Closed Doors
Sometimes a phrase from a hymn grabs us. We can’t get it out of our minds. It’s pointing us to Scripture where our souls can be fed. We need to pay attention! That’s what happened to me one Sunday morning. We were singing the third verse of an old hymn which begins, Fear not, little flock, whatever your lot; He enters all rooms, “the doors being shut.” I couldn’t sing any more. I was struck by the phrase, “He enters all rooms, ‘the doors being shut.’” Instantly I thought of the resurrection narratives in the Gospel of John. The disciples—fearful, confused, grieving—are huddled together behind locked doors. Their Lord has been executed. His body is now missing from the tomb. They have no idea what to do next. Are their lives in imminent danger? Are all their hopes dead? Then Jesus enters the room, the doors being shut. Here’s how an eye witness describes it: That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Je