The Locked Room

“Meanwhile, all his disciples deserted him and ran away.”      Mark 14:50

“That evening, on the first day of the week, the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders.”      John 20:19

Blindsided. That’s how the disciples must have felt. They entered Jerusalem on Sunday to the roar of the crowd’s approval. By Friday all their expectations had been dashed, crushed under the weight of a cross. They had been in the shadow of greatness. Now they were just in the shadows.

We read the accounts of Jesus’ death and resurrection with the benefit of hindsight. How silly of the disciples to be hiding! Jesus told them what was going to happen. They should have known that He would rise from the dead. Never mind that it had never happened before. Never mind that their world had just been turned upside down and they were still struggling to figure out which way was up.

Our everyday lives happen without the benefit of hindsight. Then some circumstance blindsides us. Suddenly we find ourselves living between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Our response is to hide in fear because we easily forget the promises of God.

It is hindsight that lets us look back more than 2000 years to the Cross, where we see that God keeps His promises. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He will not change. He will continue to act towards us from His goodness, His mercy, His love. This encourages us and propels us forward into the future.

The Cross is the proof in the pudding, the eternal evidence that God gave that He loves us and will do anything to rescue us and restore our relationship with Him. It is at the Cross that God invites us to walk by faith and not by sight. The grave looked pretty final and death looked pretty victorious. But that wasn’t the end of the story. Faith looks ahead, keeps waiting to see what more God has to reveal, what God’s power can do with a hopeless situation.

What got the disciples out of the locked room? The good news that the tomb was empty. What’s the remedy that will draw us out of fear and hiding? The same good news that drew the disciples out. The tomb is empty.  Whatever painful, blindsiding, world-altering circumstance you face, it’s an empty threat.  It’s not the end of your story. There’s more to come.