Locked Doors and High Anxiety
by Don Hoffman


John 20:19-31

April 6, 1997



The People's Temple of Jonestown, Guyana.

The Branch Davidians of Waco, Texas.

The Solar Temple of Canada and Switzerland.

The Heaven's Gate of San Diego, California.



Those very names fill us with fear and unease, even while we tell

ourselves, "It can't happen here!" We hope it can't happen here. But

how sure are we?



I recently read that there are 3000 new religious movements in

America, and they have ten million members. Well, obviously, the vast

majority are harmless. Nine million nine hundred ninety-nine thousand

quiet and peaceful citizens. But they're not the ones we see on TV or

read about in the papers. And when a small group acts crazy, the

people around them get anxious, and some of them do crazy things.

David Koresh was able to spread his infection to the government

agents surrounding him. On the other hand, the federal agents

surrounding the Freemen in Montana were able to resist the virus.

They stayed calm and saved lives.



One of the things that happens also is that the cults make radical

pronouncements, wild and crazy ideas that you are only likely to find

in an insane asylum, or in the pages of the New Testament. Ooops!!

They take some of this stuff more seriously than we do. Does that

mean that there's something wrong with Christianity, right from the

source? Or is there something wrong with us that we're only lukewarm

Christians?



It's awful easy to react against the crazies by watering down our own

faith. After all, we don't want to seem like extremists to our own

friends and neighbors. I happen to think this wishy-washiness is

wrong, but I also have to admit I've done it myself.



Where do we draw the line-the line of tolerance, and getting along

with our neighbors, and inclusiveness, while at the same time calling

Jesus Lord and God? It's not easy, and we modern American Christians

are not very good at it, and every time another weird cult makes the

headlines, we get worse. Did you know that Jim Jones was a recognized

Disciples minister, because a regional nurture and certification

committee refused to ask the hard questions? Gulp! Could it happen

again? I hope not, but I'm afraid it could.



A bunch of disciples were hiding in a locked room on Easter night,

scared to death that the authorities would find them. Anxiety feeds

on anxiety. Jesus made the religious leaders anxious, so they drummed

up a mob to make the governor, Pilate anxious. So he had Jesus

killed, and now these disciples were way beyond anxiety!



Of course it's unlikely they would have done anything crazy.

Apparently cult groups like Heaven's Gate need three things to drive

them off the deep end into violence:



1) You need to believe that the end time is near and you have to

prepare for it. Well, the disciples believed that.



2) You have to be isolated from from the community around you,

psychologically and maybe even physically. Well, the disciples had

that: weird beliefs and locked doors.



3) And you have to have a charismatic leader who's filled with

anxiety. Nope, they flunked on that test: their charismatic leader

was dead. They thought. So they weren't likely to become a danger to

themselves or anybody else.



But neither were they likely to become a church that would turn the

world upside down, either. They were just a collection of scared

individuals, hiding out. Filled with anxiety, but with no unity and

no leader.



And then Jesus came in. Right through a locked door. And anything but

anxious. "Peace be with you." "Peace be with you." He says it twice.

Wants to make sure they get the message. "Calm down, folks. Relax.

Everything's going to be all right."



Notice there's one emotion we never see in Jesus? He never gets

anxious. He's never uptight. Elvis Presley may get "all shook up,"

but not Jesus. "Peace be with you."



"Peace be with you." Say it once in that culture: it's a greeting.

Hello! Shalom! Say it twice, and it's something more, something

greater: "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the

world gives, do I give it to you. Let not your hearts be troubled,

and don't let them be afraid." He's calming them down, but also

reminding them of their Last Supper together. "I don't give peace the

world gives it. I'm not just saying Shalom, Hi, there! How're ya doin?



In our day when someone says, "How are you?" they don't really mean

they want to know how you are; it's just a greeting. 2000 years ago

when someone said "Shalom! Peace be with you!" they didn't really

mean it either. It was just a greeting. Except with Jesus, he means

it. "Peace be with you."


Still, you can't just relieve anxiety by saying the magic word,

"peace." Jeremiah had already found that out six hundred hears

earlier: "They have healed my people's wounds lightly, saying,

'peace, peace,' when there is no peace." (Jer. 6:14; 8:11) You can't

just say "peace," and make the anxiety go away.



So, of course, the way Jesus does it is by being himself. He was dead

and they knew he was dead. Now he's alive and proving it. The real

message is not, "Peace be with you." The real message is, "I'm alive,

folks!"



Because if Jesus was dead and is now alive, all the rules have

changed! And what's so scary about people who can just kill your body?



If we could create an anxiety scale, an anxiety meter, I'm guessing

that the people in that locked room had had an anxiety level of about

90 on a scale of 100. And when Jesus popped in without bothering to

unlock the door (let alone knock), I'll bet they blew the top off the

meter.



And then, within a matter of minutes, the anxiety level in that room

drops from around 125 to about two and a quarter! Jesus had changed

the rules. The disciples had changed their priorities. And peace was

with them.



Once there was a movie entitled High Anxiety. It starred Mel Brooks

as a psychiatrist crippled by his own phobia: he was afraid of high

places. So naturally, at the climax of the movie, in order to save

the woman he loved, he had to climb high up in a rickety, shaky

tower. He had to re-orient his priorities. If love was going to be

his top priority, then fear of heights had to drop down  notch or two.



Those disciples hiding out behind a locked door had a phobia of

authority; and why not? You would too! They were associates of a

condemned criminal. The government could have executed them, too,

just on general principles.



But their fear didn't just drop a notch or two. It went away. To the

point where Jesus could unlock the door and send them out: "Peace be

with you. Now you are my missionaries. Now you have my Spirit. Go out

and bring my peace to all those other anxiety-ridden souls."



Is there anyone here who has anxieties? I'm not talking about simple

phobias like fear of airplanes or elevators or barking dogs. Any

competent counselor can take those away in ten minutes or less. No, I

mean those vague but powerful tensions that underlie all of life.



Fear that I won't succeed. Or fear that I will. Fear that someone

depends on me, and I'll let them down. Fear that no one will love me.

Fear that I will become helpless in the face of death. Fear that I'll

become dependent on someone else.



To each of us Jesus says, "Peace be with you. I've changed the rules.

I've turned all the priorities upside down. Receive my Spirit.

Receive my power. Receive my love. Because I'm sending you out to

spread that power, that love, that peace throughout the world.



Resurrection did not take away Jesus' scars. But it did inoculate him

against death.

Jesus did not take away the disciples' scars. But he did inoculate

them against anxiety. Now he sends you and me out, with our scars,

and with his peace, to change the world. To understand us, and so we

would believe in him, he became the Wounded Healer. Now he takes our

scars and makes something glorious, and we also become wounded

healers. Unlocking doors. Healing anxieties. Spreading peace.



Peace be with you!

(Comments to Don at crestnch@televar.com.)

Creston, Washington, USA