JN 20: 19-31
Jottings on John…2nd S. of Easter…Revised 2020
How Jesus 'broke into' that room isn’t nearly as important as how you & I are broken out from behind any ‘locked doors’ we’re using as barricades right now. Think of them as anything we’re using to keep someone out of our life. Anything preventing God from being there for us, & our becoming the person God has always known we could become for Him. Jesus, resurrected from behind the great rock door of Joseph’s tomb, is our freedom, too; from behind whatever ‘locked doors’ are entombing us.
‘Breaking & entering’ is a common crime these days. If ‘Cracks-people’ can break in to our lives to steal anything of value, why not imagine God as the Great ‘Cracks-Person’? But One who has only our well-being in mind! Breaking into Jesus’ tomb as He does; breaking Jesus out from death to new, raised life.. YHWH-God in Jesus & by His Spirit then breaks into the room the disciples have shut themselves up in, & breaks them out from behind their doubts & fears. What doubts & fears do you & I need to be broken out from today?
I.T. programmes we use are constantly offering us ‘up-dates’; ‘fixes’ for security issues to keep us a step ahead of those who would break into our world for dubious purposes. When God, though, breaks into our world it is always to keep our spirits & our defences up-dated. Against anyone or anything - including ourselves - threatening God’s intentions for us. What implications does this have for your life & mine?
In breaking into Jesus’ tomb, YHWH God breaks into Death itself! Turns the tables on Death so its power to hold Jesus, or any of us, is destroyed. If Jesus can be freed & raised to a quality of life called ‘Eternal’, & those first disciples with Him, so can we, today’s followers, be. God-qualities like Eternal Life are neither a history lesson, nor ‘Pie in the sky in the sweet by & by’!
‘Eternal’ always embraces right now! Sure, we expect to be raised at that ‘Last Day’. But it would be foolish indeed to wait for ‘it’ till some time in the future when we can choose to be raised with Christ Today! The raised Christ of the first Easter means we can experience our own Easter, right now! Living in the new Eternal dimension of life God makes possible today!
Brian
Afterthought: ‘No-one’, says JN, could 'write down all the signs in this book'. Some-one else, though, does add another chapter later! Easter is an opportunity, for us all to become new chapters of ‘the old, old, story’ by becoming an extension of it as we live out our own experiences of being raised by Jesus’ Spirit.
