John 20:19-31

Many people in this stressful world live their lives hiding in their own locked doors by listening to and focusing on the footsteps of their own problems, and that includes believers. Psychologists say that this is the “inner prison” of anxiety and fear. It is a dark place somewhere inside us, where even our own breath feels like an enemy. The worse part is many of them even don’t know they themselves are the victims of their own “inner prison”.

Today’s story from John’s Gospel tells us that ‘the disciples, too, were hiding in the upper room. Imagine, for a moment, the silence in that upper room. They had locked the doors because now fear had become their reality. Outside, the world felt dangerous. The authorities were searching for them frantically, and their leader, Jesus, had been taken. In their minds, it was over. Their time with Christ felt like a summer dream. Everything was over.

Then, something miraculous happens. John tells us the doors were locked, but suddenly, Jesus stood among them. He didn’t wait for them to get their act together. He didn’t wait for them to find enough courage to unlock the door. He didn’t even knock. He simply arrived.

We may not be hiding from Roman soldiers today, but many of us live behind “locked doors” the spaces that we created inside us. We lock ourselves behind the door of Anxiety. We hide behind the door of Uncertainty. We retreat into the secret room of Loneliness, thinking no one understands our pain.

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John 20:1-18; Colossians 3:1-4

Photo by Bruno van der Kraan on Unsplash

Our Easter reading today comes from two different places: John chapter 20 and Colossians chapter 3. This morning, we are going to focus on the passage from Colossians.

I’ll be leading you through something of a Bible study today. While the ideas might seem a bit complex at first, they are worth exploring— because they lead us directly to the most important message Paul shared with the early churches in the first and second centuries.

To start, I’d like to draw your attention to verse 1 of today’s reading in Colossians. Paul uses a very interesting and unique Greek word here. He writes, ‘You have been raised to life with Christ.’

In English, we call this the ‘present perfect’ tense, but in Greek It carries a special meaning. It is an aorist tense and suggests something that has already happened, but is not yet finished. It is like saying, ‘You have already been raised, but not yet.’ Some call this the ‘Already-But-Not-Yet’ Resurrection.

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John 3:1-17, Revelation 7:13-17

We often smile at Nicodemus. When Jesus says, “You must be born again,” Nicodemus immediately thinks of biology and asks: “How can a grown man crawl back into his mother’s womb?” It sounds like a silly question, doesn’t it?

But before we judge Nicodemus, we should realize that many of us fall into the same trap. In some traditions and churches, there is a lot of pressure to point to the exact moment you were born again or saved. The idea is that if you can’t name the specific date or time, you aren’t seen as a ‘proper’ or committed believer. Like Nicodemus, many of us today try to turn the deep, spiritual mystery into a simple, mechanical formula. Why? Because we often desire physical, visible, or even ‘scientific’ proof for our salvation moments. But the mysteries of God sit far beyond human logic. They are not math problems to be solved; they are meant to be experienced through the ministry of the Spirit in our daily lives.

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Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7.   Matthew 4:1-4, 8-11 

The story of the Garden of Eden in today’s reading from Genesis 2 is by no means an easy passage. It carries some complicated theological implications and presents us with several dilemmas. However, I would like us to look at this story through the lens of our Gospel reading in Matthew 4, ‘Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness’.

Genesis account begins with God placing humans in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and guard it with a clear instruction: “You may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, except the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad. You must not eat the fruit of that tree; if you do, you will die the same day.”

While every tree in the garden was theirs to enjoy, one remained off-limits: the tree in the middle.  Here, we see that God placed humanity in a sanctuary of abundance and gave one protective boundary.

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Matthew 5:13-20

“You are the light of the world,” said Jesus to his followers in today’s bible text from Matthew’s gospel. 

Can you imagine that? Here was an ordinary group of ordinary farmers and fishermen, and even tax collectors in a tiny village in the first century Palestine. And Jesus, the son of God, was saying to them, “You are the light of the world.”

Such a bunch of extremely ordinary townsfolks being the light of the world? Where did it come from? Think about the context they were in. The Romans were expanding their power, conquering and colonising many surrounding nations, cities and towns. The Roman emperor was treated as a god to millions of residents everywhere.

In Israel alone, many Jewish high-ranking people and leaders acted like they, too, were Roman citizens and they were so proud of it. Basically, Roman emperors were their God.

Rome was the light of their world. Then, all of a sudden, the teacher of that tiny group of fishermen was saying to his followers: “No. You are the light of the world.” They themselves had never heard that before. Not even once. 

At the time, it probably sounded like idle chatter. ‘You are the light of the world,’ Jesus said—and so they were. Now, do you want to hear something truly incredible? So are you. So are we.

Jesus says the same to us this morning that we are the light of the world. Let that sink in for a moment. Let alone ourselves, would our family members and friends think that we are the light of the world?

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