Answer the Door
Most Jesus-followers have pockets full of favorite Bible verses they know by heart. Like touchstones, they remind us of larger truths, especially when we are enmeshed in the stuff of everyday living. These provide comfort and hope and direction to walk our path.
Here are a few phrases you might know, and can probably finish off the verse.
I know the plans I have for you, plans for a future and a hope…
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…
Let not your heart be troubled…
All things work together for good…
Don’t worry about anything but pray about everything…
Here’s one more that’s often quoted, found in the back of the book:
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and he with me.
Countless times these words have been used when one person is explaining faith in Jesus to another who might be trying to understand a bit more how belief works. I’ve heard many well-meaning and earnest speakers employ this verse in evangelism, and it does talk of our agency in responding to God’s invitation.
However, like the late-night infomercial I say, “But wait! There’s more.”
That “more” is tied to the larger context of Revelation 3:20. While there sure are plenty of questions that Revelation raises, and the details leave wide fields ripe for debate on their meanings, this verse is understandable and remarkably applicable when seen in its larger setting.
In this and the previous chapter, John writes to seven churches and commends, exposes, challenges, and rebukes their practices of faith. Most of them clearly struggle with all-too-familiar problems that crop up in average believers and any local fellowship.
The churches mentioned were all in influential cities and scattered along a widely-used circular trade route. We can infer that these seven were representative of others, and the messages would spread out from them. In short form, here are the churches and how they were doing.
Ephesus: The group there did plenty of church work, but had lost their first love.
Smyrna: A poor church but rich in their walk in the face of persecution.
Pergamum: These folks compromised faith and its practice to get along with the culture of their city.
Thyatira: The church that was swayed by and then followed a false teacher.
Sardis: These believers did all the right ritual things but were spiritually dead.
Philadelphia: The church that stood firm in the face of hardship and rejection.
Laodicea: Though wealthy, the church was apathetic and spiritually lukewarm.
While these all might sound like some of the churches and Christians you know (because human nature really doesn’t change), the verse in 3:20 is to this last church in the list. If we cast this context into the text, a new implication steps up to the front.
While the image of Jesus at the door certainly works for the yet-to-be-believer, its intent is foremost to the apathetic Christian, as shown in the larger passage. And that sounds like me at more times than I’m often admitting. It’s so easy to slip into neutral with one’s faith walk, and the same is true for a church.
However, imagining Jesus at my door applies to much more than apathy. This verse paints an interesting scene for any of us closed off from his presence. Out of fear (often), we slide into modes of self-protection and self-promotion. We can spend too much time competing or comparing ourselves to others. Any number of ways to cope with life away from Jesus sets a door between him and us.
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and he with me.
Let’s consider for a bit how the picture the verse paints might reach to you and me.
Like always, Jesus is the seeker of the one behind the door. This is in perfect harmony with his nature as the Shepherd who will look out for the stray and do what it takes to bring them back. He will not give up.
“Here I am!” Where else would Jesus be but at your door. You, whom he rescued from all that is wrong and transferred you to his kingdom where you are made right, will never be abandoned by him.
Human agency, free will, and choice play out in this verse. He is outside, knocking. You are inside with a decision to make. There is no battering ram in his hand, only a simple knock and an invitation to return.
Like the father in the prodigal story, no condemnation accompanies his entrance, he only wants your closeness through his discipline toward maturity. Groveling will not be expected, only gratitude for his presence as you choose to change. You will not be “less than”, only embraced and guided, again, toward a full life.
“…and he with me.” This is the heart of our life in God, to be with Jesus in whatever we do and wherever we go. It’s an amazing thing to grasp that he desires us…but he does.
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and he with me.
It’s possible you are reading this and feel far away from God, and who doesn’t from time to time. In those times, your door is closed and locked from the inside, separated.
But if you turn down the noise a bit, you just might hear knocking and a voice inviting you to open up your shuttered heart, to change your thinking about your life and Jesus’ role in it. Then instead of the cold cell of apathy, or whatever prison you choose to live within, reconnected once again to Life, you move toward your next chapter.
He is never far away. You are his beloved. Remember that he wants the best for you. Swing open your door and welcome him back into your world.
Answer the door. He’s knocking.
Answer the door.
MusicMusicMusic
Let’s go with some bad humor
Employer: "We need someone responsible for this job."
Applicant: "Sir your search ends here! In my previous job whenever something went wrong, everybody said I was responsible."
********************
A man went to his dentist because he feels something wrong in his mouth. The dentist examines him and says, "That new upper plate I put in for you six months ago is eroding. What have you been eating?"
The man replies, "All I can think of is that about four months ago my wife made some asparagus and put some stuff on it that was delicious... Hollandaise sauce. I loved it so much I now put it on everything—meat, toast, fish, vegetables.
"Well," says the dentist, "that's probably the problem. Hollandaise sauce is made with lots of lemon juice, which is highly corrosive. It's eaten away your upper plate. I'll make you a new plate, and this time use chrome."
"Why chrome?" asks the patient.
To which the dentist replies, "It's simple. Everyone knows that there's no plate like chrome for the Hollandaise."
****************
And a bonus, thanks to BlackButteJerry
Three golfing partners died in a car wreck and went to heaven. Upon arrival they discover the most beautiful golf course they had ever seen. St. Peter tells them that they are all welcome to play the course as often as they like, but he cautions that there is only one rule: Don't hit the ducks.
The men all have blank expressions, and finally one of them asks, "The ducks?" "Yes" replies St. Peter, "There are thousands of ducks walking around the course, and if one gets hit, he quacks, then another quacks, and soon they are all quacking. It really ruins the tranquility. If you hit one of the ducks, you will be punished."
Upon starting their round of golf, the men noted that there were indeed large numbers of ducks everywhere. Within a few minutes, one of the guys hits a duck. The duck quacks, the one next to it quacked, and soon there was a deafening roar of duck quacks.
St. Peter walked up with an extremely homely woman in tow and asks, "Who hit the duck?" The guy who had done it admitted, "I did". St. Peter immediately pulled out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed the man's right hand to the homely woman's left hand. "I told you not to hit the ducks," he said. "Now you'll be handcuffed together for eternity".
The other two men were very cautious not to hit any ducks, but a couple of weeks later, one of them did. The quacks were as deafening as before, and within minutes St. Peter walked up with an even uglier woman. He cuffed the man's right hand to the homely woman's left hand and said, "I told you not to hit the ducks. Now you'll be handcuffed together for eternity."
This worried the third man who then was extremely careful not to hit the ducks. Some days he wouldn't even play for fear of even hitting close to a duck. A few months passed and he still hadn't hit a duck. St. Peter walked up to the man with a knock-out gorgeous woman, the most beautiful woman the man had ever seen. St. Peter smiled at the man and, without a word, handcuffed him to that gorgeous woman, and walked off.
The man, knowing that he would be handcuffed to this woman for eternity, let out a contented sigh and said aloud, "I wonder what I did to deserve this?"
The woman responds, "I don't know about you, but I hit a duck."