Baxter does not like a closed door. If there is one in the house, he tolerates it only for a while. Soon he begins pawing at it and crying to have it opened. He wants to know what’s behind the barrier. When I open the door, he either darts into the open space in triumph, or else he cautiously proceeds to investigate the unknown territory. He sniffs, gingerly steps forward, sniffs further, and then he takes the plunge into the unexplored areas of the new space. Cats are very territorial, and they want to know what’s in their space.
The Risen Lord is the same way. He does not like closed tombs or locked doors. No matter how large was the stone sealing it, He broke open the tomb where they laid Him after His death. In John’s Gospel, it was despite the locked doors that the Risen Lord appeared to His disciples. He wasn’t going to be kept out.
Resurrection wants to penetrate the hidden and closed areas of our lives with a renewing grace. Where have we closed out God to keep our minds and hearts safe? Holding a grudge, being stuck in grief, keeping a stubborn disagreement going by refusing to hear the other side, wanting it my way no matter what, licking old or new wounds, these are all closed doors to new life. The key to opening these doors is given by the Risen Lord when He first says, “Peace be with you,” when He shows them His wounded hands and His side, and when He adds, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them.”
We can’t close out others peacefully. It takes energy and effort to exclude people from our lives. Peace comes when we begin to see the wounds we all bear from living. This vision allows us to share a common bond of frail humanity in the face of harsh reality. This is what the glorious wounds of the risen body of Jesus remind us. We have all been hurt in life, and we bear the marks of these painful experiences in our lives. But these wounds can become lessons in the meaning and purpose of life, if we find the peace to carry them gracefully. Forgiveness is the key to such peace, but forgiveness is not an act of our will. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit as the Risen Lord presents it. We must pray for this gift and accept it when it is given. In the meantime, we have to open the doors to make it possible for the Spirit to come into our lives when He will.
Apostles and evangelizers cannot live behind closed doors. There we can only talk to ourselves and serve ourselves. If a new evangelization is to dawn in the church and the world, we have to open the way for others to enter our lives. We have to listen, understand, discuss, respect each other even when we disagree, and keep talking with each other about important matters that shape who we are and how we treat each other. We don’t spread the good news of God’s salvation in Christ with a club, but as the Risen Lord did, with an invitation to share new life in the Spirit.
Baxter wants to know what’s behind the closed door. God wants to know as well, so that He can breathe into the space new life through His Spirit. Won’t you help God explore new places in your life? His peace is even better than a friendly, soothing purr.
