Isolated: Peace in a Locked Room | April 19, 2020 Sermon

April 19, 2020, in addition to being the first Sunday after Easter at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Greene, Iowa, also marks the first week of a four week series: Isolated: Meeting God When We Think We’re Alone. Thanks to Pr. Tim Johansen for the inspiration for the series theme!

This is also the week I launched a sermon podcast for our church, so each week from here on out ought to have an audio version of the sermon as well. Thanks to the pandemic, there’s also video recordings for many weeks, including this one. I hope this sermon is helpful for you in whatever format you prefer! 

Isolated: Meeting God When We Think We’re Alone

April 19 – “Peace in a Locked Room”

April 26 – “A Lonely Journey”

May 3 – “The Gospel Can’t Be Confined”

May 10 – “God in the Silence”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen

As I sit here alone in an empty church building, I wonder, how many of you are feeling alone? Even if you have family stuck at home with you, I think for a lot of us right now, it’s easy to feel isolated, cut off from the world, separated from friends and relatives and colleagues. 

For the next four weeks, we’re going to look at a few moments of isolation and separation in the Bible, stories where people felt alone. We’re going to explore how God enters into those stories and hopefully we’ll make some connections to our present situation. 

Our first story in this “Isolated” series comes from John chapter 20. I suspect this story might be familiar to you, because it’s the story assigned for us to hear every year on this week after Easter. 




As you’ll hear Amy read in a moment, this story takes place in the evening of the first day of the week. It’s the first Easter Sunday, the day Jesus was raised. Just a few hours earlier, the women went to the tomb and found it empty, and an angel sent them back to tell the other disciples, the men. One of the Mary’s has even encountered the risen Jesus in the garden and had a conversation with him. But the rest of the disciples aren’t sure yet what to believe. Here’s the Gospel reading.

Gospel – John 20:19-31

Isn’t that a great last verse? Jesus did a lot of other stuff, but it’s not written down. I suppose that’s true for any biography, but wouldn’t you love to know what else the Son of God did, fill in some of the gaps? I would!

But what is written, John tells us readers, is written with an agenda. The purpose of all the stories we have about Jesus in the Gospels are there so we the readers—we who have not seen the physical Jesus in person—may come to believe that he is the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God. And through believing, we may have life in his name. Everything in these Gospel stories is there for a reason: it’s so we may come to believe. It’s all there for you.

Now, often this passage is titled “The Story of Doubting Thomas.” Poor Thomas who for whatever reason wasn’t with the disciples that first Easter evening, who missed seeing Jesus and then didn’t believe the testimony of his friends. Obviously Thomas would not do well with a shelter-in-place order, or perhaps he’s the only one with an essential job. Actually, it’s entirely possible he had gone out to the market to get groceries for the rest of them as they’re hiding. Maybe he’s the brave one. But he’s forever stuck with this label of doubter, just because he wants some evidence, which, remember, the others had already gotten.

I’ve preached before about how much I appreciate Thomas, because I really believe doubt is part of faith. Today though, I want to focus less on Thomas and more on Jesus and the other disciples. 

The disciples are in hiding, and for good reason. They’ve been on an incredible roller-coaster of emotions, starting a little over a week earlier with Jesus’ decision to travel to the hostile territory of Bethany when his friend Lazarus died. The disciples knew it was risky to go so close to Jerusalem, and they tried to talk him out of it. In fact, it was Thomas who eventually said, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” Doesn’t sound much like a doubter to me; in fact, he might be the most faithful one of the bunch!

Anyway, they went to Bethany, sort of a suburb of Jerusalem, Jesus raised Lazarus, and that was the final straw for his enemies. From then on, they looked to kill him. 

Next was the high point of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and the excitement of Jesus chasing the money-changers out of the temple, but then on Thursday it all fell apart. Jesus was arrested, given a middle of the night sham trial, and then on Friday he was killed. 

No wonder the disciples are hiding—it’s a very bad indicator for your life expectancy when your leader is arrested and executed. The disciples are tired, they’re afraid, they’re overwhelmed. They’ve got to be wondering if things will ever get back to normal, or if there is such a thing as normal. They’d given up everything to follow Jesus, and now he’s dead. They have nothing left. They’re jumping every time a Roman soldier walks by in the street. They’re worrying they’ve wasted their lives, that everything they worked for is gone. 

The doors are locked, and then suddenly Jesus is there. Jesus ignores the barriers they’ve set up, ignores the walls and the locks, and comes to them as they’re hiding in fear. He breaks into their isolation. Isn’t that a great message for us right now? 

But that’s not all. He comes in and he says, “Peace be with you.” Actually, he says it not once, but three times in this one reading. Peace be with you. Peace be with you. Peace be with you. 

What does peace look like? 

For the disciples, I think peace looks like forgiveness and hope. Imagine the guilt the disciples must be feeling. Not only was their leader dead, but just before he died, they’d let him down. They’d misunderstood him at the Last Supper. They’d fallen asleep when he was praying in the garden of Gethsemane. When the soldiers came and arrested him, they ran away. Peter denied him three times. 

Peace be with you. Be forgiven. Be reconciled. 




And peace means hope. They don’t have to be afraid any more. Not only is Jesus showing them he’s alive, not only is he proving the resurrection; he’s also giving them a mission. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. 

All the work they’ve done, all the energy they’ve spent, it’s not pointless after all! They are sent to continue Jesus’ mission. The story is not over. And of course, they won’t have to do it alone. Echoing God’s action at creation, Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit into them, giving them life, giving them authority to forgive and retain sins, the power he himself had claimed.

Isn’t it interesting that Jesus doesn’t stay with them? Did you notice? In the middle of this story, Jesus disappears for a week, and they don’t see him. But now they have hope and purpose. The next week the doors are again shut, but you have to imagine the feeling in the room was a lot different. Again, Jesus comes: Peace be with you.

So what does peace look like for you in this time? 

What does peace look like when you’re worried about your business or your job? When you’re grieving missing milestones with the rest of the school year cancelled, or missing summer plans? What does peace look like when you’re worried about friends or family who are sick or even in the hospital? What does peace look like for you? 

Beloved of God, as you stay home this week or go out for essential work or supplies, look for Jesus. Look for the one who comes through locked doors to offer you peace. Remember that in your isolation, you are not alone. Jesus is alive, and he is with you breathing peace. May that peace, the peace of Christ, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds always in Christ Jesus our risen Lord.
Amen