“Get Out”

“Get Out”

Text: John 20:19-31

© April 15, 2007 by C. Edward Bowen at Crafton United Presbyterian Church.

If you had been in Rev. Julie Nicholson’s place, what would you have done? Two summers ago, you might recall, Islamic terrorists set off a series of bombs in the London subway system, which resulted in the deaths of more than 50 people. And one of those killed was Jenny Nicholson, Rev. Julie Nicholson’s 24-year-old daughter.

Eventually Rev. Nicholson, a priest with the Church of England, decided that she just couldn’t go on serving as pastor of her church. She decided that she just couldn’t go on standing up in front of her congregation and preaching to them week after week about how Jesus wants us to forgive people when she knew in her heart that she didn’t forgive those terrorists who had killed her daughter – and that she never would forgive them for what they had done. As far as she was concerned, what those terrorists did to her daughter, and to all those others, was too despicable and evil to ever be forgiven. And so Rev. Nicholson resigned as pastor of her church.[1] If you had been in Rev. Nicholson’s place, what would you have done?

On the one hand, we know that Jesus forgives people and that Jesus wants us to forgive people. But on the other hand, we know that there are times in our lives when we’re not so sure that we can bring ourselves to actually do that. To a large degree, that struggle is at the heart of this story that we heard today in the Gospel of John.

It was Easter evening. Jesus had been raised from the dead. But instead of running out into the streets and telling everyone the good news, the disciples were hiding. They were afraid. They had locked themselves in a room, all the windows were bolted shut, and they were sitting there in the dark, quietly whispering to one another, hoping that no one would find them. As far as the disciples were concerned, it was a dangerous world out there. And the way they looked at things, if the authorities took and killed Jesus, then there was a pretty good chance that sooner or later those same authorities might try to come and do the same thing to them.

But all of a sudden they counted the number of people in the room, and they realized that there was one more person there than there was before. But just as the disciples started to panic, a familiar voice said to them, “Peace be with you.” And then that person held out his hands for them to look at, and when the disciples saw the nail prints, they recognized that it was Jesus, that he really had been raised from the dead.

And so Jesus again said to them, “Peace be with you.” And then he added: “Just as God the Father has sent me, so now I send you. Just as God sent me into the world, now I’m sending you into the world. Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

What Jesus said there to the disciples was pretty straightforward, except for that last part. What exactly did Jesus mean when he said, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; and if you retain the sins of any, they are retained”?

On the surface, it appears that Jesus was saying to the disciples, “From now on, it’s up to you. From now on, it’s up to you to decide if people get to be forgiven for their sins or not. If you forgive people, then God will forgive them. And if you choose to not forgive people, then God won’t forgive them either.” On the surface, it appears that’s what Jesus is saying here. But is that what Jesus meant by those words?

A good rule of thumb to use when you’re reading the Bible and come across a verse that seems puzzling or strange is to consider how that verse fits into the broader context. How does that puzzling or strange verse make sense when you take a step back and see it as a part of the chapter that you’re reading, or when you see it as a part of the book of the Bible that you’re reading, or when you see it as a part of the Bible as a whole?

In this case, I believe we need to ask ourselves: how does what Jesus says here about forgiving or not forgiving people fit into the overall message that we find in the Gospel of John? One place where we can get some guidance in that regard is in that very familiar passage that begins at John 3:16. And I would invite you to open the pew Bibles to that passage, which is found on page 94 in the New Testament, in the back part of the pew Bibles.

Beginning at John 3:16, it says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 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. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

And so, how does that passage help us understand what Jesus said to those disciples there in that locked room after he had been raised from the dead? I believe that passage that begins at John 3:16 helps us understand that God’s greatest desire is to forgive people. The reason God sent Jesus into the world was so that we could be saved from our sins and be given the opportunity to share in eternal life. But in that same passage, in the third chapter of John, we are told that, sadly, not everyone is going to welcome that message of mercy and forgiveness. No, some people are going to reject that good news and the tragic result is that they end up bringing God’s judgment upon themselves.

