning from everyday natural lives so that a connection can be made to God’s Kingdom. Jesus is the Door and we know where to bring people so that they can find it. And as we do so, we are reminded that the Door is there for us to walk through as well.

We pilgrims are not believers who fail to participate in the happenings behind the Door, where we find God Himself and His ways. We leave our dirty linen, our sins, at the foot of the cross and then walk through into God’s very presence, worshipping the One who made it all happen at Calvary. What a Saviour! Perhaps today we can find a quiet moment when we can imagine that door and pass through into God’s presence once again. And what we find there will overwhelm us as we fall at the feet of our Lord and God, with deeply grateful hearts full of worship.

Dear Lord God. Thank You for Your grace, love, and protection through Your Son Jesus. We worship You today. Amen.