Locks and Keys

Devotion Text: John 20:19-23

In a little town called Penguin on the northern Tasmanian coast there is a small church in which most of the doors and windows are built in the shape of a keyhole.

Locks and keys feature just as prominently in John’s Gospel account of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearance to his disciples.

First, the disciples were gathered behind locked doors for fear of the people who had crucified their Lord. Yet those locked doors did not keep the risen Saviour out. He defied locked doors by coming among his disciples with his presence, his peace, his Spirit and his word.

Then Jesus spoke about some spiritual keys, ‘the keys of the kingdom’ as he called them elsewhere (Matthew 16:19), keys powerful enough to unlock the doors of heaven itself by announcing to fallen sinners that our sins are forgiven. Heaven’s door is unlocked for sinners because Jesus died to pay the penalty for all human sin and was raised to proclaim complete victory over it.

These keys are also powerful enough to keep heaven’s door locked to those who reject the saving work of Christ, and powerful enough to then unlock heaven’s door when they no longer do so.

The reason the image of locks and keys feature so prominently in that little church in Penguin is to remind people that ‘the keys of the kingdom’ feature prominently in our lives as believers in the risen Lord – as individuals and as his gathered people.

It brings us certainty to know that when we are behind locked doors of fear, desperation, or concern, the risen Jesus is with us, assuring us of his victory over death, his presence, his peace, his Spirit, and his word of forgiveness.

It brings us everlasting peace to know that, even though our sinful thoughts, words and deeds would lock the door of our hearts to God, he does not lock the door of his grace to us. Instead, his word of forgiveness becomes the key that unlocks heaven’s door to us again and again.

The ‘keys of the kingdom,’ announced to us publicly by called and ordained servants of his word, keep on calling us to, and reassuring us of the redeeming, unlocking grace of God won for us on the cross and proclaimed from the open grave of Jesus.

And as ‘the keys of the kingdom’ unlock the good news of God’s forgiveness for us, they also have power to unlock hearts that are closed toward other people.

Are there locked doors that you are – or feel like – hiding behind today because of circumstances too difficult to face? May you be aware of the presence and peace of the risen Saviour, even behind those locked doors.

Is your heart locked to the forgiving grace of God through either ‘impenitence or unbelief’ – struggling to admit or confess your sin, or to trust that God’s grace is sufficient to forgive you? May your heart find peace in knowing that your Saviour will never leave the door of his grace and forgiveness locked to you whenever, in faith and repentance, you come knocking. Amen.

[Photo supplied by Pastor Lester Priebbenow]