Midweek Musing April 23, 2025

Revelation 3:20 – “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking…”

So, we are just a few days from the flowering cross and songs of Alleluia.

Greeting of “He is risen- He is risen indeed” still seemingly float through the air from our Easter worship. And though the tomb is empty if you really listen, I believe we will each hear a holy knock.

“Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking.”

That’s Jesus speaking.

He is not talking to strangers nor to unbelievers.

But according to the scripture he is speaking to the church.

To us.

There’s a popular painting of this verse that shows Jesus patiently standing at the door, gently knocking, waiting to be invited in. And for centuries, this verse has been read as an invitation to open our individual hearts to Christ. And that’s not wrong.

But this week as I reflected on and gave thanks for the life of Pope Francis, I recalled he offered a different take on this text. And I believe it is one that the world, and especially the church, needs to hear again and again.

Before he was Pope, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio reflected on this passage by saying, “Jesus is knocking… from the inside of the Church.” Did you catch that? From inside.

In the meetings and worship services that occurred immediately before the conclave when he was elected Pope he suggested that Jesus is trying to get out of the church—not because he’s done with us, but because he's calling us to join him out there—in the streets, the margins, the messy places where real people are hurting.

He knocks, pleading for the church to fling open its doors and walk into the world to meet the poor, the immigrant, the sick, the lonely, the imprisoned\, the outcast. The ones Christ called “the least of these.”

That is a powerful image, and it’s the perfect call to action in the days after Easter. Because resurrection isn’t meant to be contained. It’s not a private party. It’s a movement. In fact, long before the church was the church those who followed Jesus’s teachings were considered part of a movement. He was the way, and he sent his followers out to share that way of living.

Jesus is alive, yes! But not just so we can keep him to ourselves. He’s alive so we can bring God’s grace and love to life in the world.

At La Fayette Presbyterian Church, I pray we hear that knock—and choose not to stay inside polishing the pews while Jesus is already moving beyond the walls. I pray we will seek to be a Matthew 25 church. Which for me means taking seriously the command to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, visit the imprisoned and proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God for all people. It means seeing Jesus in every face we meet, especially the ones the world tries to ignore.

Now I know this is not easy. As we do this, we will get comfortable sometimes. We get used to having church in the building walls and forget that church really begins out there.

But Easter didn’t just happen so we could decorate with lilies and dress in pastel and hide eggs. Easter happened so that dead things might rise. That broken systems might be made whole. That fear might give way to courage. That injustice might be met with bold love.

So maybe today, you hear a knock too.

Don’t be afraid. It’s just Jesus—reminding us that he’s on the move.

Let’s go out with him. Let’s open wide the doors. Let’s follow where he goes.

Because when we walk toward the least of these, we walk straight into the heart of God.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Alleluia Amen.