"Tear it down!"

Easter 1: Acts 5:27-32; John 20:19-31

April 11, 2010

    The University of Mississippi football team was playing very poorly in the first half of the game. And so the coach gave them a good verbal shellacking inside the locker room during half time. As he ended his talk he began to say things like 'are you mice or men?' And the players answered loudly, "MEN." Are you going to roll over and give up? And again they shouted back loudly: "NO!!" Building up to crescendo, the coach yelled: "I want you to go back out there and start blocking and tackling and running like you've never done before. Are you ready?" And again the players shouted: "YES."

"Okay, let's go win this game" the coach yelled. And they all lunged for the door, but it wouldn't open.

    "Coach, the door is locked," one player shouted. And without hesitation the coach yelled back: "Then tear it down!" And they did and went on to win the game.

    Now, we have no record of Jesus telling his disciples to tear down the locked door in the upper room when he appeared to them on the evening of the resurrection. But we do know that they eventually left there. Mysteriously passing through those sealed doors Jesus comes back to give his team a mission. "As the Father sent me, so I send you." The word "send" is also used in John 3:17. "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."

    Jesus comes back in order to send his followers out into the same hostile world where he had just been killed. He sends them to carry on the work that he began. The book of Acts tells us what they did. They heal the sick and make the lame to walk. They sell their possessions and share things in common. They break bread together and openly proclaim the story of Jesus in the Temple.

    For these things they are arrested by the religious leaders, put in jail, and one, Stephen, will be stoned to death. Eventually they will leave Jerusalem and begin to scatter over the earth proclaiming repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Jesus' name. They will face trials, suffer and die just as Jesus did. The danger in which they lived would never go away, but the fear did. And that's what makes all the difference for them and also for us.    

    Jesus didn't come back to take his followers out of the world, but instead he sends us out as well to complete the mission he began which has given rise to the church. We are not saved in order to rest easy. Indeed everyone who comes to Jesus is sent to minister in his name. True believers are those who follow Jesus. Who dare to say with Peter: 'We must obey God rather than the voices of those who threaten us.'(Acts 5:29)

    We live in a time when fear is growing. Parents fear the bad things that can influence their children. We fear the possibility of new terrorist attacks. We fear getting sick and dying. We fear foreign influences. In recent weeks we have heard about "death threats" in the news over political differences. Just like the crowds long ago who shouted: "Crucify him! Crucify him!"

    Fear seems to be growing and one of the consequences of fear is that it stifles our capacity to speak the truth of love. But the counsel of scripture is clear in that God's love conquers all.

    In 1 John 4 it is written: "God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because God first loved us. Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not see. The commandment we have from Jesus is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also."(1 John 4:16b-21)

    The resurrection not only demonstrated that Jesus was alive again. Even more it demonstrated that in the end the power of love. Fear gives rise to all the characteristics which the scripture describes as works of the flesh. "Fornication, impurity, idolatry … strife, , jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions … and things like these." (Gal 5:20) These are the works of our fallen nature in others words. But in Christ we receive God's Spirit and the fruits of God's spirit are just the opposite of our natural inclinations. Instead of fear there is love. Instead of sorrow there is joy. Instead of strife, dissension and factions there is reconciliation, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness. Instead of uncontrolled anger there is self-control.(Gal 5:22)

    The resurrection vindicates the truth and the power of God's love revealed in Jesus Christ and this sets the disciples free from the fear that kept them hiding behind locked doors. Because Jesus had overcome his enemies so they dared to believe that they would overcome theirs as well. And so they dared to live in and speak the truth of God's love.

    Let us dare to tear down the walls of fear and strife that hold us in bondage today. In the power of the resurrection let us go forth to win the battle for the human soul so that all "may have life in his name."