The Shut Door

There is a platitude often used by Christians in an effort to comfort someone whose hopes and dreams have been dashed, which goes something like this: ‘Never mind. When one door closes, another one opens.’ Well – it might, but then again, it might not. Terry Wogan was probably nearer the mark when he used to say ‘When one door closes, another one slams in your face!’ Perhaps you think that is over cynical, but it is just as likely to happen.

The notion behind this is that there is a hand somewhere that is opening and shutting doors for you, and while that might be a comfort to some, for many othere, it is not. The idea of a God who intervenes in our lives, or benignly opens and shuts doors for us while we sit and wait is not one which everybody finds helpful. Most people, Christians and non-Christians alike, would, I feel be more inclined to say ‘Well, that didn’t work out so I’ll try this’. A Christian may well ask God for guidance, but that is not quite the same thing.

So what about this story we heard in the Gospel this morning? John 20:26b “Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them”

Here is Thomas – Doubting Thomas, as he has been dubbed. Here is a man I feel I could be at home with, a man who is an honest sceptic. Here is a man who lives in the material world, who needs to see, and touch, and feel, who needs to experience things for himself. Some may say that he is an unspiritual person, that he does not believe when he cannot see. So often we have been made to feel guilt because we are not prepared to take things on trust. We need proof. Surely a truly faithful Christian is the one who has not seen, yet believes? Isn’t that what Jesus meant?

Thomas was not the kind of person to say that he believed when he did not believe, or that he understood when clearly he did not understand. He did not settle his doubts by pretending that they did not exist. He was the kind of person who, if he had to say the creed, would want to know what it all meant first, before he said it. He needed to be sure. Remember those lines from Tennyson’s ‘In Memoriam’?

“There is more faith in honest doubt,

Believe me, than in half the creeds.”

Doubt such as that in the end is more likely to arrive at certainty, as, indeed was the case with Thomas, who genuinelt professes his devotion to Jesus with the words ‘My Lord and my God!’

Thomas, it seemed, was perhaps a bit of a loner. He hadn’t been with the rest of the disciples when Jesus had appeared to them on that first Sunday of the Resurrection. I wonder where he had been? According to John’s account, it would seem that the others sought him out and told him the good news, but he wasn’t going to be convinced just on their say-so. So it was that a week later, he joins them in that upper room, where they were all in hiding. Locked in, they were in fear for the future, and were not really expecting anything much to happen, I suppose. Yet, although the doors were shut, Jesus enters the room, and convinces Thomas of the resurrection.

I like to see this whole story as a kind of parable, which I think is how John wants us to see it. The door of the room is shut, and Thomas has shut the door of faith to the reality of the risen Lord. Jesus not only enters the room, he enters into Thomas’s heart and mind and life in such a way that Thomas goes on to do great things for his Lord and Master. He becomes the great apostle to India, so the legend goes, founding what became the Mar Thoma church at about the same time that St Paul visited Corinth. One could say that he unlocked the door of the Indian sub-continent to the Christian faith. “Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them”

That Mar Thoma church flourishes today, and, indeed, is in communion with the Anglican communion. I love the way it describes itself. Listen to this:

"Apostolic Succession" Apostolic in origin, "Universalism" Universal in nature, "Bible" Biblical in faith, "Evangelism" Evangelical in principle, "Ecumenism" Ecumenical in outlook, "Oriental" Oriental in worship, "Democracy" Democratic in function, and "Episcopal polity" Episcopal in character.”

Yes, I’ve been looking at its website!

It never ceases to amaze me at the way in which even when we try to shut the doors to Jesus, we still find him inside.. We cannot shut him out.

I heard a lovely story last week, a story with an Easter ring to it. It is about the Soviet Union during the communist era. A Party worker was doing his rounds to whip up enthusiasm for the new ways, and doing his best to discredit the old ways. He came to a certain village, and gathered the people together, includung the village priest. He harangued them at length, extolling the virtues of the Party, how it would bring freedom to the people who for too long had been under the yoke of the church. The church was reactionary, holding people back. Puffed up with pride at his speech, he then asked the villagers if they had any questions. The priest turned to face the throng, and said: ‘Christ is risen! Alleluia!’, and the villagers, with one voice, replied ‘He is risen indeed! Alleluia!’.

“Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them”

I experienced something akin to that myself a few years ago. When the old Soviet Union collapsed, Russia set up a new Consulate in Edinburgh, and I received an invitation to attend the opening. There was a goodly crowd of Russion expats present, and a priest had been brought over from Russia to bless the building. So, he duly sprinkled every nook and cranny of the place with holy water. At the end of the blessing, he intoned a short liturgy, and although we had no booklets with the words, for every versicle he said, the Russians duly and enthusiatically made their responses.

“Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them”

If you think about your own life, perhaps you can recall times when you were in a place where you thought you were alone, abandoned, perhaps, and then you realised that you were, in fact, in the company of Jesus himself. It can happen in ways which are many and varied, and it can come as a complete surprise. We should never be under the illusion that Jesus has not gone before us – just as he promised the disciples that he would go before them into Galilee after the resurrection. To him, all doors are open

The Protestant missionaries who went to India in 1805 thought that they were taking Christ to a benighted land. How wrong they were. Thomas had preceded them anyway by about 1700 years, and even when he got there, Jesus was already waiting for him, of that I am sure.

“Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them”

In our lives, doors may close, and doors may open. Opened or closed, Jesus is always there. So let us never underestimate the presence of the one we serve as Lord and Master. And think on this. This is no threatening presence of which we should be in fear. This is the presence of love, the presence of the nature of a God who desires our love in return. This is Jesus, whose we are, and whom we serve. Richard Dawkins should never write us off!