THEMESSENGER
FAITH LUTHERAN CHURCH TREASURE VALLEY CHRISTIAN CHURCH
2915 S. MONTANA AVENUE CALDWELL, IDAHO 83605
208-459-2444 208-459-8935
_____________________________________________________________________
Today you may be standing in front of an open door. Behind you lies the familiar, while ahead you can only see shifting shapes and vague colors. All of us, without exception, go through doorways at different times in our lives: marriage, moving, childbirth, new jobs or homes, even death. Some doorways are so frightening that we question whether God is on the other side and why he asks us to go through them.
Yet, did you ever stop to think that even Jesus, the Lord of Creation, went through doorways just like ours? He entered our world in the darkness of the womb, just as we do and he stepped over the threshold of death just like us; yet his passage became our own doorway to eternal life. In between his birth and death, Jesus crossed other doorways as well.
A few thousand years ago in a small dusty trade town not far from the Sea of Galilee stood a carpentry shop. Every day customers, friends and family dropped in to see the honest, hardworking man who freely dispensed love and a helping hand to everyone who needed it. He was the oldest son and thus in charge of the family business as well as the caretaker of his widowed mother. He joked with his younger brothers, hugged his sisters and played with his nephews and nieces. Over the years he stood in the synagogue with the other men, reading the Torah and discussing the scriptures. He danced at the weddings of his friends and traveled to the great city of Jerusalem for the Holy days. He was beloved, respected, needed and trusted by those around him. Then one day, he stood in the doorway of his carpentry shop for the last time.
We are never told how Jesus felt about leaving his home and family. We somehow assume that he was, after all, God and thus strode out without a backward glance. Yet we know that he was also man, and that he felt what we feel. I imagine him running his hands gently over the walls of his home and putting down his tools for the last time. My heart tells me that he gently hugged his mother and sisters and tried to calm their fears. When he left Nazareth, Jesus crossed the doorway of the ordinary into the extraordinary life and death that we know of from the gospels.
The bible tells us that his brothers, at least, did not understand his reasons for going, nor did they believe his message until much later. I can picture the hurt and confusion on the faces of friends and neighbors - did they feel that he was somehow deserting them? We know from scripture that many of these people later turned became so angry at his message that they tried to kill him. Yet Jesus crossed the very door of death to save all these people, just as he still does for us.
Today as we face open or closed doors with anxiety, let us remember that we may not know what is on the other side, but we know who is there. In the end, that is should be enough for us. May the Lord guide you through all your doors in peace.
In His Love, Sandy Stone