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May 3, 2009 I Am The DoorIn the 1960’s and ‘70’s there was a popular game show called “Let’s Make a Deal.” Contestants were asked to trade in a small prize for the opportunity to choose between three curtains or doors. They had to choose door #1, door #2, or door #3. The trick was that each door looked exactly the same, but there were vastly different things behind them. Depending on which door contestants chose, they could trade a few hundred dollars for a car, a couch, or a goat. That made for a good game show; but it wasn’t very true to life. The doors on “Let’s Make a Deal” looked exactly the same, when most of the time a door tells us something about what is behind it. I suppose that’s why I tend to take pictures of doors and doorways when we travel. I took some really interesting shots in China. In fact, we framed four “doorway shots” together and set them on a shelf in our family room. The one that I am continually drawn to was taken on a street known as Calligraphy Row. In the foreground, there are signs in Chinese script and what I think is a power line in hanging haphazardly across one of the signs. Inside the open doorway, a man squats on the dirt floor, practicing his ancient art. This door and what is behind it says a lot about China. As modern as some things are, this doorway and the man inside show that some things haven’t changed very much in a very long time. As I said, this is usually how a door functions. As opposed to the “generic” doors on “Let’s Make a Deal,” a door usually tells us something about what is behind it. A door is usually fit not only to the size of the opening into the building, but also to the life that goes on within it. In today’s Gospel, Jesus compares himself to a door. Our translation says “gate,” but a more literal reading is “door.” Jesus says,“I am the door.” I know that’s not the only metaphor… not even the primary metaphor… in today’s Gospel. This is, after all, the fourth Sunday in Easter. Every year this day is dedicated to Jesus as shepherd… as the Good Shepherd. It’s a wonderful image; yet, today I find myself more interested in Jesus as “the door.” What did he mean by that? Why did Jesus use that metaphor? When Jesus tells us he is “the door,” he is telling us that he shows us what is behind it. More like the door in our picture at home than a door on Let’s Make a Deal, Jesus shows us who God is and what God is like. Jesus is the door that shows us that God…
When we look through Jesus, the “door,” the character of God is revealed. As we stand outside the door, Jesus makes it possible for us to see the very face of God. In the picture in our family room, two of the four doorway images are taken from the outside of the building looking in. Two are taken from the inside looking out. That made me wonder… Other than tell us a bit about what to expect on the inside, what is the chief function of a door? Is it a means of entering, or a means of exit? Which way does the traffic go? After all, there are times when I want to go through Jesus, the doorway to God… but because of my humanness, my sinfulness, my doubt… I can’t seem to get there. Have you ever stood in front of door you thought you should be able to open and couldn’t? Our doors at home are a bear to open. Obviously, the doors have expanded, even though I thought they should do that more in the summer than in the winter and early spring. Anyway, one night I had a key, but I couldn’t open either the front or the back door. I had to go back to Wadsworth to pick up the garage door opener I had left in another vehicle. I’ve confessed before that I am not AT ALL mechanically or technically inclined. So I thought this conundrum was uniquely mine… until Easter weekend. My husband and colleague over there had stayed late to work on his Easter message so we could spend Saturday with my parents and Ellie. My parents and Ellie and I got up the next morning and, while I was making coffee, my Mom asked,“Where’s Brad?” I said,“He’s not home yet.” Now, those of you who know him even moderately well know that he is a night owl. It’s not entirely out of the question for him to work late or even through the night. So when Mom asked if I was going to call him, I said no. But after we ate breakfast and did the dishes I started getting a bit nervous… so I dialed his cell. The second time I got through to him and asked when he was coming home. He said,“I am home.” I said,“What?” “Yeah,” he said. “I’m in the driveway. In the van.” Sure enough, he had come home early in the morning and, because he had given my parents his garage door opener… and he couldn’t budge either the front or back door, either… and he didn’t want to wake anyone up… he had decided to hunker down in the van for the night. The door was right in front of him. He had a key. He still couldn’t open the door. It struck me that that’s how faith is sometimes. We can know all the right things… we can do all the right things… and sometimes we still don’t feel as if we’re getting it. Sometimes it does seem as if we’re standing at the door, holding the key and still can’t get in. Do you know what I mean? Once I realized that Brad was only a few feet away, I opened the door from the inside and he came right in. That is really the good news of today’s text. That is what Jesus, the door, is all about for me. Yes, Jesus is the door who shows us who God is. Yes, Jesus is the door that leads to God. And we do our very best to open that door. But the failsafe here is that traffic never moves only one way through a door, so that, when we think about Jesus as “the door” that leads to God, maybe the traffic is really moving in the other direction. Maybe Jesus is better thought of as the way God gets to us. In this Easter season, we celebrate Jesus, the door, who opens God to us in a way like never before. Perhaps more importantly, we celebrate the fact that through Jesus, God opens the door from the inside, comes outside to invite us in, and then welcomes us home. Let us pray. |
St. Paul's Lutheran Church § 824 N. Lewis § Waukegan IL |
