John 20.

19-31

My uncle perplexed me as a small boy. For, he told me of the three men in a boat ho each had a ci!arette but no matches. "o one of them thre a ci!arette o#erboard and then the boat became a ci!arette li!hter. $ell no matter ho often % could not see the &o'e ( % could not see it hin!ed on a ord play. ) bit little that old schoolboy ho ler of hen is a door not a door ( hen it is an a&ar.

$ell today*s story is all about doors ( doors that seem closed yet are a&ar+ the doors of circumstances that seem closed yet a&ar, the doors of rationality and biolo!y that seemed not &ust closed and loc'ed and are a!ain a&ar. Moreo#er, the doors to hope that seemed not &ust closed and loc'ed but buried deep are not &ust a&ar but are idenin! afresh throu!h si!ht and touch of faith.

For there can be little doubt that on the hard physical e#idence that Jesus bin Joseph an itinerant carpenter and rabbi from ,a-areth as dead. .he searin! nails and han!in! suffocation of crucifixion n had seen to that/ %t as in the tired clich0 of the sport commenter ( !ame o#er. ,e#ertheless, his follo ers started to say other ise. ,ot mar' you tales of a !host or a spiritual presence. ,o ( ould be belie#e an actual person there before them. ,ot only that he could eat and drin' and tal'. 1f course, to those ho had not seen this onder, then they did not belie#e. .homas for example found the hole account of the other disciples as not much more that ha#ers.

,e#ertheless, shortly after he too as confronted by the risen 2hrist ( he touched the ounds ( he too belie#ed. 3ut li'e .homas you also could find the hole idea of a resurrected 2hrist too much to handle. )fter all e li#e in the 21st century here such re#ersals of la s of science and medicine don*t occur. $hy then should e belie#e the disciples account4 .he ans er lies in period in bet een us and them. For if somethin! utterly unbelie#able not happened then hat turned a fri!htened bunch of losers into the foundation stone of the church+ the #ery same church hich has inspired hu!e personal sacrifice for human !ood o#er these 2000 years. )nd don*t say it as misplaced coura!e ( for after all they ere the #ery ones ho had s'edaddled hen Jesus as arrested. .hey ere the ones the "anhedrin couldn*t see for dust. .hey ere the ones ho loc'ed their doors and found throu!h the po er of 2hrist that they still remained a&ar. .hey ere the ones chained up in fear and snapped open to freedom. 5ere ere the ones ho had not belie#ed no seein! and embracin!.

5ere then is a hu!ely po erful messa!e for our today.