And so what I believe Jesus was essentially saying to those disciples there in that locked room was this: “Get out! Get out of this room, and go out into the world and forgive people. Get out of this room, and go out into the world and share with people, through your words and through your actions, the message of God’s love and mercy. Yeah, there are some people who aren’t going to want to listen to what you have to say. In fact, there are some people who might even hate you for what you have to say. I know that – take a look at the nail marks in my hands. I know all too well what kind of evil is out there. But even so, get out! Get out of this room and share with them the good news of God’s forgiveness – and if they don’t accept what you have to say, then it’s their problem, not yours.”

But deep down inside, when the disciples heard Jesus say that, they must have thought to themselves, “Get out! Get out of here, Jesus! You want us to go out into the midst of a world that just crucified the Son of God, and you want us to talk to them about love and forgiveness? You’ve got to be kidding!”

I say that because a week later Jesus returned to visit the disciples, and where did he find them? Jesus found them locked inside that very same room where they had been the week before. They hadn’t gone out and done what Jesus had told them to do. No, they were still hiding out in that room, for fear of what was out there in the world around them.

But instead of being overly critical of the disciples, to a large degree I think we can sympathize with them. It’s like some years ago when a group of Navy SEALs, an elite group of Navy commandos, went in to rescue some Americans who were being held hostage in a foreign country. At first, everything went just as planned. Their helicopter landed and they charged into the building where the hostages were being held. But when the SEALs told the hostages to get out of the room and come with them, that they were there to rescue them, not one hostage moved.

The soldiers looked at each other, wondering what was going on. They knew that they couldn’t carry all of those people out of the building, and time was starting to run out. So one of the SEALs had an idea. He laid down his gun, took off his helmet, and sat down next to one of the hostages. And in a quiet, calm, gentle voice he whispered that they didn’t need to be afraid anymore – that they were American soldiers and that they had come to save them. “Will you follow us?” he asked. As a result, all of the hostages quickly overcame their fears and got out of that building and were rescued.[2]

In a similar way, the disciples were somewhat paralyzed by their fears when Jesus first came to them. They weren’t the least bit certain that they wanted to get out of that room they were in and go where Jesus wanted to lead them. But as Jesus reassured them – as he spoke to them words of peace and as he gave them the gift of the Holy Spirit – in time, they overcame their fears. And when Jesus showed them his nail-pierced hands, he was basically saying to them, “I know it’s a dangerous world out there. I know how evil and sinful people can be. But that’s why I need you to get out of this room. I need you to go out and let people know that God wants something better for them than that.”

But while we may agree with Jesus that there is a need for people to hear the message about God’s peace and love and forgiveness, at times we’re tempted to wonder: what’s the use? After all, if we make the effort and take the risk and go out and do what we can to share the message that Jesus wants us to share, is it really going to make a difference? Because all too often it seems that, no matter what you do, people don’t change.

It’s like a woman named Lois who lived on an Indian reservation. Every Tuesday night Lois arranged for a friend to come over and watch her children while she went out to a meeting. But after babysitting for a couple months, the friend started to wonder what kind of meeting Lois was going to. Since Lois was always kind of evasive about it, one Tuesday night the friend took the children and they followed Lois to the tribe’s meeting house so that she could see for herself what sort of meeting it was.

When the friend looked through a window, she was stunned to watch as Lois carefully arranged a bunch of chairs into a large circle and then for nearly two hours Lois sat there on one of the chairs all by herself – no one else was there. When Lois got home, the friend asked, “What were you doing there? What kind of meeting do you have all by yourself?”

Lois explained, “I’m starting an Alcoholics Anonymous group here on our reservation. Drinking is getting out of hand and it’s destroying a lot of our families.” But the friend said, “But no one else was there! How can you have an AA group if no one else on the whole reservation wants to be a part of it? People around here just aren’t interested in changing their ways.”

But every Tuesday night Lois kept right on going out to the tribe’s meeting house and set up those chairs in a neat circle. And week after week, month after month, Lois sat there in that circle all by herself. But then, one night, a couple people showed up. And after a while, a few others started to come. Ten years later, the room was filled with people.[3]

Are we willing to go out and share the message that Jesus wants the world to hear? Are we willing to go out and share a message of peace, love, and forgiveness? Are we willing to go out and share that message even if it seems like almost no one out there wants to hear it? Because that is precisely what Jesus asks us to do. But if we have the faith to get out and do that, in time, who knows what kind of amazing things are just waiting to happen?