Meditation 265
John 20: 19-31
“We pray for those locked in by hurt, and loneliness and grief.
We pray for those locked in by addiction, and hunger, and poverty.
We pray that we, inspired by Your Good News this Easter Day,
may bring our practical care and help to those who call out,
and to those who are silent,
and in our lived-out faith and love, show no partiality
as we bring what hope we can to those in need.”
(Part of the Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession. Sunday April 4th. Church of Scotland)
This passage in John 20: 19-31 begins by telling us that “the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear” The disciples were confined as much because of their fear as they were behind a door. This experience of feeling locked in is one that most people feel at one time or another. As the prayer above intimates, we can be confined by our feelings, by an addiction or hardship and insufficiency. An emotional restriction is as real as a physical one.
On the first day of the week, after the crucifixion of Jesus, the disciples were locked away because they were afraid to go out into a community where Jesus had been crucified. They were overlooking people like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. They were forgetting that Jesus had promised “that the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do” (John 14:12). The followers of Jesus who were gathered in that locked house, were more focused on their fear than anything else. We are told the disciples were gathered together. Were these disciples the original twelve minus Thomas and Judas, or did this group include other disciples whose names we may not know? There were probably others who were disciples of Jesus who were not locked in that house, but for the sake of the story we are looking at these ones who were controlled by fear.
The experience of being locked down is one that is familiar to us as we cope with pandemic conditions. There are those who are staying home because they are afraid to go out. The strength of COVID 19 is a threat to wellbeing, and we can feel at a loss. This does not have to be our entire reality any more than fear had to be the entire reality for the disciples. In the case of the disciples Jesus came to be among them and interacted with them. Jesus reached to the disciples and overcame their fear. What about us with our fears and limitations in the twenty-first century?
The prayer that I quoted in the beginning of this meditation was offered and can continue to be offered in confidence that God hears prayers and that God cares to meet us in prayer. We believe that we meet God in prayer, and so we reach out to God using words, or trusting the Spirit to bring our longings to forward, or both. We trust that in prayer we are encountering God who has the same message for us as Jesus had for the disciples “Peace be with you.”